In 200 years of archaeology or so, archaeologists have tried several different theories out to base their research on. Here's a collection of the various and sundry things we've tried on.
The cellular theory of prehistory was dreamed up by German pathologist Rudolf Virchow, who believed that if you looked hard enough, you could find the archaeological roots of each particular ethnic group as a segregated, intact whole.
Cognitive archaeology is a theoretical underpinning of archaeological research that is interested in the material expression of human cognitive concepts.
Cultural Ecology is an anthropological theory put forward by Julian Steward, that considers adaptation to environment as the paramount driver in cultural change.
The theory of cultural evolution was proposed by British archaeologist A.H.L. Fox Pitt-Rivers in the early 20th century.
The culture people hypothesis is the theory that specific material culture and characteristics (like pot decorations and projectile point types, etc.) can be associated with a particular cultural group.
The Eastern Agricultural Complex refers to the whole range of plants that were selectively tended by Native Americans in eastern North American and the American midwest before corn and beans reached there
A subdiscipline of archaeology or maybe just a byproduct, economic archaeology is the study of how people control their economic resources, most particularly but not entirely, their food supply.
Ethnoarchaeology is the use of ethnologic (anthropological) data from living groups as an analogy for understanding people of the past.
Archaeologists use the theoretical method of Human Behavioral Ecology to study specific human groups as they change over time (decades, centuries, millennia).
The Multi-Regional Hypothesis argues that our earliest hominid ancestors radiated out from Africa and Homo sapiens evolved from several different groups of Homo erectus in several places throughout the world.
The 'new archaeology' movement of the mid-twentieth century changed the direction of the field, at least in the Americas.
The Oasis Theory is a core concept in archaeology, referring to one of the main hypotheses about the origins of agriculture.
The Out of Africa or African Replacement Hypothesis argues that every living human being is descended from a small group in Africa.
The Periphery Theory (also known as the Marginal Area Theory) concerns the origins of the domestication of animals.
Post-modernism is a philosophical movement that touches on almost all forms of science and culture.
Post-Processual Archaeology is, more than anything else, a critique of processual archaeology.
The principle of limited possibilities is a rebuttal argument against hyper-diffusionist theory.
Processual Archaeology is the study of process, that is to say, investigations of the way humans do things, and the way things decay.
The Propinquity or Oasis Theory is a core concept in archaeology, referring to one of the main hypotheses about the origins of agriculture.
In archaeology, the term Site Formation Processes refers to the events that created an archaeological site.
The several theories known broadly as Social Evolutionism were born out of ideas created during the 18th century Enlightenment, and reworked in the mid-19th century.
Structuralism, which started out as a theory of language, ended up impacting most of the social and historical scieces including archaeology during the latter half of the twentieth century.
The Turnover Pulse Hypothesis was constructed by paleoanthropologist Elizabeth Vrba to explain the appearance of an extensive evolutionary shift world wide, that led to early hominin forms in Africa.
The branch of archaeological science called urban archaeology is concerned with the study of cities.
Archaeologists use the term Urban Revolution to refer to the suite of behaviors that seem to occur at the same time as people begin to move into cities.
Urbanism is the word used by archaeologists to describe the process that drove people to live in cities.
The Turnover Pulse Hypothesis was constructed by paleoanthropologist Elizabeth Vrba to explain the appearance of an extensive evolutionary shift world wide, that led to early hominin forms in Africa.
