Pre-Columbian
Archaeology of North
America
Week 3:
History of Archaeology in North
America:
The Twentieth Century
The Classificatory-Historical Period

Nels C. Nelson
– 1916
– Chronology for southwestern United States
– Based on work at Pecos Pueblo

A. V. Kidder (Alfred Vincent)
– Followed on in Nelson’s work at Pecos
– Integrated the stratigraphic method into a
regional studies of chronology and culture
change
– Key work: An Introduction to the Study of
Southwestern Archaeology (1924)
Pecos Pueblo:
Kidd’s Excavations (1920s)
First pre-Holocene artifacts
– Jesse Figgins, director of the Colorado Museum of
Natural History

A paleontologist
– In 1925, given bones of extinct bison (Bison antiquus)
found together with a spear point in Folsom, New Mexico
in 1908
– Showed them to Hrdlička who was skeptical of the
context
– Scholars invited to Folsom to see for themselves and
more evidence found in situ in 1928
– First good evidence of pre-Holocene occupation of the
New World
Ancient bison

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Bison antiquus
15-20% larger than
the modern American
bison/buffalo (Bison
bison)
220 cm at top of
hump, 1300 kg
Considered ancestral
Similar behavior
pattern/range as
modern bison
The Gladwins

Harold S. and Winifred Gladwin
– Extended series of publications between 1928
and 1937
– Outlined principles of site description,
methodology and nomenclature
– Excavated at the sites of Casa Grande and
Snaketown (Arizona)
– Major works include:
– Method for Designation of Ruins in the Southwest
(1928)
– A Method for Designation of Cultures and their
Variations (1934)
– A series of publications (1929-31) entitled The Ancient
Civilization of Southern Arizona
 Focused on “red-on-buff” culture
Red-on-buff Ceramics

Examples of redon-buff ceramics:
– Santa Cruz red-onbuff
– Hohokam culture
(ca. 700-900 AD)
– Paddle and anvil
technique
– Top: olla (19.05 cm
high)
Paddle and anvil technique


In paddle and anvil
thinning, the potter
holds the anvil on
the interior of the
vessel while beating
the exterior of the
vessel with the
paddle
Replicas of
southwestern tools
Absolute Dating Techniques

Dendrochronology
– Developed by A. E. Douglass



An astronomer working in the first half of the 20th century
First began developing series in 1913
Floating chronology based on archaeological finds tied to
fixed chronology in 1929
– Built master series of growth ring data from long-lived
tree species

Bristlecone pine
– Methodology
– Critical in the development of chronologies in desert
environments
– Also important in the calibration of radiocarbon dating
(C14)


Developed by physicist Willard F. Libby in 1949
Amount of carbon-14 deposited not consistent over time
Bristlecone pine
Pinus longaeva,
Pinus aristata
 Western United
States at high
elevations (above
2500 m)
 Max. height: 18 m
 Max. girth: 11 m
 Methuselah: 4,767
years old

Dendrochronology



Wood preserved in
desert environment of
the Southwest could
be compared to the
master series and an
absolute date
determined
Current master series
dates back to 7000 BC
Sensitivity of rings to
climactic change
depends on their
location, soil, etc.
Clovis



In 1932, amateur
collectors find
projectile points on
the shore of a shallow
dry lake in association
with the bones of
extinct animals
Determined to predate
Folsom (stratigraphic
position)
Marked beginning of
numerous finds of
pre-Holocene artifacts
Franz Boas (1858-1942)

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German-born anthropologist and ethnologist
Help establish field in North America (Columbia University)
His influences directed people to create time sequences for
projectile point shapes, pottery styles and other material
items
Culture was defined by him as “a conglomerate of traits
coalesced and held by a group of people resulting either
from that group’s own peculiar history of invention or from
contact with new ideas originating outside their society.”
A major goal was the complete description of artifacts and
the grouping of artifacts into categories that could be
subdivided into artifact types.
Archaeologists worked to define which cultures were
associated with certain types of artifacts. They classified
potsherds, arrow points and burial mounds as belonging to
certain cultures.
Other important
mid-century theories
 Structuralism
functionalism
/Structural-
– Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942) and
A. R. Radcliffe-Brown (1881-1955)
– Holds that culture traits serve some
useful purpose or function in the
maintenance of society
– Holds that culture traits serve to
maintain society's social structure
Cultural Ecology

Julian Steward (1902-1972)
 Major
works
– Theory of Culture Change; The methodology of
Multilinear Evolution (1955)
– Evolution and Ecology (1977)
– Attempted to integrate the various subfields of
anthropology
– Similar environmental challenges resulted in
similar cultural outcomes
– Focused on how individual cultures evolved
and how environment affects culture
– Rejected unilineal evolution of culture as
proposed by Edward Tylor (1832-1917) and
Lewis Henry Morgan (1818-1881).
Cultural Evolution
First developed in late 19th century using
Darwinian models of biological evolution
and applying them to cultures.
 Tylor and Morgan proposed three stages
of cultural evolution:

– Savage
 The
lowest stage, subsistence on wild plants, no soil
tilling or animal domestication
– Barbaric
 Starting
to use agriculture
– Civilization
 Begins
with the art of writing, which binds together
the past and the future
Post-World War II

Beginnings of salvage archaeology in the
United States
– Interagency Archaeological Salvage Program
 Excavated
sites located along rivers prior to their
being dammed.
 Especially active on the Great Plains
– Missouri River Basin Project
 First salvage project
 Lasted from 1946-1967
 Discovered and recorded more than 20,000 sites
 Conducted more than 500 major excavations
 More than 2,600 reports and manuscripts
Site nomenclature in the United
States


AL
01
HI
50
MA
19
NM
29
SD
39
AK
49
ID
10
MI
20
NY
30
TN
40
AR
02
IL
11
MN
21
NC
31
TX
41
AZ
03
IN
12
MS
22
ND
32
UT
42
CA
04
IA
13
MO
23
OH
33
VT
43
CO
05
KS
14
MT
24
OK
34
VA
44
CT
06
KY
15
NE
25
OR
35
WA
45
DE
07
LA
16
NV
26
PA
36
WV
46
FL
08
ME
17
NH
27
RI
37
WI
47
GA
09
MD
18
NJ
28
SC
38
WY
48
Site numbers are assigned
based on the standard
developed by the
Smithsonian Institution in
the 1940’s for an
archaeological River Basin
Survey project.
Site numbers are
composed of three
components, which result
in a unique number, but
also allow for the
identification of a site's
state and county level
location.
Walter W. Taylor

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Walter W. Taylor (1913-1997)
Carried out research in the American southwest
and Mexico
1948 doctoral dissertation (later published as A
Study of Archaeology)
– Landmark work in the history of North American
archaeology
– Criticized archaeologists for not focusing on
anthropology. He said that archaeology as it was
currently being conducted was not archaeology; rather,
it was historical reconstruction.
– This was one of the first times that archaeology and
cultural processes were deemed important aspects of
archaeology.
Taylor’s reforms

Reforms for the current (1940s) archaeological manner of thinking
are proposed by Taylor:
– (1) inferences should be based on fact (use of the scientific method);
– (2) archaeologists need more categories, not fewer, and need to divide
those into empirical versus cultural categories;
– (3) archaeologists need an emic outlook for typology issues;
– (4) all research should involve a geographical background; and
– (5) cultural ethnography should be done if possible.


Taylor also outlines the need for field schools, or places that
students can learn from professional archaeologists while the
professional archaeologists benefit by getting free, trained labor.
Other reforms that Taylor advocates are:
– (1) data should be quantified;
– (2) hypotheses should be tested;
– (3) archaeologists should excavate less extensively and more
intensively;
– (4) nothing on a site should be thrown away, not even food remains;
– (5) archaeology should embrace more specialties, such as zoology and
botany; and
– (6) archaeologists should write more effective site reports, including
things like provenience.
New Archaeology

Lewis R. Binford (b. 1930)
– New Perspectives in Archaeology (1968)

Edited with his wife Sally Binford
– An Archaeological Perspective (1972)
– Nunamiut Ethnoarchaeology (1978)
– In Pursuit of the Past: Decoding the Archaeological Record (1983)

Often referred to as “processal archaeology”
– Develop general laws of cultural processes


Understanding the archaeological record is only possible through
an understanding of the process through which it was formed
Stressed the importance of “ethnoarchaeology”
– the study of living peoples and their material cultures with the goal
being the more complete understanding of the archaeological record.


Challenged assumption that much of the past was unknowable
merely because the data did not survive: the job was to develop
methods for extracting such information
Dominant theoretical perspective in the Americas from the 1960s
onwards
Other important theoretical approaches in the Americas

Cultural materialism
– Marvin Harris (b. 1927)


Cows, Pigs, Wars & Witches: The Riddles of Culture (1974)
Cannibals and Kings: The Origins of Culture (1978)
– Cultural materialists study technology, environment, and
economic factors.
– They believe that these material constraints are the primary
cause of cultural variation.
– They divide cultural traits into three categories: the
infrastructure, structure and superstructure.

The infrastructure is what determines cultural variation and change
as infrastructure contains sociocultural systems that are
materialistic, such as physical, mechanical, genetic or biological
systems.
– Cultural materialists argue that feedback relationships
between culture and environment select for certain traits
within a culture. They also argue that the development of new
technology precedes, and results in cultural change

Opponents of cultural materialism argue that cultural
materialists ignore the importance that ideas and political
ideologies can have on cultures and culture change.
 Marxism
– Still very important in American
academia
– Marx was strongly influenced by Lewis
Henry Morgan
 Unilinear
cultural evolution
– Cultural materialists often have strong
Marxist leanings
– Stress on modes of production as
correlating with cultural manifestations
– Emphasis on material culture has
provided a strong connection for many
archaeologists

Federal legislation concerning archaeology I
Act for the Preservation of American Antiquities
(1906)
– First law of its kind in the United States
– Fine of $500 for the unauthorized excavation, injury,
destruction or appropriation of historic or pre-historic
sites

Historic Preservation Act 1966
– Created the National Register of Historic Places that
would include districts, sites, buildings, structures, and
objects that were significant in American history,
architecture, archaeology, and culture.

National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
– Federal agencies have to write an environmental impact
statement for all major federal actions affecting both the
natural and man-made environment.
– Also applies to any project receiving federal funding
(roads, etc.)
Federal legislation concerning archaeology II

Archaeological Resources Protection Act 1979
– It covers all land that the United States holds and Native American
lands, which are held in trust by the U.S
– Definition of archaeological resources and how to go about researching
them.
– archaeological resource if material remains of past human life or
activities are found. These items must be at least 100 years old and
contain information dealing with human life or activities.
– Nothing that has been found on federal or Native American lands can
be sold, exchanged, etc.
– Fines of up to $100,000 and prison time of up to five years could be
handed out for breaking these provisions.

Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990
– Museums and agencies that receive federal funding must keep and
inventory all human remains, funerary objects, and sacred objects.
– Federally recognized Native American Tribes, including Native Hawaiian
organizations can repatriate these items.
– A federal agency or tribe must deal with any graves that are
inadvertently discovered. They then contact the affiliated Native
American group.
Week 2 – Sites (West)
– Pecos Pueblo
– Folsom
– Casa Grande /
Snaketown
– Clovis
Major Missouri River Basin Project Excavations
The End