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Archaeology beyond Anthropology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

George J. Gumerman and
David A. Phillips Jr.
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Abstract

Archaeology‘s relationship to anthropology in the United States has been one of a natural and beneficial alliance. Archaeologists are currently showing more of an interest in formal models drawn from outside anthropology, but the classification of American archaeology as a subdiscipline in anthropology generally remains unquestioned. We argue that at the present time archaeological research is being hindered by its institutionalized relationship to anthropology and its uncritical use of models from other disciplines. Archaeologists will make the greatest theoretical progress if they view their discipline as an autonomous technique with no a priori ties to sociocultural anthropology. Archaeology as a technique makes possible a truly interdisciplinary research base, but requires in turn a reorganization of research and training procedure as well as an academic restructuring.

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Articles
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American Antiquity , Volume 43 , Issue 2 , April 1978, pp. 184 - 191
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1978

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