Editing Post-processual archaeology (section)

=== Subjectivism ===
The post-processualists' approach to archaeology is diametrically opposed to that of the processualists. The processualists, as [[positivism|positivists]], believed that the [[scientific method]] should and could apply to archaeological investigation, therefore allowing archaeologists to present [[Objectivity (philosophy)|objective]] statements about past societies based upon the evidence. Post-processual archaeology, however, questioned this stance, and instead emphasized that archaeology was [[Subjectivity|subjective]] rather than objective, and that what truth could be ascertained from the archaeological record was often relative to the viewpoint of the archaeologist responsible for unearthing and presenting the data.{{sfn|Trigger|2007|pp=451–452}} As the archaeologist Matthew Johnson noted, "Postprocessualists suggest that we can never confront theory and data; instead, we see data through a cloud of theory."{{sfn|Johnson|1999|p=102}}