American Archeology: 1784-1906

“Archeology in the U.S. is rooted in the 1700s when European settlers encountered and were intrigued by ancient mounds and earthwork complexes. Systematic archeological recording and the creation of collections began later in the early and mid-1800s spearheaded by the American Philosophical Society, the American Antiquarian Society, and the Smithsonian Institution. Myths about ancient mound builders in the midwest and southeast also spurred archeological research, particularly as a science. During the 1800s, American archeology was linked closely with cultural anthropology, linguistics, and physical anthropology since Native Americans were seen as examples of what human life had been like in prehistoric times”[US Gov].

For General Audiences:

Bieder, Robert E. (1986) Science Encounters the Indian, 1820-1880: The Early Years of American Ethnology. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.

Hantman, Jeffrey L. and Gary Dunham (1993) The Enlightened Archaeologist. Archaeology May/June: 44-49.

Hinsley, Curtis (1981) The Smithsonian and the American Indian: Making a Moral Anthropology in Victorian America. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.

Kelso, William M. (1993) Thomas Jefferson: The Father of Modern Archaeology. Notes on Virginia 38: 30-31.

Kennedy, Roger G. (1994) Hidden Cities. Penguin Books, NY.

Silverberg, Robert (1968) Mound Builders of Ancient America: The Archeology of a Myth. New York Graphic Society, NY.

More For General Audiences–Sources That Crosscut Time Periods:

Elliott, Melinda (1995) Great Excavations. School of American Research Press, Santa Fe, NM.

King, Thomas F. (1987) Prehistory and Beyond: The Place of Archaeology. In The American Mosaic: Preserving a Nation’s Heritage, edited by Robert E. Stipe and Antoinette J. Lee, pp. 236-264. US/ICOMOS, Washington, DC.

Lee, Ronald F. (1970) The Antiquities Act of 1906. National Park Service, Washington, DC.

Trigger, Bruce G. (1989) A History of Archaeological Thought. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.

Willey, Gordon R. and Jeremy A. Sabloff (1993) A History of American Archaeology, Third Edition. W. H. Freeman and Company, NY.

For Detailed Explanation:

Bandelier, Adolph (1881) Report upon the Ruins of the Pueblos of Pecos, part 2. Papers, American Series Vol. I. Archaeological Institute of America, Boston.

Greber, N’omi B. and Katharine C. Ruhl (1989) The Hopewell Site: A Contemporary Analysis Based on the Work of Charles C. Willoughby. Investigations in American Archaeology. Westview Press, Boulder, CO.

Hewett, Edgar L. (1906) Memorandum Concerning the Historic and Prehistoric Ruins of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah, and their Preservation. In Preservation of American Antiquities, Report No. 2224, House of Representatives, 59th Congress, 1st Session, pp. 2-8. Washington, D.C.

Hinsley, Curtis M. (1991) The World as Marketplace: Commodification of the Exotic at the World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893. In Exhibiting Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display, edited by I. Karp and S.D. Lavine, pp. 344-365. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C.

Knight, Vernon J., Jr., Editor (1996) The Moundville Expeditions of Clarence Bloomfield Moore. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.

Lange, Charles H. and Carroll L. Riley, editors (1996) The Southwestern Journals of Adolph F. Bandelier, 1880-1882. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.

McNitt, Frank (1966) Anasazi: Richard Wetherill. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.

Meltzer, David J. (1983) The Antiquity of Man and the Development of American Archaeology. Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, 6, edited by Michael B. Schiffer, pp. 1-51. Academic Press, Inc, NY.

Meltzer, David J. (1985) North American Archaeology and Archaeologists, 1879-1934. American Antiquity 50(2): 249-260.

Meltzer, David J. (1998) Introduction: Ephraim Squire, Edwin Davis, and the Making of an American Archeological Classic. In Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, by Ephraim George Squier and Edwin H. Davis. Edited by David Meltzer. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.

Mills, William C. (1909) The Seip Mound. Putnam Anniversary Volume. Torch Press, Cedar Rapids, IA.

Mills, William C. (1922) Exploration of the Mound City Group 31. Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society.

Nordenskiold, Gustav (original 1893, reprinted 1990) The Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde, Southwestern Colorado: Their Pottery and Implements. Mesa Verde Museum Association, Inc, Mesa Verde National Park, CO.

Patterson, Thomas C. (1991) Who Did Archaeology in the United States Before There Were Archaeologists and Why? Preprofessional Archaeologies of the Nineteenth Century. In Processual and Post-Processual Archaeologies: Multiple Ways of Knowing the Past, edited by Robert Preucel, pp. 242-250. Center for Archaeological Investigations, Occasional Paper No. 10. Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.

Sheftel, Phoebe Sherman (1979) The Archaeological Institute of America, 1879-1979: A Centennial Review. American Journal of Archaeology 83: 3-17.

Squier, Ephraim George and Edwin H. Davis (original 1848; reprinted and edited by David Meltzer, 1998) Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.

Thomas, Cyrus (original 1894, reprinted 1985) Report on the Mound Explorations of the Bureau of Ethnology. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.

U.S. Congress. House. Preservation of American Antiquities: Report to Accompany H. R. 11016. 59th Cong., 1st sess., 1906. H. Rept. 2224.

More For Detailed Explanation–Sources That Crosscut Time Periods:

Fowler, D. D. (1986) Conserving American Archaeological Resources. In American Archaeology Past and Future: A Celebration of the Society for American Archaeology, 1935-1985, edited by David J. Meltzer, Don D. Fowler, and Jeremy A. Sabloff, pp. 135-162. Smithsonian Press, Washington, DC.

Hosmer, Charles R., Jr. (1965) Presence of the Past. Putnam, NY.

McDermott, John Dishon (1966) Breath of Life: An Outline of the Development of a National Policy for Historical Preservation. Manuscript on file, National Park Service, Washington, DC.

Patterson, Thomas C. (1986) The Last Sixty Years: Toward a Social History of Americanist Archeology in the United States. American Anthropologist 88(1): 7-26.

Righter, Robert W. (1989) National Monuments to National Parks. Western Historical Quarterly XX(3): 281-301.

Rothman, H. (1989) Preserving Different Pasts: The American National Monuments. University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago.

Snead, James E. (1993) Archaeology and Cultural Nationalism in the American Southwest, 1895-1920. Bulletin of the History of Archaeology 3(1): 5-11.

Trigger, Bruce G. (1980) Archaeology and the Image of the American Indian. American Antiquity 45: 662-676.

Trigger, Bruce G. (1986) Prehistoric Archaeology and American Society. In American Archaeology Past and Future: A Celebration of the Society for American Archaeology, 1935-1985, edited by David J. Meltzer, Don D. Fowler, and Jeremy A. Sabloff, pp. 187-215. Smithsonian Press, Washington, DC.