What’s the use of theory?

Archaeology may be in the midst of yet another ‘scientific revolution’. Natural sciences is once again in vogue, this time accompanied and accelerated by the rapid development of various digital and quantitative methods along with advances within for example aDNA analyses that promise us certain, reliable and hard answers. What then, is the use of archaeological theory in an academic world that favours measurable outcomes?

In April 2022, seven years will have passed since the last Nordic TAG conference was arranged in Copenhagen. Various smaller, national, and larger, European and international, conferences have taken place since, and a Nordic forum for theoretical discussions may seem superfluous to some. Yet we argue that it is more important now than ever to meet these new changes in archaeology with equally sophisticated theoretical frameworks. Similarly, the way we approach our research questions need to be founded on a theoretically informed basis. This is the right moment for the Nordic research environment to come together and discuss past, present and future theoretical approaches, frameworks and innovative ideas in an open and friendly format where we seek to challenge our own practices and perceptions. Thus, we welcome contributions that explore, answer and illustrate the use of theory within all variants and branches of the archaeological field.