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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2024
Chapter 1 introduces the fundamental tenets of perspectivism, its main characteristics and principles and the problems and challenges it poses for archaeology. A brief account of the genesis of perspectivism as a theory is provided, drawing principally on Viveiros de Castro’s writings and comparing it to other ontologies, particularly animism. The key perspectivist characteristics shared by many Amerindian populations are detailed. These include the quality internal to many entities of possessing a human soul, the importance of the body as the distinctive mark of subjects, seeing the world from a human point of view and predation as the model for human relationships. These fundamental cosmological premises derive from a set of underlying metaphysical principles with consequences for social practices, all of which are relevant for thinking about the archaeological record.
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