Middle-Range Theory and Hunter-Gatherers

Abstract

The tradition of middle-range theory that dominated the discipline by the 1980s sought to assign meaning to the archaeological record by linking the static (archaeological facts) to the dynamic (human behavior). Importantly, it forced archaeologists to attend to matters of verification and meaning more explicitly. The middle-range program of Lewis Binford gained historical prominence over other theoretically similar programs focused on site formation processes. Influential examples of middle-range research are reviewed, including the forager-collector model, and zooarchaeological models of butchery and discard. Binford’s claim that middle-range theory is independent of general theory, exclusively archaeological in the sense that it should be solely directed at interpretation of the material record is a common, but misguided, conviction. In reality, middle-range theory grounded by a framework of basic guiding principles like any other general theory; and although held otherwise by some, investigation of site formation processes are eminently subject to theoretical investigation.