Lyman, R. L. and O'Brien, M. J. (2004). A history of normative theory in Americanist archaeology. J Archaeol Method Theory 11 (4). Vol 11(4), pp. 369-396.
 Title The title of the publication or report |
A history of normative theory in Americanist archaeology | ||
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Issue The name of the volume or issue |
J Archaeol Method Theory 11 (4) | ||
Series The series the publication or report is included in |
Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory | ||
Volume Volume number and part |
11 (4) | ||
Page Start/End The start and end page numbers. |
369 - 396 | ||
Biblio Note This is a Bibliographic record only. |
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Publication Type The type of publication - report, monograph, journal article or chapter from a book |
Journal | ||
Abstract The abstract describing the content of the publication or report |
The paper considers efforts in the 1960s to demonstrate the value of the new archaeology, which involved showing that the competing culture--history paradigm was inferior. One allegedly weak plank in that paradigm had to do with how culture historians viewed culture -- as a set of ideas transmitted in the form of ideal norms or mental templates. Lewis Binford referred to this view as normative theory. In archaeology that view was manifest in the equation of artefact types with prehistoric norms -- an equation that, according to Binford, the culture historians had made so that they could track the flow of ideas through time and thus write culture history. Culture historians regularly subscribed to cultural transmission as the theoretical backdrop for their artefact-based chronometers such as seriation and the direct historical approach, but with few exceptions they perceived only a weak relationship between norms and artefact types. It was not until 1960, in a paper by James Gifford, that what Binford labelled as normative theory appeared in anything approaching a complete form. Ironically, the first applications of normative theory were products of the new archaeologists, not the culture historians. | ||
Year of Publication The year the book, article or report was published |
2004 | ||
Locations Any locations covered by the publication or report. This is not the place the book or report was published. |
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Source Where the record has come from or which dataset it was orginally included in. |
BIAB
(The British & Irish Archaeological Bibliography (BIAB))
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Created Date The date the record of the pubication was first entered |
08 May 2007 |
