Journal ArticleDOI
Method and Theory in Coastal New York Archaeology: Paradigms of Settlement Pattern
Abstract:
Settlement pattern research in Coastal New York follows the philosophical structure of advances in method and theory in science. Two alternative paradigms for settlement pattern complexity are currently under debate with the traditional based on maize as the principal factor to promote or “allow” increased sedentism, and the new on the European fur-wampum trade. The history of the two paradigms is presented and five important issues are discussed and evaluated as supporting evidence: archaeological maize, pollen, soil, fertilizer, and settlement pattern models. The evidence appears to offer stronger support for the new. The major goal of this paper is to outline past and present archaeological research as a basis for future directions; it is also to serve as a rejoinder to Silver's (1980) comments on an earlier article of mine (1979) in this journal.read more
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Journal ArticleDOI
Aboriginal Settlement Patterns in the Northeast. William A. Ritchie and Robert E. Funk. New York State Museum and Science Service, Memoir 20, 1973. The University of the State of New York, Albany. 369 pp., index. $4.50 (paper).
TL;DR: Thomas as discussed by the authors argues for a cultural, rather than an environmental, control partly because he finds only a partial correlation between population density and climate, seeing instead a congruence between man and local vegetation.
Journal ArticleDOI
Regional Surveys in the Eastern United States: The Strengths and Weaknesses of Implementing Subsurface Testing Programs
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compared the results of an Eastern subsurface survey with a pedestrian surface survey conducted in the Southwest and found that carefully designed surveys, although extremely labor-intensive, can provide settlement-pattern information as detailed as that collected in surface surveys.
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Mannahatta: An Ecological First Look at the Manhattan Landscape Prior to Henry Hudson
Eric W. Sanderson,Marianne Brown +1 more
TL;DR: The British Headquarters Map, circa 1782, provides a remarkable win- dow onto the natural topography, hydrology, and land cover of Manhattan Island, NY, before extensive urbanization as discussed by the authors.
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A Grass-Lined Maize Storage Pit and Early Maize Horticulture in Central Connecticut:
TL;DR: Evidence from the Burnham-Shepard Site, a 14th century occupation in the middle Connecticut River Valley, suggests more intensive involvement with the production and storage of maize, beans and sunflower than in coastal areas of New England.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Strong Inference: Certain systematic methods of scientific thinking may produce much more rapid progress than others
TL;DR: Weinberg as mentioned in this paper pointed out that some fields of science are moving forward very much faster than others, perhaps by an order of magnitude, if numbers could be put on such estimates.
Certain systematic methods of scientific thinking may produce much more rapid progress than others.
TL;DR: Anyone who looks at the matter closely will agree that some fields of science are moving forward very much faster than others, perhaps by an order of magnitude, if numbers could be put on such estimates.
Book
Cultural and natural areas of native North America
TL;DR: Wertheim as discussed by the authors developed the subject matter in a logical and comprehensive way, and dealt with the various portions at a length commensurate to their relative importance, and made several innovations which should meet with approval by all.
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Environmental Limitation on the Development of Culture1
TL;DR: The relationship between environment and culture has been clarified to such an extent that Coon as mentioned in this paper could phrase it recently in more causal terms than Wissler could use two decades before: "Differences in environment are the chief if not the only reason why historical changes have proceeded at different rates in different places, and why more complicated systems have not diffused more rapidly from centers of development."