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1/27/05 –2/1

1/27/05 –2/1. Small Group Discussion Differences between science and post-processualism as intellectual structures role of ideas in both meaning of theory in both explanation versus interpretation. Development of the Discipline. Definition of a archaeology as a discipline

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1/27/05 –2/1

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  1. 1/27/05 –2/1 Small Group Discussion Differences between science and post-processualism as intellectual structures role of ideas in both meaning of theory in both explanation versus interpretation

  2. Development of the Discipline • Definition of a archaeology as a discipline • coherent set of ideas,methods and techniques to investigate the human past • 1860: establishment of archaeology as a discipline. Why? deep time for humans

  3. SPECULATIVE PERIOD IN AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY • Archaeology as the study of the human past is a western European discipline • Curiosity about origin of American Indians is as old as Columbian voyages. Who are they people? What is their origin? no archaeology involved

  4. Bartolomé de las Casas 1520 • Dominican Priest • Defender of American Indians • American Indians were “lambs of God”. They were not natural slaves • Must be protected by the Spanish Crown

  5. Doctrine of Progress 18th C: “Scalae Natura” (The Scale of Nature) All people can improve, regardless of orgin 19th C: Social Darwinism Biology and Cultural progress Scaled

  6. LOUIS HENRY MORGAN SOCIAL DARWINIST Robert Fitzroy, Captain Of the Beagle

  7. Summary • From 1492 on, there was curiosity and discussion regarding the American Indians. Who they were? How they related to the story of creation in the Bible? • Because the Bible was Judeo-Christian, all societies were viewed from a European perspective… • Result: A genuine racism (from a contemporary view point) develops---American Indians as inferior. • This position becomes incorporated in the social darwinism of the late 19th and early 20th century

  8. Issues that resulted in the Development of American Archaeology • Mound Builder Debate Resolved in the late 19th c. • An American Paleolithic The discovery of Folsom in 1927

  9. Ephraim Squier Great Mound at Marietta Ohio High bank Ohio

  10. Smithsonian Institution Cyrus Thomas, Director of Mound Survey Mound Stratigraphic Cross Section Etowah Copper Breast Plate, Etowah Georgia

  11. Summary • 1. Gave American Indians back their birth right. • 2. Political Context: By the late 19th century, European hegemony in the United States established. Indian groups subdued • 3. Systematic empirical investigation resulted in the establishment of Method and Technique ( archaeology)

  12. Debate regarding Age of Native Populations in the Americas • Resolved in 1927 at Folsom New Mexico when a human spear point was found embedded in the Ribs of an extinct Bison. • Humans coexisted with extinct megafauna. • Therefore time depth to the Native American Record

  13. Bifaces and Extinct Megafauna

  14. The American Paleolithic (Folsom NM, 1927)

  15. Summary: What We’ve Covered • Development of Archaeology as a Discipline • Occurred because of questions that could only be answered by empirical investigation. (Had to stop speculating and examine the archaeological record) • Significant Consequences a. Developed a coherent set of methods and techniques ( many derived from geology). In the US, Government investigations of the MB resulted in “standardization” b. Establishment of the Discipline c. Establishment of Human Antiquity overturned Biblical accounts of the creation of humans

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