Research Problems R Us
George Hamley Odell · American Antiquity · 2001
In the preceding paper, Binford distinguishes between scholars who derive theory from within archaeological datasets and do science, and those who borrow theory from elsewhere and engage in the humanities. I agree that archaeological datasets constitute one fruitful area for the origin of research questions but not the only one, and suggest other ways that he could have considered the matter. I provide concrete examples of Binford"s preferred research strategy and mine, and discern significant differences between the two. What Binford considered the importation of theory was really the formulation of models that were ultimately tested on archaeological datasets.