Debating Archaeology

About this book

In this book Biford collects and comments on the twenty-eight substantive papers he has published in the 1980s just as he collected and commented on his papers of the 1970s in Working at Archaeology (Academic Press 1983) and his papers of the 1960s in An Archaeological Perspective (Academic Press 1972). This ongoing collection of self-edited papers together with the extensive and very candid interstitial commentaries provides an invaluable record of the development of "The New Archaeology" and a challenging view into the mind of the man who is certainly the most creative archaeological theorist of our time. Key Features As the leading theoretician and principal spokesman of the "New Archaeology" for the past thirty years all archaeologists find Binfords Debating Archaeology an important addition to the literature This book includes: Extensive discussions of empiricism and the assumptions of "post Processual" archaeology Discussions of science as a learning process in conflict with empiricism Examination of the current scholarly conflict over the nature of early hominids Examination of the current scholarly conflicts in archaeological theory A reexamination of several old established sites which does not support their traditional interpretations