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Conceptual Differences between Mexican and Peruvian Archaeology
Author(s) -
Patterson Thomas C.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
american anthropologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1548-1433
pISSN - 0002-7294
DOI - 10.1525/aa.1996.98.3.02a00040
Subject(s) - anthropology , archaeology , state (computer science) , sociology , history , empirical research , ethnology , epistemology , philosophy , algorithm , computer science
This essay asks why interpretations of pre‐Columbian history and state formation in Mexico and Peru are framed in different terms by archaeologists. While the differences are due in part to the empirical realities of the two civilizations, this essay explores how sociological considerations and theoretical orientations of archaeologists as they interpreted those empirical realities contributed to the construction of the interpretive differences.