This paper critically examines how power is understood and used in archaeological interpretation of prehistoric societies. We argue that studies on power within archaeology have been haltered in their interpretive potential, frequently limited to individualizing coercive power with androcentric connotations. We explore new avenues of power through a retrospective view. Drawing on ideas first conceptualized by Hannah Arendt, while also incorporating theoretical ideas from collective action, anarchistic theory and the affective turn, we argue that power as a phenomenon and explanation within archaeology can be refined and nuanced when approached through a lens of collective agency and the affective potential of material culture. This connects, furthermore, to how we today see and act on changing power dynamics.

本文批判性地研究了权力在史前社会的考古解释中是如何被理解和使用的。我们认为，考古学中关于权力的研究在其解释潜力上一直停滞不前，通常仅限于以男性为中心的内涵将强制权力个性化。我们通过回顾性的观点探索新的权力途径。借鉴汉娜·阿伦特首先概念化的思想，同时也结合了集体行动、无政府主义理论和情感转向的理论思想，我们认为，权力作为考古学中的一种现象和解释，当通过集体代理和物质文化的情感潜力。此外，这与我们今天如何看待和应对不断变化的权力动态有关。