The Symposium

Processual Archaeology Beyond Binford:

Current and Future Directions

Friday Morning - April 20th, 2012

Abstract:

      Few active archaeologists remember the field before Lewis R. Binford,

      and few domains within archaeology have not been impacted by his ideas.

      In the last year many have joined a conversation about the current state

      and future direction of processual archaeology.  This symposium highlights

      innovative and ambitious researchers pursuing explicitly scientific learning

      strategies to a wide range of archaeological questions.  Like Binford, they

      seek "to describe the way the world appears to be" and "to explain why

      it is that way.”  These papers reflect the state of processual archaeology

      and point to future directions for Archaeology as Anthropology as Science.

Organizers:

Amber Johnson

     Department of Society and Environment, Truman State University

 John D. Hays

     OpenSourceArchaeology.org

Participants:

Rafael Goni, Sr.  

    Instituto Nacional De Antropologia Y Pensamiento Latinoamericano - Argentina

 Long Term Cultural Processes in Southern Patagonia: Rock Art Distributions and Hunter-Gatherer Mobility Strategies
 

Michael P. Smyth

      Foundation for Americas Research, Inc.

Lewis Binford's Legacy to Processual Archaeology in the Maya Lowlands

William D. Lipe, RPA

     Washington State University

From Survey Quadrats to Cultural Landscapes: Forty-one Years of the Cedar Mesa Project

Pei-Lin Yu

     National Park Service Rocky Mountains Cooperative Ecosystems Study Unit,              Missoula, Montana

Forager intensification and the development of agriculture in the Amazon Basin

Nora V. Franco

     CONICET - Argentina

Comparing hunter-gatherer projections with the distribution of lithic raw

Materials in Southern Patagonia (Argentina)

Christine S. VanPool

     University of Missouri-Columbia

Fifty years of “Archaeology as Anthropology” as Reflected in American Antiquity.

Martha Graham

Ethnoarchaeological Observation and Archaeological Patterning: A Processual Approach

Anna Marie Prentiss

   University of Montana

Assessing Variability in Salmon Processing, Storage, and Consumption at Bridge River, British Columbia

Alan J. Osborn

     Department of Sociology & Anthropology, University of Nebraska-Omaha

Spurred flake gravers, eyed bone needles, and tailor-made skin clothing: Paleoindian responses to the Younger Dryas Cold Event

John D. Hays  

     OpenSourceArchaeology.org

Empirical Falsification and Open Source Archaeology

Paul Nick Kardulias

     College of Wooster

Peripheries as Contact Zones in the Eastern Mediterranean: World-Systems Analysis and the Processual Mandate

Masahiro Kamiya 

     Texas A&M University

Hands of the Past, View to the Future: Seeking Knowledge Growth via a Processual Approach to Paleoethnobotany

Thomas P. Barrett, Ph.D, RPA

     Cultural Resource Analysts, Inc.

Understanding Patterns and Processes in the Past and Making Archaeology Relevant In The Present: Applying Processual Principles to Prehistoric and Contemporary Archaeologies

Discussants:

LuAnn Wandsnider
Department of Anthropology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Rosalind L. Hunter-Anderson

Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico

James G. Enloe
Department of Anthropology, University of Iowa

The Binford Party

Celebrating Binford:

An Evening to Eulogize and Socialize and Remember our tribe's (very) Big Man

Friday Night - April 20th, 2012

6:45p - Heritage 2 Ballroom

Memphis Marriot Downtown

 This April's SAA meetings in Memphis mark one year since the passing of

      Dr. Lewis R. Binford, a scholar, a teacher, a robust intellect and force of

      nature, and a revolutionary scientist who has been acknowledged as,

      "the most influential American archaeologist of the 20th century." 

After a year of loss and reflection, many of Binford's colleagues, students,

      admirers, friends and family are coming together in Memphis to remember

      Lew.  But this is not a private and sad memorial.  This is a Party! -- and all

      archaeologists are welcome.  We are fortunate to have been provided

      facilities by the Society for American Archaeology at the headquarter

      hotel, the Marriott Memphis Downtown.

Celebrating Binford is an occasion to socialize, for storytellers and raconteurs,

      legions of Lew legends, tales  and simple testimonials.  And if these run

      dry, there will be a cash bar.  We will also be providing party food, first

      come - first served.

      This should be a lively party, one Lew would love.

ArchaeoAnth is collecting subscriber contributions.  We will be

      spending $3332.14 for the Celebrating Binford party. 

      Any excess funds will be given to  the

      Lewis R. Binford Fund for Teaching Scientific Reasoning in Archaeology, 

      an endowment fund established by the SAA.  By the end of April, 100%

     of the donations will be used for the party and the SAA fund.