ABSTRACT
The organization of this book is focused on debate. When seriously conducted by professionals, debate is one avenue that can be used to sharpen our abilities for recognizing germane targets for receiving our research attentions. I wish at this point, however, to shift the focus to another avenue that I think needs serious consideration. Simply stated, it is doing archaeology. In the introduction I cited the definition of our field I have basically accepted throughout my career. I am suggesting that most archaeologists do not act in ways consistent with Spaulding’s astute description. Basic to Spaulding’s discussion is an emphasis on the study of relationships among observations made on formal properties of artifacts—read “archaeological record”—and in turn the relationships among these formal properties and the spatial and temporal dimensions. The focus here is on relationships. I introduced this point in Chapter 1 and I wish to continue exploring this concept here.
