An Archaeological Perspective on Shoshonean Bands1

In: American anthropologist: AA, Band 76, Heft 1, S. 11-23

Abstract

The prehistoric archaeology of the Reese River Valley in the central Great Basin strongly indicates that a Shoshonean‐like settlement pattern has existed for approximately 4500 years in this vicinity. A comparison of the prehistoric demography and ecology with similar patterns among modem primitive groups suggests that the post‐marital residence pattern of the prehistoric Shoshoneans was most probably bilateral and rather flexible, as originally suggested by Julian Steward. If this interpretation is correct, then it contradicts Elman Service's 1962 hypothesis of patrilocal bands among the preconlact Shoshoneans. No attempt is made to confront the ideological models of the prehistoric Shoshoneans, for modern scientific archaeology can presently consider only etic phenomena.If archeologists and ethnologists are to overcome the limitations of their observational fields and contribute to the general field of anthropology, they must develop methods which will allow explanatory propositions regarding the operation of cultural systems to be tested by both archeological and ethnographic data. [L. R. Binford 1968a:269]