Method and theory in American archaeology / Gordon R. Willey and Philip Phillips ; new foreword by Gordon R. Willey ; edited and with an introduction by R. Lee Lyman and Michael J. O'Brien.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Willey, Gordon R. (Gordon Randolph), 1913-2002.

Contributor:

Phillips, Philip, 1900-1994.

Lyman, R. Lee.

O'Brien, Michael J. (Michael John), 1950-

Series:

Classics in southeastern archaeology

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Paleo-Indians--America.

Paleo-Indians.

Archaeology--America.

Archaeology.

America--Antiquities.

America.

Antiquities.

Physical Description:

xiv, 78, 269 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

Tuscaloosa : University of Alabama Press, [2001]

Summary:

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. --

Notes:

Originally published: Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1958. With new foreword, preface, acknowledgments, introd., and index to the introd.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 209-256) and indexes.

ISBN:

0817310886

OCLC:

45263916