Archaeology... is, or wants to be, an empirical discipline which makes substantive claims about a body of phenomena. It is interested both in functional accounts that rely on proximate causes--the "How does it work?" kind of question--and in historical accounts that treat of ultimate causes--the "Why did it come into existence?" kind of question. It differs from other scientific disciplines in that it is not primarily concerned with the full range of characteristics of the archaeological record, but rather with those that the record acquired prior to the time it became an archaeological record. Consequently, it cannot simply be modelled on the existing hard sciences.
Source
Robert C. Dunnell. 1989. Philosophy of science and archaeology. In Valerie Pinsky and Alison Wylie (eds). Critical Traditions in Contemporary Archaeology: Essays in the Philosophy, History, and Socio-politics of Archaeology. CUP Archive, London.
via: Hirst, KK. 2009. An Archaeologist's Book of Quotations. Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek California.
