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Obscuring Cultural Patterns in the Archaeological Record: A Discussion from Southwestern Archaeology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Linda S. Cordell ,
Steadman Upham  and
Sharon L. Brock
Linda S. Cordell
Affiliation:
California Academy of Sciences, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA 94118
Steadman Upham
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003
Sharon L. Brock
Affiliation:
1808 S.E. Sage, Topeka, KS 66605
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Abstract

Failure to distinguish clearly between human behavior and cultural behavior, as well as inattention to procedures for evaluating inferences about the past, undermine some recent efforts in archaeological interpretation. Examples from the archaeological literature of the American Southwest show how analytical confusion may arise when research strategies obscure cultural variability. We are especially concerned about instances in which archaeologists assume that variability in archaeological assemblages derives primarily or exclusively from variability in human behavior (rather than cultural behavior) or from noncultural processes that are instrumental in forming the archaeological record. Suggestions for modifying research strategies to avoid these problems are offered.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 52 , Issue 3 , July 1987 , pp. 565 - 577
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1987

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References

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