Anyone have any examples of "devolution" or regression in archaeology itself? I've been sort of working within a scientific/rationalist paradigm, which sort of says that the "free market" of archaeological discourse would lead to the gradual extinction of bad methods and techniques…
Now it turns out that one of the best (in the sense of having fairly consistent results and having been widely copied) documentation systems going (British-style context sheets) were introduced in Cologne for a while, then rejected for something which I find complicated and illogical (then again, what do I know?), the Stellenkartsystem.
Without going into the merits of any given system (I recognize that both context sheets and Stellenkarten have their supporters and detractors), does anyone have any similar examples of methodological/technical progress going backwards?
In Cologne I'm also looking at a case where wholly digital documentation has been forbidden, while German archaeology as a whole tends to be fairly good with technology. There is no paper used on some sites in Baden-Württemberg, for example…