Behavioral Archaeology (Foundations of Archaeological Inquiry) - Softcover

Michael Brian Schiffer (author)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0874805015 ISBN 13: 9780874805017

Publisher: University of Utah Press, 2002

Synopsis

Behavioral archaeology is an emerging branch of anthropology emphasizing the study of relationships between human behavior and artifacts (material culture) in all times and places. As such, it aspires to make contributions beyond the confines of archaeology to other behavioral sciences and to society in general. Behavioral Archaeology is a selection of writings by Michael Schiffer, one of the field's primary proponents. The chapters include important works published between 1972 and 1987, the formative period of behavioral archaeology. Schiffer has crafted a lengthy introduction to the coume, a personal history that contextualizes the development of these works. Also new is the last chapter, which lists - and keys to the preceding chapters - the field's most important principles, tenets, and premises. Readers will discover that although behavioral archaeologist have put archaeological inference on a scientific footing and have fostered the growth of experimental archaeology and ethnoarchaeology as research strategies, behavioral archaeology is not confined to methodology. Indeed, cultivation of the fields established here is leading to the development of new behavioral science focused on studies of people-artifact interactions. By closely juxtaposing method and theory, principles and applications, science and history, this book illustrates the coherence and scope of behavioral archaeology's conceptual framework.

About this title

About the Author

Michael Schiffer is professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Utah Press
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0874805015
• ISBN 13: 9780874805017
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304