Archaeology is a constantly changing subdisicpline within Anthropology.  Recent years have seen the proliferation of theories and methodologies for reconstructing the past that includes the integration of processual and post-processual themes, what Michelle Hegmon (2003) has called “processual-plus” and Timothy Pauketat (2004) refers to as “Historical Processualism.”

This site provides reviews of some of these recent trends including the social context of archaeology and history of the discipline.  Graduate students in the SMU Department of Anthropology Principles of Archaeology seminar have written these pages as part of their coursework starting in the fall of 2006. 

Students are tasked with identifying a theoretical topic and then tracing its history, major influences, and proponents through a series of linked pages.  Each of these topically-based web sites contain several components including a historiography of the selected theory, brief biographies of the major proponents, and an extended biography of one individual most associated with the theory.  Students also are asked to provide a review of one archaeological organization of their choice including the mission, goals, membership, and opportunities provided within this organization to its members. 

The second goal of the project is to develop some objective measures of trends over time in the discipline through survey of articles in three major journals:  American Antiquity, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, and World Archaeology.  Each student is assigned a specific year and is charged with collecting quantitative and qualitative data on the research articles published within each of the three journals.  Survey data were compiled and students have provided summaries of research trends by year in their individual web pages.

We hope you enjoy this site and find it useful.  Links to the student projects are listed in the sidebar and additional information may be found in the Project Description.  Please check back with us occasionally to watch this site grow over time.