Archaeology on the Threshold

New perspectives on transitions in humanhistory

Thisbook is about transitional periods of cultural and environmental change as seenthrough the lenses of archaeology and ethnography. Incorporating data fromacross six continents and tracing the human experience from the LatePleistocene to the present, these chapters offer a global comparative perspectiveon transitional states. Questionsof causality are considered, as are hypotheses about the processes of culturalchange.

Archaeology on theThresholdfocuses on major transitions such as the shift from foraging to agriculture,the adoption of new technologies, the emergence of large-scale societies, thetransition from egalitarian to inegalitarian leadership, and changes that occurin socioeconomic and ideological systems as a result of climate change anddisease. Theoretical approaches range from processual to postprocessual,humanistic, and interpretive. Methodologies include ethnoarchaeology, the useof ethnographic analogy,cross-cultural comparisons and large-scale data approaches, oral history, thehistorical record, participant observation, and focus group discussions.

Challengingarchaeologists to query long-held assumptions and theoretical positions, thisvolume aims to refocus inquiry into change-causing and larger evolutionaryprocesses to problematize notions of revolutionary, irrevocable change. These case studiesexamine and shed light on assumptions regarding the linearity and oscillationsof adaptations, with intriguing implications for archaeological inferences.