Survivals and the persistence of the past

Abstract

This article explores the latent potential in the anthropological concept of survival, especially through Tylor's usage of the term. Once a core concept of anthropological theory in the late nineteenth century, the idea was critiqued and abandoned in the wake of the structural and functional anthropology of the early twentieth century. However, the concept implies many different things, and in clearing away some of the more problematic meanings, this article focuses on the core of the idea: namely the persistence of the past in the present. The intention is to examine the concept in terms of what it tells us about the relation between the past and the present and, by implication, the historical process itself. By drawing on the distinctions between survival and related terms of relics, persistent practices, and revivals, this article suggests a reappraisal of the concept and its relevance to contemporary anthropology and archaeology.