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Although many believe that archaeological knowledge consists simply of empirical findings, this notion is false; data are generated with the guidance of theory, or some sense-making system acting in its place whether researchers recognize this or not. Failure to understand the relationship between theory and the empirical world has led to the many debates and frustrations of contemporary archaeology.
Despite years of trying, the atheoretical, empiricist foundations of archaeology have left us little but a history of storytelling and unsatisfying generalizations about historical change and human diversity. The present work offers promising directions for building theoretically defensible results by providing well-designed case studies that can be used as guides or exemplars. Evolutionary theory, in at least some form, is the foundation for a scientific archaeology that will yield scientific explanations for historical change.
Table des matières
Preface
Posing Questions for a Scientific Archaeology by Terry L. Hunt, Carl P. Lipo, and Sarah L. Sterling
Building Components of Evolutionary Explanation: A Study of Wedge Tools from Northern South America by Kimberly D. Kornbacher
The Engineering and Evolution of Hawaiian Fishhooks by Michael T. Pfeffer
Building the Framework for An Evolutionary Explanation of Projectile Point Variation: An Example from the Central Mississippi River Valley by Kris H. Wilhelmsen
Social Complexity in Ancient Egypt: Functional Differentiation Reflected in the Distribution of Standardized Ceramics by Sarah L. Sterling
Community Structures in Late Mississippian Populations of the Central Mississippi Valley by Carl P. Lipo
Dietary Variation and Village Settlement in the Ohio Valley by Diana M. Greenlee
Resource Intensification and Late Holocene Human Impacts on Pacific Coast Bird Populations: Evidence from the Emeryville Shellmound Avifauna by Jack Broughton
Evolutionary Bet-Hedging and the Hopewell Cultural Climax by Mark E. Madsen
Index
A propos de l'auteur
TERRY L. HUNT is Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Hawaii./e
CARL P. LIPO is a systems architect at Intemap Network Services and Affiliate Graduate Faculty at University of Hawaii./e
SARAH L. STERLING is a doctoral candidate in Anthropology at the University of Washington./e
