Archaeology on the Edge(s): Transitions, Boundaries, Changes, and Causes

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Archaeology on the Edge(s): Transitions, Boundaries, Changes, and Causes," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Many research questions about human-ecological relationships investigate the causes and consequences of change. Change can be inferred using inductive scientific observations, then the hypothetico-deductive process can be used to predict the ‘why and why not’ questions that lie behind transitions or boundaries that we observe. However, categories may become ingrained over time. This session presents case-based approaches from Asia, the Americas, and Africa that query assumptions behind pre-existing categories and offer new methods for explaining cultural transitions and boundaries.