Lewis Roberts Binford (born 1930) is an American archaeologist, known as the leader of the "New Archaeology" movement of the 1950s/60s. 1930 (MCMXXX) is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Archaeology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... Processual archaeology arguably had its genesis in 1958 with Willey and Phillips work, Method and Theory in American Archeology when the pair stated that American archeology is anthropology or it is nothing (Willey and Phillips, 1958:2). ...

Binford's contribution to archaeology was more theoretical than practical. He advocated a number of ideas that matured into processualism. He and others argued that there should be emphasis on the application of the scientific technology as well as the hypthetico-deductive method to archaeology. He placed a strong emphasis on generalities and the way in which human beings interacted with their ecological niche. Binford's work can largely be seen as a reaction to the "culture and history" approach that proceeded the new/processual archaeology. REED H Is awsome! ...

Binford is known for his dogmatism and refusal to accept criticism. He has spoken out and reacted to a number of schools of thought, particularly the post-processual school, the behavioural school, and the symbolic and postmodern anthropologies. Binford is also known for his rivalry with French archaeologist François Bordes, with whom he argued over the value of Mousterian sites. Mousterian is a name given by archaeologists to style of flint tools (or industry) dating to the Palaeolithic or Old Stone Age. ...

Some of Binford's early work was prepared in collaboration with then-wife Sally Binford. Their best-known collaboration is the influential anthology New Perspectives In Archaeology.

Binford now teaches at Truman State University, in Kirksville, Missouri. Truman State University is a public liberal arts and sciences university in Missouri. ... Kirksville is a city located in Adair County, Missouri. ...

Works

• New Perspectives in Archaeology (1968)
• Nunamiut Ethnoarchaeology (1978)
• In Pursuit of the Past: Decoding the Archaeological Record (1983)

References

• Binford quote from Conversations with Lew Binford Paula Sabloff. 1998. Conversations with Lew Binford: Drafting the New Archaeology. University of Oklahoma Press: Norman