Singularizing the past: The history and archaeology of the small and ordinary

Recently a fierce criticism has been aimed at social history and how it has been directed by various forms of grand narratives. Some microhistorians have lent this critique a voice from where a new theoretical framework, the singularization of history, has arisen. It rejects the notion that fragments of historical data can be put together into rational and coherent metanarratives but emphasizes the need for an inward focus on the material at hand and interpretations free from the idealized perspectives on the past. Consequently, it involves scrutinizing the details of each event and object of research, looking for meaning within them rather than in larger contexts. In this paper, we intend to pose the question of if or how the idea of the singularization of history may apply to archaeology. Furthermore, we want to reflect upon the possibilities of a ‘singularized archaeology' that regards the things at hand by honouring the nature of singularities, their relations and ontological constitution and how they reassemble into composite entities like practices, events or persons.