James A. Ford and the Growth of Americanist Archaeology

James A. Ford and the Growth of Americanist Archaeology PDF Author: Michael John O'Brien
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
ISBN: 9780826211842
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 418

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Book Description
Tells the story of Ford's role in the development of culture history, the dominant paradigm in archaeology from 1914 through 1960. Provides a glimpse of how archaeologists began using a variety of methods to attain spatial and temporal control over an exceedingly diverse and complex archaeological record. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The Oxford Companion to Archaeology

The Oxford Companion to Archaeology PDF Author: Neil Asher Silberman
Publisher:
ISBN: 0195076184
Category : Archaeology
Languages : en
Pages : 865

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Leslie A. White

Leslie A. White PDF Author: William J. Peace
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 9780803236813
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
Few figures in modern American anthropology have been more controversial or influential than Leslie A. White (1900?1975). Between the early 1940s and mid-1960s, White?s work was widely discussed, and he was among the most frequently cited American anthropologists in the world. After writing several respected ethnographic works about the Pueblo Indians, White broke ranks with anthropologists who favored such cultural histories and began to radically rethink American anthropology. As his political interest in socialism grew, he revitalized the concept of cultural evolution and reinvigorated comparative studies of culture. His strident political beliefs, radical interpretive vision, and often combative nature earned him enemies inside and outside the academy. His trip to the Soviet Union and participation in the Socialist Labor Party brought him to the attention of the FBI during the height of the Cold War, and near-legendary scholarly and political conflicts surrounded him at the University of Michigan. ΓΈ Placing White?s life and work in historic context, William J. Peace documents the broad sociopolitical influences that affected his career, including many aspects of White?s life that are largely unknown, such as the reasons he became antagonistic toward Boasian anthropology. In so doing, Peace sheds light on what made White such a colorful figure as well as his enduring contributions to modern anthropology.

Theodore E. White and the Development of Zooarchaeology in North America

Theodore E. White and the Development of Zooarchaeology in North America PDF Author: R. Lee Lyman
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 0803290527
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
"Theodore E. White and the Development of Zooarchaeology in North America illuminates the researcher and his lasting contribution to a field that has largely ignored him in its history. The few brief histories of North American zooarchaeology suggest that Paul W. Parmalee, John E. Guilday, Elizabeth S. Wing, and Stanley J. Olsen laid the foundation of the field. Only occasionally is Theodore White (1905-77) included, yet his research is instrumental for understanding the development of zooarchaeology in North America. R. Lee Lyman works to fill these gaps in the historical record and revisits some of White's analytical innovations from a modern perspective. A comparison of publications shows that not only were White's zooarchaeological articles first in print in archaeological venues but that he was also, at least initially, more prolific than his contemporaries. While the other "founders" of the field were anthropologists, White was a paleontologist by training who studied long-extinct animals and their evolutionary histories. In working with remains of modern mammals, the typical paleontological research questions were off the table simply because the animals under study were too recent. And yet White demonstrated clearly that scholars could infer significant information about human behaviors and cultures. Lyman presents a biography of Theodore White as a scientist and a pioneer in the emerging field of modern anthropological zooarchaeology. "--

Arkansas Review

Arkansas Review PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : American fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description


Measuring Time with Artifacts

Measuring Time with Artifacts PDF Author: R. Lee Lyman
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 0803280521
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 359

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Book Description
Combining historical research with a lucid explication of archaeological methodology and reasoning, Measuring Time with Artifacts examines the origins and changing use of fundamental chronometric techniques and procedures and analyzes the different ways American archaeologists have studied changes in artifacts, sites, and peoples over time. In highlighting the underpinning ontology and epistemology of artifact-based chronometers?cultural transmission and how to measure it archaeologically?this volume covers issues such as why archaeologists used the cultural evolutionism of L. H. Morgan, E. B. Tylor, L. A. White, and others instead of biological evolutionism; why artifact classification played a critical role in the adoption of stratigraphic excavation; how the direct historical approach accomplished three analytical tasks at once; why cultural traits were important analytical units; why paleontological and archaeological methods sometimes mirror one another; how artifact classification influences chronometric method; and how graphs illustrate change in artifacts over time. An understanding of the history of artifact-based chronometers enables us to understand how we know what we think we know about the past, ensures against modern misapplication of the methods, and sheds light on the reasoning behind archaeologists' actions during the first half of the twentieth century.

The Rise and Fall of Culture History

The Rise and Fall of Culture History PDF Author: R. Lee Lyman
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0585304521
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
This volume presents an insightful critical analysis of the culture history approach to Americanist anthropology. Reasons for the acceptance and incorporation of important concepts, as well as the paradigm's strengths and weaknesses, are discussed in detail. The framework for this analysis is founded on the contrast between two metaphysics used by evolutionary biologists in discussing their own discipline: materialistic/populational thinking and essentialistic/typological thinking. Employing this framework, the authors show not only why the culture history paradigm lost favor in the 1960s, but also which of its aspects need to be retained if archaeology is ever to produce a viable theory of culture change.

The Land of Prehistory

The Land of Prehistory PDF Author: Alice Beck Kehoe
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134720580
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
First published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Metaarchaeology

Metaarchaeology PDF Author: Lester Embree
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401118264
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
An idea of the philosophy of archaeology can best be gained by showing what it is, what the issues are, who is working in the field, and how they proceed. Reading Lester Embree's Metaarchaeology provides the best possible introduction to the field, since in it several leading archaeologists show how accessible and interesting the current archeological literature is, and currently active philosophers of archaeology reveal something of the current state of discussion on the subject. Bibliographies have also been developed of the philosophy of archaeology as well as of selected parts of the component that can be called metaarchaeology. Finally, an historical introduction has been included to show the variety of metascientific as well as orientational standpoints that philosophers of archaeology have had recourse to for over two decades, followed by speculation about the future of the discipline within the philosophy of science.

Missouri Archaeological Society Quarterly

Missouri Archaeological Society Quarterly PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Excavations (Archaeology)
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description