ABSTRACT
A number of researchers have tried to detect and measure economic variability in archaeological deposits and to relate this variability to documented social variability. This avenue of inquiry is important because it focuses directly on the central elements of survival; namely, the organization of people in order to accomplish both biological and social reproduction. In this context, such research tries to contribute statements about the operation of society (i.e. processual statements) that are empirically grounded; that is, middle range theory in the sense of Merton (1948), Raab and Goodyear (1984), and Leone and Crosby (1987). A number of difficult issues must be addressed in order to develop and apply these economic measurements and to establish their relationships to social variability. This chapter is a summary of these issues and a commentary on them.
