As post-processual archaeologist Ian Hodder once argued, interpretations of past material cultures and societies rest partially on social and cultural contexts in the present. They depend on the cultural background of scholars, on their education and responses to current issues, but also on their academic influences. In this sense, archaeology might be considered as a social practice which is concerned with meanings and making sense of things. Beyond this approach to archaeology which stems from post-processual thinking —and risks leading to absolute relativism—this graduate seminar mostly emphasizes the value of historiography, that is of how scholars have studied a particular subject using specific sources, techniques and theoretical approaches. As background models applied to the interpretation of material culture are not always explicitly referred to in the writings of archaeologists—nor even sometimes consciously integrated and applied— historiography has become a specific field of research, worthy of consideration when reading other scholars’ works and evaluating them critically in relation to one’s own beliefs—which have also to be made explicit and fully scrutinized.