Abstract

Notions of scale in prehistoric archaeology mingle with optical views of time and space, borrowed from astronomy’s expansion of the universe, on which early modern geology modeled its expansion of earth’s history. Optical tropes would be sustained by traditional Western ocularcentrism, which modern philosophy enhanced after partially mistrusting and subsequently empowering the senses using optical technology. In this narrative, access to long-term processes comes at the cost of everyday perception, which has historically created tensions between prehistoric archaeology and disciplines working at shorter time-scales, including anthropology and history. Nonetheless, time concepts in archaeology speak only of a partial departure from sensory experience.