Anthropology 2229F/G Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Lewis Binford, Scientific Method, Ethnoarchaeology
18 Jul 2012
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Lecture 5 part 2 archaeology in the americas. New archaeology/processual archaeology: also called the explanatory period, focuses more an explanations, began about 1960, lewis binford: leader of this approach. Return to the idea of evolution of culture. Basically encouraged to study in different directions and go beyond specific cases and make generalizations: b. discovering laws /generalizations about culture processes. Thought they could discover them by making generalizations. Overtly concerned with the use of the scientific method and making: c. scientific method. Had to be subjected to a lot of scrutiny. Have you followed the proper ritual to get to your conclusion. Stressed: study of long-term change, development of agriculture, etc: e. materialist explanations. Culture is an adaptive mechanism to cope with the environment. What is the purpose of a certain cultural activity: way for people to survive, trade for creating social ties for aid in times of need, etc.
