In American Archaeology And Ethnology

Author : Gordon R. Willey
Publisher : University of Alabama Press
ISBN 13 : 0817310886
Total Pages : 371 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (173 download)

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Download or read book Method and Theory in American Archaeology written by Gordon R. Willey and published by University of Alabama Press. This book was released on 2001-02-14 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Dan Josselyn Memorial Publication This invaluable classic provides the framework for the development of American archaeology during the last half of the 20th century. In 1958 Gordon R. Willey and Philip Phillips first published Method and Theory in American Archaeology—a volume that went through five printings, the last in 1967 at the height of what became known as the new, or processual, archaeology. The advent of processual archaeology, according to Willey and Phillips, represented a "theoretical debate . . . a question of whether archaeology should be the study of cultural history or the study of cultural process." Willey and Phillips suggested that little interpretation had taken place in American archaeology, and their book offered an analytical perspective; the methods they described and the structural framework they used for synthesizing American prehistory were all geared toward interpretation. Method and Theory served as the catalyst and primary reader on the topic for over a decade. This facsimile reprint edition of the original University of Chicago Press volume includes a new foreword by Gordon R. Willey, which outlines the state of American archaeology at the time of the original publication, and a new introduction by the editors to place the book in historical context. The bibliography is exhaustive. Academic libraries, students, professionals, and knowledgeable amateurs will welcome this new edition of a standard-maker among texts on American archaeology.