Paradigms of the Past: The Story of Missouri Archaeology, by Michael J. O'Brien, 1995. Columbia: University of Missouri Press

David L Browman

doi:10.5334/bha.06106

Abstract

A volume this massive (562 pages) contains far more substance than any short review can hope to do justice. One can, however, highlight major themes and directions of the tome. I see significant contributions in three areas: (i) the history of the development of archaeological thinking using Missouri as a foil; (ii) some autobiographical exegesis of the development of the author's understanding of archaeology; and (iii) a strongly stated theoretical argument, repeated throughout the volume, that a variety of neo-functionalism espoused by Robert Dunnell, and now practiced by O'Brien and a handful of his Ph.D. students, is the only scientific archaeology extant.

Highlights

This spate of what can be broadly subsumed under Lyon's title of "New Deal Southeastern Archaeology' was coming to a close
America's interests were turning in the direction of what was coming to be World War n, and the big Federal Relief programs were over
The problems confronted at the ways these were met and solved provided a valuable groundwork for the salvage and contract archaeology which was to begin in the immediately post-World War II years and which continued to be careri d on throughout the United States

Summary

Introduction

This spate of what can be broadly subsumed under Lyon's title of "New Deal Southeastern Archaeology' was coming to a close. I see significant contributions in three areas: (i) the history of the development of archaeological thinking using Missouri as a foil; (ii) some autobio graphical exegesis of the development of the author's understanding of archaeology; and (iii) a strongly stated theoretical argument, repeated throughout the volume, that a variety of neo-functionalism espoused by Robert Dunnell, and practiced by O'Brien and a handful of his Ph.D. students, is the only scientific archaeology extant.

Results

Conclusion