Archaeology, Anthropology, and the Culture Concept

The culture concept has been central to anthropology since the formational period of the discipline. Yet for much of the discipline's history it was used without explicit definition. Recent attempts to define it have yielded a range of varied formulations in the subdisciplines of archaeology and sociocultural anthropology. Does this mean that the center of anthropology—shared belief in a unified culture concept—has been destroyed? Quite the opposite, the author concludes—the debate has yielded benefits.

[1]  Lewis R. Binford,et al.  Dimensional Analysis of Behavior and Site Structure: Learning from an Eskimo Hunting Stand , 1978, American Antiquity.

[2]  L. Binford.  Willow Smoke and Dogs’ Tails: Hunter-Gatherer Settlement Systems and Archaeological Site Formation , 1980, American Antiquity.

[3]  P. Phillips.  American Archaeology and General Anthropological Theory , 1955, Southwestern Journal of Anthropology.

[4]  E. Brumfiel.  Distinguished Lecture in Archeology: Breaking and Entering the Ecosystem—Gender, Class, and Faction Steal the Show , 1992 .

[5]  George L. Cowgill,et al.  Distinguished Lecture in Archeology: Beyond Criticizing New Archeology , 1993 .

[6]  J. R. Caldwell.  The New American Archeology: Its changing interests are bringing new kinds of understanding and a generalized view of its problems. , 1959, Science.

[7]  C. Redman.  Distinguished Lecture in Archeology: In Defense of the Seventies—The Adolescence of New Archeology , 1991 .

[8]  D. J. Meltzer,et al.  Paradigms and the Nature of Change in American Archaeology , 1979, American Antiquity.

[9]  G. J. Gumeran,et al.  Archaeology beyond anthropology , 1978 .

[10]  Ingrid Herbich.  Learning patterns, potter interaction and ceramic style among the Luo of Kenya , 1987 .

[11]  A. Kehoe,et al.  Cognitive Models for Archaeological Interpretation , 1973, American Antiquity.

[12]  R. Watson.  The ‘new archeology’ of the 1960s , 1972, Antiquity.

[13]  R. Hall.  An Anthropocentric Perspective for Eastern United States Prehistory , 1977, American Antiquity.

[14]  I. Hodder.  1 – Postprocessual Archaeology , 1985 .

[15]  J. Bennett.  Recent Developments in the Functional Interpretation of Archaeological Data , 1943, American Antiquity.

[16]  R. Aunger.  Are Food Avoidances Maladaptive in the Ituri Forest of Zaire? , 1994, Journal of Anthropological Research.

[17]  J. Wiseman.  Archaeology in the Future: An Evolving Discipline , 1980, American Journal of Archaeology.

[18]  R. Dunnell.  Evolutionary Theory and Archaeology , 1980 .

[19]  R. Hall.  Ghosts, Water Barriers, Corn, and Sacred Enclosures in the Eastern Woodlands , 1976, American Antiquity.

[20]  P. Watson.  An archaeological odyssey , 1986 .

[21]  L. Binford.  Data, Relativism and Archaeological Science , 1987 .

[22]  K. V. Flannery.  The Golden Marshalltown: A Parable for the Archeology of the 1980s , 1982 .

[23]  L. Binford.  Reading the Past: Current Approaches to Interpretation in Archaeology. Ian Hodder. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1986. xi + 194 pp., biblio., index. $34.00 (cloth); $9.95 (paper). , 1988, American Antiquity.

[24]  Lewis R. Binford,et al.  Archaeology as Anthropology , 1962, American Antiquity.

[25]  Alison Wylie,et al.  The reaction against analogy , 1985 .

[26]  R. Handler.  An Interview with Clifford Geertz , 1991, Current Anthropology.

[27]  L. Binford.  The archaeology of place , 1982 .