CONSIDERATIONS ON THE POTENTIAL CRITERIA FOR ASSESSING SCIENTIFIC VALUE OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD

Sa？etak Understanding the value of archaeological remains is a prerequisite for their meaningful and well-founded treatment. From the perspective of the archaeological discipline, scientific potential is usually represented as the primary criterion for assessment of their value. This attitude, which saw its peak in processual archaeology, has been generating fierce criticism since the 1980s. The assertion that this approach does not enable comprehension of the full value of archaeological remains marked the be- ginning of significant change and expansion in the way they are understood. Consequently, theoretical considerations of scientific value have been put aside to some extent over the last few decades, so this subject requires new analyses which are able to provide the basis for understanding scientific value as well as for systems of its assessment