-----Original Message-----
From: Ned Heite <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sunday, November 30, 1997 7:12 AM
Subject: Extrapolation revisited again
 
 
>Anthony Graesch is absolutely correct in his statement that there are, in
>fact, prehistoric sites where individuals and households can be
>distinguished, in different parts of North America, but that isn't the
>point at issue.
>
>There is a palpable difference, at least in these parts, between the
>European sense of privacy and personal space, and the prehistoric sense of
>community.
[snip]
>
>So naturally, different approaches are called for, and different habits of
>interpretation will develop, long term, among those who interpret different
>types of site.  The prehistorian will be forced to generalize and look at
>people in groups, while the historical archaeologist is permitted to look
>at single families and individuals in great detail, over long time-spans.
>
>These are, broadly stated, important parts of the differences in approach
>between anthropologists and historians. When people trained in either
>discipline become archaeologists, they will bring certain intellectual
>baggage with them.
>
>But that is another well-worn thread that we may or may not wish to follow.
>
 
As Ned has clarified his distinction here between "prehistoric" and
"historic" I'll have to side with Mary Ellin on this one. I'm a bit
surprised that "context" has slipped beneath the covers in this further
elaboration.
 
Prehistoric archaeology has not, to my knowledge, formulated a theory of
"the prehistoric sense of community." And I should think that a "sense of
community" is not confined only to prehistoric populations. At any rate, as
Ned has noted, prehistoric contexts can attend to individuals and households
along with their associated communities of "senses," just as historic
contexts can attend to the "sense of community." Both are methodological
matters and in that "sense," are different at a procedural level, rather
than in some fundamental level of difference due to the contrasting natures
of prehistoric and historic peoples. Tip-toeing along that route takes us
precariously close to a science of ethnocentrism!
 
--Lenny__