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Research Traditions, Public Policy, and the Underdevelopment of Theory in Plains Archaeology: Tracing the Legacy of the Missouri Basin Project

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Mark D. Mitchell
Mark D. Mitchell*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309 ([email protected])
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Abstract

For more than 40 years archaeologists have been engaged in a self-conscious appraisal of the factors influencing the development of archaeological theory. The importance of external social and political forces has been widely acknowledged; however, less attention has been paid to the ways in which routine disciplinary practices authorize and reproduce particular theoretical standpoints. To illustrate how the growth of archaeological theory is intertwined with the practice of archaeological research, the goals and structure of one of the nation's first large-scale public archaeology projects, the River Basin Surveys' Missouri Basin Project (MBP), are considered and their effects on contemporary theory in Plains archaeology are evaluated. Today, theory in Plains archaeology remains implicit and for many projects culture history remains the central focus. The persistence of this research tradition can be traced in part to the success of the MBP in establishing new standards of practice for the region. Throughout the 1950s, MBP archaeologists pursued a distinctive research agenda that institutionalized inductive, culture-historical investigations. However, by the late 1960s many American archaeologists had adopted a new model of preservation, one that necessitated a new set of research practices. Because the MBP was not replaced by a new exemplar of practice, the culture historical research it championed continues to influence theory in Plains archaeology today.

Desde los años sesenta del siglo vente, los arqueologos se han dedicado a una evaluación critíca de la construcción de teoría. Mucho de este juicio se ha enfocado en descubrir las fuentes de la teoría arqueólogica. Mientras se han reconocido ampliamente la apropiación de conceptos teóricos de otros campos de estudio y de la dependencia de la teoría arqueológica en contextos sociales y políticos contemporáneos, se ha prestado menos atención a las maneras en que se reproducen o autorizan puntos de vista teóricos particulares a través de las prácticas rutinarias de la disciplina. Para demostrar cómo el desarrollo de la teoría arqueológica se entrelaza en la práctica con las investigaciones arqueológicas, se consideran los objetivos y la estructura del primer proyecto arqueológico público de gran escala, el Missouri Basin Project de los River Basin Surveys (MBP), y se evalúan sus efectos en la teoría contemporánea de la arqueología de las llanuras norteamericanas. Hoy en día, la teoría de la arqueología de las llanuras queda implícita y enfocada ante todo en la clasificación y en la taxonomía. La tenacidadde esta investigación histórico-cultural se puede atribuir en parte a los discursos fundadores alrededor de las cuales se desarrolló el MBP y a los cambios subsecuentes en la política pública, de las cuales muchos se presentaron fuera de la práctica profesional de la arqueología. Por los años cincuenta, los arqueólogos del MBP persiguieron una agenda de investigación progresiva y particular. Sin embargo, como el centro de la gravedad cambió en la arqueología profesional durante los años sesenta, los investigadores del MBP no podían adaptarse. Porque el MBP no se reemplazó por una tradición alternativa de investigación, el enfoque histórico-cultural que defendió queda en gran parte intacto hasta hoy.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 71 , Issue 2 , April 2006 , pp. 381 - 396
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2006

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