Definition: By the early decades of the 20th century, archaeologists had begun to amass enough information that some sort of ordering system became absolutely vital. Several systems of classifying American prehistory were attempted, the most famous of which was that developed by Will C. McKern, an archaeologist at the Milwaukee Public Museum. His system, called the McKern Midwest Taxonomic System, was modeled on the classification systems of the natural world by Linnaeus, and was based on cultural attributes alone, rather than space or time. See the terrific article listed below by B.K. Swartz for more detail.

Related Resources:

Biographies
Biographies of some of the famous--and infamous--archaeologists throughout history.

History of Archaeology, Part IV
Order from Chaos; an article by your guide on earlier attempts to order our archaeological universe.

Elsewhere on the Web:

The McKern "Taxonomic" System
A .pdf file of an excellent article by B.K. Swartz on the McKern system, placing it within its historic context.

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