Paleo-sediment Coring Studies in Micronesia: A Review and Critique

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Research and CRM Are Not Mutually Exclusive: J. Stephen Athens—Forty Years and Counting" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Paleo-sediment coring studies by archaeologists, pioneered in Micronesia by Steve Athens and colleagues, including myself, in the 1980s, are reviewed and assessed for their contributions to archaeological science in the western Pacific within a CRM context. It is suggested that while data generated by these studies comprise a major advance over the narrow perspective of culture history long dominant in Pacific archaeology, using a priori narratives and ad hoc statements about past human behavior to guide and to interpret the research findings is a serious methodological error leading to embarrassing revisions and reversals, as also happens to culture historians when contradictory observations come to light. An alternative approach is illustrated.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Research and CRM Are Not Mutually Exclusive: J. Stephen Athens—Forty Years and Counting   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24182