Anthropology is the red herring in this thread. Everything anyone does is
colored by one's training. That is, or should be, a given. The Prime
Directive, that archaeology is anthropology or it is nothing, does not
dictate that all archaeological efforts must illuminate subjects taught in
anthropology classrooms.

There are other disciplines, and other ways of asking questions, and other
uses for archaeological evidence. After all, archaeology began as a branch
of art history, and still is taught in art-history departments.

Clearly, we must transcend the traditional narrow questions of
anthropology. If there is a railroad grade in the project area, it must be
studied in the contexts of transport history, commerce, history of
technology, civil-engineering history, and (horror of horrors) the hobby of
railroad enthusiasm. We must ask questions in terms of those disciplines,
and not just anthropology.

All these interests are equally entitled to the same full-blown attention
as we traditionally devote to the anthropological community. If one digs a
railroad site, one should be obligated to publish as thoroughly in
rail-history journals (for example) as in archaeological journals. If we
complain that other disciplines don't listen to us, maybe it is because we
are talking to ourselves and not to them. Unfortunately, too many CRM
archaeologists are utterly ignorant of the literature of these related
disciplines, and therefore are unable to frame intelligent research
questions.

Criterion D must not be limited; it needs to be a blanket.

It therefore follows that archaeological training, or orientation, should
first and foremost be centered on generalism, not the narrower approach of
anthropology that excludes any research design that cannot be expressed as
anthropological questions.

Yes, indeed, research designs can be destructive, if they are written
without the benefit of input from the site itself, and from the myriad of
populations that might be served by interpreting the site.

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