APY 610SEM - Method & Theory

This seminar introduces archaeology graduate students to the critical theoretical and methodological issues that are central to Anglo-Americanist archaeology. Using a numerous primary sources, we will study the historical development of the field, highlighting significant changes in the direction and nature of archaeological research from the formation of the culture history paradigm in the early 20th century, through the processual perspective of the past 35 years, to the post processual approach that has emerged since the 1980s. We will examine how theory and method together explain cultural transforma-tions such as the origins of agriculture, the development of social complexity, the rise and fall of states, and other important issues in archaeology, and how explanations are derived through specific approaches including neo-evolutionism, materialism, historicism, functionalism, cultural ecology, behavioral archaeology, practice theory, agency theory, queer theory, gender theory, interaction theory, hermaneutics, interpretive archaeology, cognitive approaches, Neo-Darwinianism, and archaeology as social action.

Credits: 3