Fantastic Archaeology: The Wild Side of North American Prehistory

A consideration of the Siberian data by anyone acquainted, albeit summarily, with the major themes of North American prehistory, cannot fail to lead to the formulation of a number of specific problems relating to prehistoric contacts between the Old World and the New and their effect on culture development on both continents. The limitations of available data, time, space, and competence alike set limits to the degree to which they may be fruitfully explored here. Yet it seems worthwhile at least to list the more obvious ones and to comment on them briefly, thereby suggesting directions for future investigation.

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Fantastic Archaeology: The Wild Side of North American Prehistory

Journal of Field Archaeology ◽

10.2307/530434 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 19 (4) ◽

pp. 521 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Francis B. Harrold ◽

Stephen Williams

Keyword(s):

North American ◽

North American Prehistory

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Albert Spaulding and Archaeological Method and Theory

American Antiquity ◽

10.2307/279059 ◽

1977 ◽

Vol 42 (3) ◽

pp. 325-329 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

George L. Cowgill

Keyword(s):

North American ◽

Archaeological Method And Theory ◽

Archaeological Method ◽

North American Prehistory

AbstractMy object here is to list and briefly discuss the themes which seem most important and most valuable in Albert Spaulding's contributions to archaeological method and theory. I have not attempted to be biographical, to deal with his substantive contributions to North American prehistory, or to be exhaustive in mentioning every good idea and useful suggestion he has put into print. My discussion is also incomplete because the flow of major contributions has not ceased. Al is still busy trying new things (Spaulding 1976) and assessing current archaeological fashions with clarity, vigor, and reason (Spaulding 1973,1974).

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The “Levallois-like” Technological System of the Western Stemmed Tradition: A Case of Convergent Evolution in Early North American Prehistory?

Convergent Evolution in Stone-Tool Technology ◽

10.7551/mitpress/11554.003.0020 ◽

2018 ◽

Keyword(s):

North American ◽

Convergent Evolution ◽

Technological System ◽

North American Prehistory ◽

Western Stemmed Tradition

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NO STONE UNTURNED: An Almanac of North American Prehistory. By Louis A. Brennan. Gollanz, 1960, pp. xii + 370, 29 figures, 12 plates. 25s.

Antiquity ◽

10.1017/s0003598x00035857 ◽

1961 ◽

Vol 35 (137) ◽

pp. 70-71

Author(s):

G. H. S. Bushnell

Keyword(s):

North American ◽

North American Prehistory

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Diffusionism Reconsidered: Linguistic and Archaeological Evidence for Prehistoric Polynesian Contact with Southern California

American Antiquity ◽

10.2307/40035309 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 70 (3) ◽

pp. 457-484 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

Author(s):

Terry L. Jones ◽

Kathryn A. Klar

Keyword(s):

North American ◽

Southern California ◽

Historical Contingency ◽

Santa Barbara Channel ◽

Santa Barbara ◽

Construction Technique ◽

Archaeological Evidence ◽

North American Archaeology ◽

The Pacific ◽

North American Prehistory

While the prevailing theoretical orthodoxy of North American archaeology overwhelmingly discourages consideration of transoceanic cultural diffusion, linguistic and archaeological evidence appear to indicate at least one instance of direct cultural contact between Polynesia and southern California during the prehistoric era. Three words used to refer to boats - including the distinctive sewn-plank canoe used by Chumashan and Gabrielino speakers of the southern California coast - are odd by the phonotactic and morphological standards of their languages and appear to correlate with Proto-Central Eastern Polynesian terms associated with woodworking and canoe construction. Chumashan and Gabrielino speakers seem to have borrowed this complex of words along with the sewn-plank construction technique itself sometime between ca. A.D. 400 and 800, at which time there is also evidence for punctuated adaptive change (e.g., increased exploitation of pelagic fish) and appearance of a Polynesian style two-piece bone fishhook in the Santa Barbara Channel. These developments were coeval with a period of major exploratory seafaring by the Polynesians that resulted in the discovery and settlement of Hawaii - the nearest Polynesian outpost to southern California. Archaeological and ethnographic information from the Pacific indicates that the Polynesians had the capabilities of navigation, boat construction, and sailing, as well as the cultural incentives to complete a one-way passage from Hawaii to the mainland of southern California. These findings suggest that diffusion and other forms of historical contingency still need to be considered in constructions of North American prehistory.

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