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Concepts, Methods, and Theory Building

A Landscape Approach

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Space, Time, and Archaeological Landscapes

Part of the book series: Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology ((IDCA))

Abstract

Space, Time, and Archaeological Landscapes investigates the relationship between the methods and goals of processual archaeology in the 1990s. Processual archaeologists attempt to bring a scientific structure to understanding change in social and economic systems, in the context of theories of adaptation and evolution. The contributors to this volume explore ways to profitably formulate archaeological problems and to link methods with theories in the scientific way associated with the aspirations of processual archaeology. Authors present their research in light of three questions:

  1. 1.

    How can “scientifically compatible” approaches, that is, ones that allow archaeologists to give observations consistent and explicit meanings, be integrated to address the processual questions we bring to the record?

  2. 2.

    Are concepts considered fundamental to archaeology, such as the site, inadequate for a scientific archaeology? If so, what concepts are more compatible with a scientific archaeology?

  3. 3.

    How can scientifically compatible approaches be combined so as to enhance theory building?

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© 1992 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Rossignol, J. (1992). Concepts, Methods, and Theory Building. In: Rossignol, J., Wandsnider, L. (eds) Space, Time, and Archaeological Landscapes. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2450-6_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2450-6_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-2452-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-2450-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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