Explorations in behavioral archaeology
By: edited by William H. Walker and James M. Skibo
Series: Foundations of archaeological inquiry
Publisher: The University of Utah Press; University of Utah Press
Published: 2015
Place of publication: Salt Lake City
Language: eng
Number of pages: 226
ISBN-13: 9781607814146; 9781607814153
Subjects: Human behavior; Indians of North America; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Archaeology; Material culture; Social archaeology; Antiquities; Methodology; History; Archaeology; Ethnoarchaeology
Description: "Behavioral archaeology, defined as the study of people-object interactions in all times and places, emerged in the 1970s, in large part because of the innovative work of Michael Schiffer and colleagues. This volume provides an overview of how behavioral archaeology has evolved and how it has affected the field of archaeology at large.The contributors to this volume are Schiffer's former students, from his first doctoral student to his most recent. This generational span has allowed for chapters that reflect Schiffer's research from the 1970s to 2012. They are iconoclastic and creative and approach behavioral archaeology from varied perspectives, including archaeological inference and chronology, site formation processes, prehistoric cultures and migration, modern material culture variability, the study of technology, object agency, and art and cultural resources. Broader questions addressed include models of inference and definitions of behavior, study of technology and the causal performances of artifacts, and the implications of artifact causality in human communication and the flow of behavioral history"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: 1. Introduction to Explorations in Behavioral Archaeology / William H. Walker and James M. Skibo; title: 2. Behavioral Assessment of a Battlefield Signature : The Study of a Pompeii-Like Event / Deni J. Seymour; title: 3. Prior Probabilities and Explicit Assumptions in Paleoindian Chronology Building / John E. Douglas; title: 4. A Behavioral Archaeology of Ancient Migrations / Patrick D. Lyons; title: 5. Why No Kayenta at Chodistaas Pueblo? A Behavioral Archaeology Critique / Stephanie M. Whittlesey and J. Jefferson Reid; title: 6. The Opportunistic Midden at Post-Contact-Period New Hampshire Sites / Kathleen Wheeler; title: 7. Behavioral Archaeology in the Ballona Wetlands / Donn R. Grenda and Richard Ciolek-Torello; title: 8. Applying Behavioral Archaeology to the Fine Arts : Theory into Practice / Alysia Fischer; title: 9. Looking for the Point : Understanding Bone and Metal Awl Use on the Northern Plains / Janet L. Griffitts; title: 10. Assessing the Value of Cracked Pots : Ceramic Repair and Life History at Homol'ovi / Lisa C. Young and Claire S. Barker; title: 11. The Adoption of Pottery in the Eastern United States : A Performance-Based Approach / James M. Skibo; title: 12. The Behavioral Scale? / William H. Walker; title: 13. Behavior and Practice in Archaeology : A Realist View / Axel E. Nielsen; title: 14. Modern Material Culture and Ruins in Ambos Nogales (Arizona and Sonora) / Randall H. McGuire; title: 15. Technological Continuity and Change Post-Disaster : A Behavioral Model / Kacy L. Hollenback.