Americanist Stratigraphic Excavation and the Measurement of Culture Change

Many versions of the history of Americanist archaeology suggest there was a stratigraphic revolution during the second decade of the twentieth century—the implication being that prior to about 1915 most archaeologists did not excavate stratigraphically. However, articles and reports published during the late nineteenth century and first decade of the twentieth century indicate clearly that many Americanists in fact did excavate stratigraphically. What they did not do was attempt to measure the passage of time and hence culture change. The real revolution in Americanist archaeology comprised an analytical shift from studying synchronic variation to tracking changes in frequencies of artifact types or styles—a shift pioneered by A. V. Kidder, A. L. Kroeber, Nels C. Nelson, and Leslie Spier. The temporal implications of the analytical techniques they developed—frequency seriation and percentage stratigraphy—were initially confirmed by stratigraphic excavation. Within a few decades, however, most archaeologists had begun using stratigraphic excavation as a creational strategy—that is, as a strategy aimed at recovering superposed sets of artifacts that were viewed as representing occupations and distinct cultures. The myth that there was a stratigraphic revolution was initiated in the writings of the innovators of frequency seriation and percentage stratigraphy.     

19世纪70年代的英国农业危机及其影响

１８７３年,资本主义世界爆发了一次空前严重的世界性经济危机,它标志着自由资本主义发展到顶点并开始向垄断资本主义过渡,从而使１９世纪７０年代成为资本主义发展史上具有转折意义的关键时期。英国这个在资本主义世界一直处于中心地位的国家,在这次危机中未能幸免,...     

The renaissance of a renaissance man

Machiavelli's Virtue. By Harvey C. Mansfield (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1998) xvi + 372 pp. $15.00, £11.95 paper.

From Poliziano to Machiavelli: Florentine Humanism in the High Renaissance. By Peter Godman (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998) xviii + 366. $49.50, £33.50 cloth.