ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part addresses particular historical develop ments in the concepts used to investigate prehistory. It discusses changes in the ways archaeologists have investigated the transition to agriculture in the Southwest. The part considers the models of population aggregation and sedentism. It looks at different notions of population growth and mobility on the Colorado Plateau. The part examines the role of individual and institutional conflict in early Flagstaff archaeology. Regardless of the operation of sociological and psychological forces, the study of archaeology's intellectual past is a natural subject for archaeologists, whether they are cultural historians, processualists, post-processualists, or simply interested in reconstructing prehistory without duplicating previous efforts. Quite apart from high-sounding academic justifications, the history of southwestern archaeology abounds in great stories and good fim, the stuff of legends.
