For theory building in archaeology : essays on faunal remains, aquatic resources, spatial analysis, and systemic modeling / edited by Lewis R. Binford.

"Most of the papers grew out of an advanced seminar ... conducted [by the editor at the University of New Mexico]"

Includes bibliographies and indexes.

Part I. Faunal Remains and the Archaeological Record -- 1. Adaptive Process on the Shortgrass Plains / Charles A. Reher -- 2. Of Deerslayers and Mountain men : Paleolithic Faunal Exploitation in Cantabrian Spain / Lawrence Guy Straus -- 3. Bone Frequencies-and Attritional Processes / Lewis R. Binford and Jack B. Bertram -- Part II. Aquatic Resources and Human Adaptations -- 4. Strandloopers, Mermaids, and Other Fairy Tales : Ecological Determinants of Marine Resource Utilization-the Peruvian Case / Alan J. Osborn -- 5. The Structure of an Anadromous Fish Resource / Randall F. Schalk -- 6. Seasonal Phases in Ona Subsistence Territorial Distribution and Organization : Implications for the Archaeological Record / David E. Stuart -- Part III. Space : Its Organized Use and Analysis -- 7. A Theoretical Approach to the Study of House Form / Rosalind L.Hunter-Anderson -- 8. Dummy Data Distributions and Quantitative Methods : An Example Applied to Overlapping Spatial Distributions / Robert K. Vierra and Richard L. Taylor -- Part IV. Modeling and Monitoring Change in Relatively Complex Prehistoric Systems -- 9. Modeling Change in Prehistoric Social Systems / Joseph A. Tainter -- 10 Theory Building and the Study of Evolutionary Process in Complex Societies / J. Stephen Athens -- 11. Precipitation Cycles and Cultural Buffering in the Prehistoric Southwest / L. B. Jorde.

This work is based on the premise that general theories oin archaeology must relate to general conditions of human experience in nature and therefore that theories explaining patterns in human behavior and cultural evolution must be grounded in studies of human ecology and cultural systems. The several studies in this book explore specific subject areas about which strong uniformitarian assumptions may be warranted and which, therefore, may be especially provocative and productive for future theory building. The areas chosen include the archaeological study of faunal remains, the human use of aquatic resources, the anthropological study of the human organization of space, and the study of systems in and for themselves.