Equity Issues for Women in Archeology

Abstract

university groups, and amateurs all vied for a spot on the archaeological landscape. Turf fights were commonplace, such as the bitter feud between William S. Webb and T. M. N. Lewis. Archaeologists were forced to battle government bureaucracy, regulations, and miles of red tape. The National Research Council and the Smithsonian Institution were often involved; yet out of all this chaos came important research that is still being analyzed and interpreted. The archaeology of this era provided the basis of much of our understanding of Southeastern culture history and many new field and laboratory techniques. Lyon also reviews changes in paradigms during this period. From the impact of the University of Chicago field school on many of the region's most important archaeologists, to the attempted introduction of the McKern Midwest Taxonomic system into the region, to debates on how to properly classify ceramics, the Southeast was a battlefield of archaeological method in North America during the middle of the century. Lyon focuses on two major developments: the stratigraphic method and the direct historic approach. While neither of these methods were invented in the Southeast, they became important during the 1930s. Lyon traces the use of the direct historic approach in the Southeast to the influential work of the ethnologist John R. Swanton. In particular, Swanton worked with archaeologists to attempt to determine the route of the Spanish explorer, Hernando de Soto. Lyon includes modern maps showing the locations of the major projects summarized in the text. The book also includes many historical photographs of federally-sponsored excavations, key figures, and laboratory views. The 24-page bibliography is a very useful guide to Depression Era archaeological publications. New students will find this an excellent source to key primary data. These are both excellent books, and belong on the bookshelf of anyone curious about the development of our discipline in eastern North America. Along with such recent works as Stanley South's Pioneers of Historical Archaeology (1994) and the autobiographical Accidental Archaeologist by Jesse Jennings (1994), they form an important new look at our roots.

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