Publisher's Synopsis
Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, Volume 6 is a collection of papers dealing with the study of man's ancestors in antiquity. One paper compares archaeology in Europe and in North America where turn-of-the-century archaeologists, both professionals and amateurs, have contributed to the development of the science. Their contribution has led to an institutional sense of delineating professionals and amateurs in archaeological science and, more substantially, in matters of defining stone tools, cultural occupations, and cultural change. Another paper discusses large-scale stylistic trait distribution in broad terms related to archaeology, sociology, and geography. A model of cultural evolution simplifies anthropological concept of cultural complexity into inequality and heterogeneity, which are measurable variables to test hypotheses of cultural evolution. One paper cites the case of the Maya as subsistence and complex societies to show the diversity of Maya agriculture and other subsistence subsystems. One paper notes that the concepts and theory which archaeologists are using tend to be more sophisticated than their ability to provide samples of observations for testing. The collection is suitable for professional or amateur archaeologists, anthropologist, sociologists, and researchers interested in pre-historical times and cultures.
