Prologue to a contextual archaeology

The thesis of this essay is that a gap presently exists between the research interests of modern scientific archaeology and the research methodology which structures archaeological investigation. It is argued that this is a function of the traditional objectives of archaeology, and that a methodology justified by a distinctive set of goals is necessary to produce studies more closely related to present archaeological concerns. The traditional goals of archaeology are here characterized as the historical result of prior interests, reinforced by the character of formal programmes of graduate study. The set of distinctive goals identified in the essay derives from assessment of the significance of methodologies appropriate to the investigation of palaeoenvironments in modelling prehistoric cultural systems and subsystems.The proposed methodology is substantively, as well as substantially, different from methodologies in present use. I have called it Contextual Archaeology in recognition of its debt to the statement of an archaeologically-significant method Butzer (1978) has advanced under the name Contextual Approach. It is argued here that contextual archaeology, despite practical problems, is both a productive and an implementable alternative.     

Prologue to Uses of Chemical Residues to Make Statements About Human Activities

Soil chemistry provides the potential for interpreting the archaeological record without necessarily resorting to artifacts, historical documents, ethnoarchaeological observations, or experiments. The range of studies incorporating new technological developments, such as mass spectrometry and multi-element analyses, for analyzing and interpreting the chemical residues found at archaeological sites or modern contexts are increasing in the literature. However, the dilemmas of interpretation concentrate on evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of different techniques. Analytical approaches to how scientists make use of chemical residues to make statements about the past, discussed here, expand the potential of the breadth of techniques to investigate daily life activities and further our understanding of the materiality of social life.     

Kennedy and Cuba: Then and Now

Book reviewed:
Sheldon Stern. Averting 'the Final Failure': John F. Kennedy and the Secret Cuban Missile Crisis Meetings . Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2003. 496 pp. Illus. $35.00 (cloth).
Alice L. George. Awaiting Armageddon: How Americans Faced the Cuban Missile Crisis . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003. Illus., notes, bibliography, index. $29.95 (cloth).     

墨西哥革命:从官方史学到修正派史学

墨西哥革命史学思潮的发展趋势与革命后墨西哥经济、政治、思想和学术潮流的变化密不可分。革命期间到20世纪30年代,各革命派系皆站在自身的立场上评价墨西哥革命;30年代后,为了促进国家的统一,在墨西哥政府和执政党的直接倡导和参与下,创立了墨西哥革命的官方史学;四五十年代后,特别是1968年特拉特洛尔科事件后,随着墨西哥经济增长和政治稳定奇迹的终结,以及国内历史学科的发展和国际学术交流的影响,产生了修正派史学。然而,80年代以后,修正派史学在某些方面也受到一定的质疑。