Some Problems in North American Archaeology

Abstract

Boas takes this article to discuss some answers to what he sees are the "problems" of doing archaeology in North America, namely the lack of written records. Since we don't have writing, but we do have contemporary Indians, he suggests the use of ethnology and linguistics to help understand prehistory. He then gives an example of how it can be done, looking at different cultural groups on the Pacific coast, their "physical types," customs, beliefs, languages, and objects. Within each of these categories, cultures are looked at in terms of their degrees of similarity to each other. In this way, Boas thinks we can determine in what order cultures entered an area, and therefore understand their origins. Using this information in archaeology will greatly help our interpretations of sites.