Customer Reviews

Study of Archaeology

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Written originally as a Ph.D. dissertation in 1948, Taylor's work is a starting point in archaeological theory that everyone associated with the discipline needs to read.

Taylor, at the time a young archaeologist barely beginning his professional career, took the bold step of writing a scorching critique of the state of American archaeology at that time. Essentially, Taylor criticized American archaeology as adopting an approach that essentially amounted to no more than the creation of lists of traits and classifications of artifacts - something that could never lead to a real understanding of human cultures in the past.

Taylor's alternative was a process he called the "conjunctive approach". By this, he meant and argued for a holistic, total study of past human cultures through a multidisciplinary research strategy that would include environmental, geographical, physical, statistical, ethnographic, and historical data as well as archaeological study. Thus, through the use of many lines of evidence conjoined - "conjunctive" - a total picture of the past human culture under study would emerge.

Equally if not more importantly, Taylor argued that the study of human culture was the study of MENTAL CONSTRUCTS, and that the study of artifacts, site patterning, and forms would lead to an understanding of the mental worldview of the people creating past human cultures. This is in stark contrast to later archaeologists such as Binford, who, despite claiming to rely on Taylor's work, essentially ignored Taylor's ideas about the mental elements of human culture in favor of a systemic approach that took human volition and will out of the picture altogether.

This book is a must-read for anyone interested in archaeology, and is still eminently readable more than 60 years after publication.

The book itself does not inspire confidence when looking at it. The information that is in the book is very helpful, but I have to say that it needs a little updating. This text is essential for anyone wanting to go to graduate school and study archaeology on the graduate level. Keep in mind it was written sixty years ago. Methods and techniqes are more refined, but it is a good thing to have in graduate work.