AbstractSettlement Archaeology is defined as the study of societal relationships using archaeological data. A separate approach is required because of the inadequacy of the concept of “phase” or “culture” for the investigation of this sort of problem. An examination of the history of Iroquoian warfare in the light of archaeological and ethnological data suggests that while the archaeologist’s ability to interpret prehistoric social phenomena remains severely limited, the questions raised by this sort of approach are important and, among other results, will stimulate a desire to pay still greater attention to traditional problems of cultural archaeology.
