Archaeology and racism

Racism in archaeology covers the phenomenon of interpreting archaeological remains in terms of speculations about the putative racial profiles of the peoples who created the structures which excavations have brought to light.

Quotes

• Almost all anthropologists working on the Indian material have been having these archetypes ' before their mind , with the result that each skull has been taken singly and compared with one of the hypothetical racial types. If the comparison shows a closeness to a type , the skull has been regarded as belonging to that particular race . If , on the other hand , the resemblance is less exact , the skull has been relegated to a mixed group . It may very often happen that a single skull shows features that belong to two or more hypothetical types ; in such cases , the skull has been immediately considered to have been the result of mixture of these races . Sometimes , the most likely racial types ' have been considered in the skulls from a particular area , so that the conclusions could generally confirm a conventional story of invasion or migration put forward in history . Since the individual variability in physical characteristics is very great , it has not been difficult to find the type suitable in a particular situation from a collection of skeletal material.
  • D.K. Sen, 'Ancient Races of India and Pakistan: A Study of Methods', Ancient India, Vols. 20-21, 1964-65, pp. 178-205; Proceedings of the Indian Science Congress -, 1964,Indian Science Congress Association . quoted in Chakrabarti, D. K., 1997. Colonial Indology: Sociopolitics of the Ancient Indian Past. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd.146