Archaeological Thought in America

by Edited by C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky

• ISBN13: 9780521406437
• ISBN10: 0521406439
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1991-03-29
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

American archaeology today encompasses a huge range of approaches and draws eclectically on a multitude of academic disciplines. Until now, however, there has been no book seeking to separate the main strands and traditions of research and present a rounded picture of American archaeological thought in all its diversity. The seventeen essays in Archaeological Thought in America describe recent theoretical advances and present substantive interpretations of prehistoric data drawn from a variety of cultures and time-frames, including Mesoamerica, Central Asia, India and China. The contributors include many of the leading North American archaeologists of this generation.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations

Introduction C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky

Part I. History, Method and Theory: 1. History and contemporary American archaeology: a critical analysis Bruce G. Trigger

2. Aspects of the application of evolutionary theory in archaeology Robert C. Dunnell

3. The 'New Archaeology', then and now Lewis R, Binford

4. Marxism in American archaeology Antonio Gilman

5. Formal approaches in archaeology George L. Cowgill

6. Ideology and evolutionism in American archaeology: looking beyond the economic base Arthur A. Demarest

7. The present and the future of hunter-gatherers studies John E. Yellen

8. Paleopathology and the interpretation of economic change in prehistory Mark C. Cohen

Part II. Archaeology in the Americas and Beyond: 9. The structural analysis of Paleolithic art Margaret W. Conkey

10. Ancient China and its anthropological significance Kwang-Chih Chang

11. Settlement pattern studies and evidences for intensive agriculture in the Maya Lowlands Gordon R. Willey

12. The political economy of the Inka empire: the archaeology of power and finance Timothy K. Early and Terence N. D'Altroy

13. An epigenetic view of the Harappan culture W. A. Fairservis

14. The use and abuse of world systems theory: the case of the 'pristine' West Asian state Philip L. Kohl

15. Mesopotamia, Central Asia and the Indus Valley: so the Kings were killed C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky

16. New tracks on ancient frontiers: ceramic technology on the Indo-Iranian Borderlands Rita P. Wright

17. Pastoralism and the early state in Greater Mesopotamia Allen Zagarell

References

Index.