American antiquities : revisiting the origins of American archaeology / Terry A. Barnhart.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barnhart, Terry A., 1952- author.

Series:

Critical studies in the history of anthropology.

Critical Studies in the History of Anthropology

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Archaeology--United States--History.

Archaeology.

Archaeologists--United States--Historiography.

Archaeologists.

United States--Antiquities.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (595 p.)

Place of Publication:

Lincoln, [Nebraska] ; London, [England] : University of Nebraska Press, 2015.

Summary:

Writing the history of American archaeology, especially concerning eighteenth and nineteenth-century arguments, is not always as straightforward or simple as it might seem. Archaeology's trajectory from an avocation, to a semi-profession, to a specialized, self-conscious profession was anything but a linear progression. The development of American archaeology was an organic and untidy process, which emerged from the intellectual tradition of antiquarianism and closely allied itself with the natural sciences throughout the nineteenth century-especially geology and the debate about the origins and identity of indigenous mound-building cultures of the eastern United States. Terry A. Barnhart examines how American archaeology developed within an eclectic set of interests and equally varied settings. He argues that fundamental problems are deeply embedded in secondary literature relating to the nineteenth-century debate about "Mound Builders" and "American Indians." Some issues are perceptual, others contextual, and still others basic errors of fact. Adding to the problem are semantic and contextual considerations arising from the accommodating, indiscriminate, and problematic use of the term "race" as a synonym for tribe, nation, and race proper-a concept and construct that does not, in all instances, translate into current understandings and usages. American Antiquities uses this early discourse on the mounds to frame perennial anthropological problems relating to human origins and antiquity in North America.

Contents:

Prologue: historicizing the origins of American archaeology

American antiquities: a grand theme for speculation

Rediscovering the mounds: scientific enquiry and the westward movement

Antiquaries, ideas, and institutions: more testimony from the mounds

A dialectical discourse: constructing the mound builder paradigm

American archaeology: an infant science emerges

Origin, era, and region: an expanding field of archaeological enquiry

Archaeology as anthropology: the coming of the curators and professors.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780803284296

0803284292

9780803284319

0803284314

OCLC:

921847370