Orser, a historical archaeologist who researches the Atlantic world, specifically “the modern world as it was created after about 1492” (p. 177), prepared this book “after years of teaching an undergraduate course on critical thinking in archaeology” (p. ix). He promises that the reader “will be able to think like an archaeologist—to practice archaeo-thinking” (p. 4). The index provides thirty listings for “archaeo-thinking,” most several pages long. Aside from the rather dubious term “archaeo-thinking,” which can only mean “ancient-thinking,” Orser's proposition needs to be discussed: Is “archaeo-thinking” distinctive? Can it be taught as a skill?
Cognitive psychologist Daniel Willingham wrote in “Critical Thinking: Why Is It So Hard to Teach?” that critical thinking takes place within a domain of knowledge; it is not a straightforward skill like riding a bicycle (Willingham 2007: 8). Every thinker has been enculturated in a particular society's valued knowledge, and learned to avoid devalued...
