A Catalyst for Ideas

Anthropological Archaeology and the Legacy of Douglas W. Schwartz

Edited by Vernon L. Scarborough

In his thirty-four years as president of the School of American Research, Douglas W. Schwartz’s far-reaching vision placed SAR on the intellectual edge of research about humans across the globe. Nowhere is this more evident than in his influence on the field of anthropological archaeology. The twelve essays in this volume celebrate his contributions by looking back at changes in the field and forward to vital questions, methods, and theories yet nascent. Ranging geographically from the North American Southwest-where Schwartz himself conducted extensive research-to Mesopotamia, central America, and the Indian subcontinent and chronologically from early hominid evolution through archaic hunter-gatherers to the classic and historical Maya, the distinguished contributors make the case for Schwartz’s enduring legacy. Addressing major issues in relations of power, writing systems, and directions for future research, this volume is at once mature in its depth and exciting in its boldness.

2005. 440 pp., 49 black-and-white illustrations, 8 tables, notes, references, index, 6 x 9

Contributors: Gary M. Feinman, Carolyn Heitman, Grant D. Jones, Robert L. Kelly, Richard M. Leventhal, Stephen Plog, Anna C. Roosevelt, Jeremy A. Sabloff, Vernon L. Scarborough, Carla M. Sinopoli, Gil J. Stein, David S. Stuart, W. H. Wills, Henry T. Wright

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“Vernon Scarborough has turned a festschrift into a masterful survey of current research into ancient social complexity. This subtle and closely argued portrait of current theoretical argument shows us that archaeology is alive and well. No one interested in such topics as ecology, landscape, and social dynamics should be without it. I cannot imagine a better tribute to Doug Schwartz than this important and timely volume.”
—Brian Fagan, University of California, Santa Barbara

“This volume honors [Douglas Schwartz’s] contributions to archaeology but also reflects SAR’s [School of American Research’s] broader mission – all the contributors were resident scholars at the school and benefited from the … interdisciplinary intellectual stimulation provided at SAR… In sum this is an ambitious book that successfully pays tribute to the School of American Research and to Schwartz’s role as a ‘catalyst for ideas.’”
—William D. Lipe, New Mexico Historical Review, 82, no. 4 (Fall 2007)

Introduction
Vernon L. Scarborough
Hunter-Gatherers, Archaeology, and the Role of Selection in the Evolution of the Human Mind
Robert L. Kelly
Economic Competition and Agricultural Involution in the Precontact North American Southwest
W. H. Wills
Kinship and the Dynamics of the House: Rediscovering Dualism in the Pueblo Past
Carolyn Heitman and Stephen Plog
The Institutionalization of Leadership and Inequality: Integrating Process and History
Gary M. Feinman
“Invisible” Social Sectors in Early Mesopotamian State Societies
Gil Stein
The Polycentricity of the Archaic Civilizations
Henry T. Wright
Ecology in Human Evolution: The Origin of Humans and Their Complex Societies
Anna C. Roosevelt
The Power of Landscapes
Vernon L. Scarborough
Polity and Economy in Fourteenth- through Seventeenth-Century South India: Lessons from Archaeology and History
Carla M. Sinopoli
Ideology and Classic Maya Kingship
David Stuart
Ethnohistorical Knowledge and Interdisciplinary Research: Rethinking Colonial “Resistance” on the Colonial Frontiers of Yucatán
Grant D. Jones
Concluding Comments: The Continuing Vitality of Anthropological Archaeology
Richard M. Leventhal and Jeremy A. Sabloff

There are no working papers for this book at the present time.