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Complex Society Archaeology*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

William J. Mayer-Oakes
William J. Mayer-Oakes*
Affiliation:
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba
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Abstract

Several currents of anthropological research specialization are historically important for the development of a modern approach to the study of ancient, complex societies. These currents are: (a) Taylor's conjunctive approach; (b) developmentalism; (c) settlement-pattern studies; (d) human ecology; and (e) urbanization studies. A case study of the writer's “dirt archaeology” approach in the Valley of Mexico indicates the nature of sampling, as well as typological and basic theory problems encountered in studying complex societies. This sort of field work and interpretation implies need for a new kind of basic field-observational work oriented to a theory of ancient social structure and utilizing techniques of intradisciplinary team research.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 29 , Issue 1 , July 1963 , pp. 57 - 60
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1963

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Footnotes

*

This paper was presented at the 28th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Tucson, Arizona, May 3-5, 1962.

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