Foundations of American archaeological interpretation

FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION

ЧТЕНИЕ АРХЕОЛОГИИ:

ОСНОВЫ АМЕРИКАНСКОЙ АРХЕОЛОГИЧЕСКОЙ ИНТЕРПРЕТАЦИИ

 

Tuesdays 16.20-18.00

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, SO RAN

 

COORDINATOR & FACILITATOR

Regent’s Professor Emeritus (University of Arizona, USA), John W. OLSEN

E-mail: [e-mail]   

Open Office Hours: Wednesdays 14.30-16.00; no appointment necessary; NSU Room 1261

 

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

 

This course surveys major themes in archaeological theory and interpretation, including the historical roots of recent trends in research.  Western, specifically American, perspectives are emphasized to help students evaluate current archaeological interpretations stemming from those intellectual traditions and honing skills in creative and critical thinking to be applied in their own work.

 

 

REQUIRED READINGS

 

As befits a broad overview of archaeological theory, there is no single required text.  All assigned readings are available as.pdfs.

 

 

EVALUATION OF STUDENT PERFORMANCE AND GRADES

 

Final course grades will be assigned on the basis of each student’s participation in the course. The quality of student participation in the seminar is evaluated to assess mastery of the reading assignments as well as contributions to discussions of the material as a whole. Students should always complete the week’s assigned readings before coming to class and prepare questions for group discussion.

 

 

A NOTE ABOUT NATIONAL HOLIDAYS IN MAY

Unfortunately for our seminar, May 01 and May 08 both fall on Tuesdays this year. While I respect the historical context and importance of these holidays, we have so few scheduled sessions due to my unavoidably late arrival in Russia, I would prefer to meet on both May 01 and May 08, regardless. Students will not be penalized for missing either of these sessions, but are nonetheless expected to complete the assigned readings.

SCHEDULE & READINGS

 

March 20: Course Overview and Historical Foundations

Schiffer, Michael B. 1988. The structure of archaeological theory. American Antiquity 53(3):461–485.

 

Hodder, Ian. 2012. Introduction: contemporary theoretical debate in archaeology. In Archaeological Theory Today, edited by Ian Hodder, pp. 1-15. Cambridge: Polity Press.

 

 

March 27: Philosophy of Science and the New Archaeology
Clarke, David. 1973. Archaeology: the loss of innocence. Antiquity 47:6-18

 

Binford, Lewis R. 1962. Archaeology as anthropology. American Antiquity 28 (2): 217-225.

 

Longacre, William A. 1964. Archaeology as anthropology: a case study. Science 144 (3625): 1454-1455

 

April 03: The Post-Processual Critique

Hegmon, Michelle. 2003. Setting theoretical egos aside: issues and theory in North American archaeology. American Antiquity 68(2):213–243.

 

Flannery, K.V. 1982. The golden Marshalltown: a parable for the archaeology of the 1980s. American Anthropologist 84 (2): 265-278.

 

Hodder, Ian. 1985. Post-processual archaeology. Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory 8: 1-26.

April 10: Evolutionary Approaches in Archaeology

O’Brien, Michael J. 2006. Evolutionism and North America’s archaeological record. World Archaeology 37: 26-45.

Shennan, Stephen. 2008. Evolution and archaeology. Annual Review of Anthropology 37:75–91. 

Spencer, Charles S.1997. Evolutionary approaches in archaeology. Journal of Archaeological Research 5(3):209-264.

Optional:

Sahlins, Marshall D., and Elman R. Service. 1973. Evolution and Culture. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor. Chapter 2, Evolution: specific and general, pp. 12-45. 

 

 

April 17: Landscape Evolution Theory & Cultural Landscape Theory

Landscape Evolution Theory:

Wells, Lisa E. 2001. A geomorphological approach to reconstructing archaeological settlement patterns based on surficial artifact distribution: replacing humans on the landscape. In Earth Sciences and Archaeology, edited by Paul Goldberg, Vance T. Holliday, and C. Reid Ferring, pp. 107–141. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York. 

 

Holliday, Vance T. 2009. Geoarchaeology and the search for the first Americans. Catena 78: 310-322.

Cultural Landscape Theory:

Colwell, Chip, and T. J. Ferguson. 2014. The snow-capped mountain and the uranium mine: Zuñi heritage and the landscape scale in cultural resource management. Advances in Archaeological Practice 2(4):234–251.

Fowles, Severin. 2010. The Southwest school of landscape archaeology. Annual Review of Anthropology 39:453–468.

 

Altschul, Jeffrey H. 2005. Significance in American cultural resource management. In Heritage of Value, Archaeology of Renown, edited by Clay Mathers, Timothy Darvill, and Barbara J. Little, pp. 192-210. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.

 

 

FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION

ЧТЕНИЕ АРХЕОЛОГИИ: