Archeologia come effetto a ritroso

The concept of archaeology is one of the main issues in Michel Foucault’s critical thought. This concept served as the theoretical framework for an intellectual collaboration that emerged between the 1960s and 1970s in Italy among Italian writers (Calvino and Celati), historians (Ginzburg), and philosophers (Melandri) of the time, stemming from a journal project dedicated specifically to the archaeology. Starting from this intellectual episode, our article aims firstly to highlight whether the issue of archaeology acquired a specific characterization in the Italian debate, particularly on a speculative and problematic level. This will allow us to investigate the type of logical-semiotic operation upon which the production of meaning depends: what does it mean to act as an origin? Is the origin merely the space from which meaning projects forward, or is it what it is because of a retroflection of meaning?