Hunter-Gatherers: Archaeological and Evolutionary Theory

What happened to middle range theory? How do social/cultural anthropology and other anthropological disciplines relate to archaeology today? What are the questions driving the disciplines and how are researchers trying to answer them in a program that has as its goal a General Theory of Humanity? This book will bring you up to the end of the 80s on these questions. There is certainly some use of jargon but certainly less than in many other disciplines; as such, this book will be difficult for the newcomer who hasn't studied hunter-gatherers, human ecology, "New" archaeology, and "middle range theory," but this book is not really meant for the uninitiated. It is an intellectual history of the importance of hunter-gatherers as a research subject, their importance to several subdisciplines of anthropology and other disciplines, and the history of intellectual thought regarding this integral phase of human existence. I think this book is highly valuable as a milestone for those pursuing in depth a program of understanding the theory behind the narratives-how do archaeologists and anthropologists make claims for the behavior of ancient peoples? How is behavior reflected in archaeological remains? How do archaeologists cross from the remains in the ground to the narratives of past lifeways that they produce in varying forms, from site reports to popular nonfiction works? If only these books were more affordable! WWU 1991, UAF 2000, working archaeological consultant in Alaska