Table of Contents

Prologue to the Percheron Press Edition

1. Introduction

2. A Synthetic Model of Archeological Inference

3. Cultural Formation Processes

4. Transformation Models

5. Quantitative Transformations

6. Quantitative and Spatial Transformations

7. An Introduction to the Joint Site

8. General Considerations of Artifact Classification

9. Chipped Stone from the Joint Site

10. Cultural Formation Processes of the Joint Site

11. Systemic Context of the Joint Site

12. Systemic Context of the Chipped Stone

13. Prospects for a Behavioral Archaeology

Appendix

References

Index

About the Author

Michael Brian Schiffer, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.

Reviews

'[A]n important and original essay that tackles the nature and methods of archaeological inference in a fundamental way. [O]ne of the most noteworthy theoretical writings in archaeology in recent years, and, unlike most of the others, it is also delightfully readable.' (K. C. Chang, American Scientist)

'[Schiffer’s] first grand treatise dealing with the interrelationships between laws, cultural and natural formation processes, and their applications for indirect observation of past cultural systems.' (Albert C. Goodyear, American Antiquity)

 '[O]ne of the most important treatments of archaeological methodology. Although it will undoubtedly be a controversial book, even those who do not accept the Schifferian approach will find some imaginative, well-formulated methods that can be used to obtain information about the past.' (Stephen Plog, American Anthropologist)