Setting the Agenda for American Archaeology: The National Research Council Archaeological Conferences of 1929, 1932, and 1935

503 Pages·2001·24.84 MB·English

by  Michael J. O'Brien

Settin! the A!enda
for American Archaeolo!y
Classics in Southeastern Archaeology
Stephen Williams, Series Editor
Publication of this work has been supported in part by
the Dan Josselyn Memorial Fund
Settin! the A!enda
for American Archaeolo,,:
The National Research Council
Conferences
Archaeolo~ical
of and
1929, 1932, 1935
Edited and with an Introduction by
Michael]. O'Brien and R. Lee Lyman
THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PRESS
Tuscaloosa
Copyright © 2001
The University of Alabama Press
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0380
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
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The paper on which this book is printed meets the minimum requirements of American
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Setting the agenda for American archaeology: the National Research Council
archaeological conferences of 1929, 1932, and 1935 / edited and with an introduction by
Michael]. O'Brien and R. Lee Lyman. p. cm. - (Classics in southeastern archaeology)
Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8173-1084-3 (alk. paper)
1. Archaeology-Research-United States-HistorY-2oth century. 2. National Research
Council (U.S.). Committee on State Archaeological Surveys. I. O'Brien, Michael J.
(Michael John), 1950- II. Lyman, R. Lee. III. Series.
CC95 .S48 2001
930.1-dc2I
00-012564
ISBN 978-0-8173-1084-4 (alk. paper) - ISBN 978-0-8173-1353-1 (electronic)
Contents
List of Illustrations Vll
Preface and Acknowledgments lX
Introduction
Michael J O'Brien and R. Lee Lyman
I. Report of the Conference on Midwestern
Archaeology, St. Louis, 1929 85
2. Conference on Southern Pre-History, Birmingham, 1932 207
3· The Indianapolis Archaeological Conference, 1935 333
Appendix I. State Archaeological Surveys:
Suggestions in Method and Technique 429
Appendix 2. Guide Leaflet for Amateur Archaeologists 455

III ustrations
Clark Wissler 5
Roland B. Dixon 5
Arthur C. Parker 13
A. V. Kidder with Alfred M. Tozzer and Carl E. Guthe 19
Frederick W Hodge 27
Matthew W Stirling alongside Olmec colossal
head 4 at La Venta 29
Fay-Cooper Cole 38
John R. Swanton 42
Henry B. Collins 43
James B. Griffin examining pottery from the Kincaid site 49
W C. McKern 51
The analytical relations among traits, components, and foci in
the Midwestern Taxonomic Method 56
The Serpent Mound, Adams County, Ohio 86
Monk's Mound, Cahokia Group, in East St. Louis, Illinois 203
The "Red" Mound at Cahokia 203
Pottery vessels from the mounds near Lewiston, Illinois 203
Example of methods of excavation at Lewiston, Illinois 204
Post-molds uncovered by excavation of a mound near
Pembroke, Kentucky 205
Specimen of pottery used by the "Hopewell" people of Ohio 205
Examples of handiwork found in a "Hopewell" mound north
of La Crosse, Wisconsin 206
Mound B at Moundville 208
Conferees attending the 1932 Conference on Southern Pre-History
in Birmingham, Alabama 209
Indian tribes and linguistic stocks in the eastern part of the
United States about 1700 324
Relation of Indian tribes in the Southeast to
the physical divisions 325
Hypothetical route of De Soto 327
Distribution of certain cultural traits in the Southeast 328
Tribal movements of the eastern Indians 329
Significant tribal locations 330
Archaeological culture areas 331
Tentative Archaeological Culture Classification for
Upper Mississippi and Great Lakes areas 414
Preface and Acknowledgments
One of the lesser-known aspects of Americanist archaeology is the sub
stantial role played by the National Research Council during the 1920S
and 1930S. Our use of the term "lesser-known" is not meant to imply that
the role of the National Research Council (NRC) has gone unreported
(see Griffin 1976a, 1985; Guthe 1952, 1967) but rather that its critical im
portance in shaping the course and complexion of Americanist archaeol
ogy has perhaps not been given the place in the history of the discipline
that it deserves. And yet, it really wasn't the NRC itself that played the
critical role but rather the archaeologists affiliated with it-persons such
as Roland B. Dixon, A. V. Kidder, Frederick W. Hodge, Clark Wissler,
and Carl E. Guthe. Their vehicle for plotting the future course of archae
ology in the United States, especially in the Midwest and Southeast, was
the Committee on State Archaeological Surveys (CSAS), which was or
ganized in 1920 under the newly created Division of Anthropology and
Psychology within the NRC. For 17 years, until it was abolished in June
1937, the CSAS labored to bring a sense of professionalism to the manner
in which archaeology was being conducted in the United States.
Few graduate programs in archaeology existed in the 1920S and 1930S,
and those that did-first at Harvard, Chicago, Pennsylvania, California,
and Columbia and eventually at Yale and Michigan-had not turned out
enough archaeologists to meet the curricular needs of private and public
colleges and universities, which increasingly were offering courses not only
in prehistory but also in such practical aspects as excavation and artifact
analysis. For example, at our own institution, the University of Missouri,
archaeology was taught by a historian of the ancient world and by a soci-