From the moment of the discovery of the New World questions of Native American origins and the nature of the cultures discovered there were to captivate the minds of the discoverers, the colonists and the members of European society. North American archaeology is the story of the development of a systematic means to try to answer these questions. The beginning of that story is one in which discovery was accidental and answers to questions were almost always purely speculative. This remained the case until the mid nineteenth century when some systematic means were developed to collect data and interpret it in a meaningful way. The time-line that follows is a brief summary of some of the highlights of the story of North American archaeology.
Click on the dates for a pop-up window that contains a more complete description of each event, or, click here for a complete timeline without pop-up windows.
The Speculative Period (1492-1840) |
| 1589- Jose de Acosta published Historia Natural y Moral de las Indias. In this book, he discusses, among other things, the origins of the Native Americans. |
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1780's – Thomas Jefferson conducts one of the first systematic archaeological excavations in North America. |
| 1780's - 1790's – Hundreds of mounds were discovered as colonists began to expand Westward. |
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Early 1800's – Caleb Atwater presented the first theories stating that the mounds that were being discovered and some of which he had excavated were not built by the current Native Americans or by their ancestors. |
| 1817-1829 – Dr. James H. McColloh published Researches in America in which he states that the Native Americans were the ones who created the mounds. |
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1839 – Samuel George Morton conducts scientific studies that also point to the Native Americans as being the moundbuilders. Albert Koch discovered mastodon bones associated with a stone artifact. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft became another proponent of ancestral Native Americans as moundbuilders. |
| 1840 – Charles Lyell Publishes Principles of Geology |
The Classificatory-Descriptive Period (1840-1914) |
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1845 – Squire and Davis began studying Ohio mounds. They felt that the mounds could not have been built by Native Americans and the debate was renewed as the who built the mounds. The first publication by the Smithsonian was "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley."
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1846 – Smithsonian Institution is founded |
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1848 – William H. Emory publishes the first descriptions of archaeological sites in the southwest. |
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1856 – Samuel Haven wrote a review of the state of North American archaeology. In it, he published his views on the origins of the moundbuilders. |
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1859 – Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species.” |
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1866 – 1875 The Peabody Museum is founded. |
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1876 – C.C. Abbott studied the Trenton Gravels where stone tools had been discovered. |
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1882 – Cyrus Thomas and William Henry Holmes worked under the direction of John Wesley Powell |
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1892 – chronologies of the Rio Grande region in New Mexico are done. |
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1903 – Ales Hrdlicka dominated physical anthropology, promoting professionalism.He also made it difficult to propose theories about Native Americans before 4,000 years ago. |
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Antiquities Act of 1906. In 1907, Max Uhle studied cultural change in the San Francisco Bay Area. |
The Classificatory-Historical Period: Chronology (1914-1940) |
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1916- Nels C. Nelson developed a southwestern United States chronology |
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1925 – extinct bison bones and a spear point were examined that point to the existence of Paleo Indians. |
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1928 - Harold S. Gladwin and Winifred Gladwin published procedures for excavations |
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1929 – A.E. Douglass developed dendrochronology |
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1932 – Clovis points were found to be an earlier technology than Folsom points. |
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1935 - The Historic Sites Act of 1935 |
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1935 – 1940 Chronologies and dating techniques gained importance. Franz Boas influenced all anthropologists and archaeologists. |
The Classificatory-Historical Period: Context and Function (1940-1960) |
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1945 - 1946 WWII ends and the Interagency Archaeological Salvage Program begins |
| 1946 - Missouri River Basin Project |
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1948 – Walter W. Taylor criticized the current methods used in archaeology |
The Modern Period: Explaining and Understanding (1960-present) |
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1960 – Archaeology becomes a part of Anthropology. |
| 1966-1990 Federal Archaeology Laws |
References
Antiquities Act of 1906- Approved, June. 8, 1906 Public law 59-209 (16 U.S.C. 431, 432, 433)
Encarta Encyclopedia 1997.....
Fagan, Brian. The Great Journey. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd.,(1987).
Historic Sites Act of 1935* - A part of 49 U.S.C. 303. Public Law 100-17, 1987. Previously cited
as Section 4(f) of 49 U.S.C. 1653(f).*Note: this title is not an official short title but merely a
convenience for the reader .The full title may be accessed by reference to the statute number.
Smithsonian Institution Libraries Staff. "From Smithson to Smithsonian: The Birth of an Institution"
Smithsonian Institution Libraries. Jan. 1998. Smithsonian Institution. 12 Sep. 1999
http://www.sil.si.edu/Exhibitions/SmithsontoSmithsonian/
The Development of North American Archaeology. ed. James E. Fitting. 1973.
Woodall, J. Ned. Introduction to Modern Archeology. Schenkman Publishing Company MA. 1972.
Wedel, Waldo Rudolph. Essays in the history of Plains Archeology. J&L Reprint Company. 1982.
Willey, Gordon R. and Sabloff, Jeremy A. A History of American Archaeology (3rd ed). W.H.Freeman and Company, New York, 1993.
McGimsey III, Charles R. Public Archeology. Seminar Press New York and London. 1972.