Adaptive Strategies in Changing Cultural Environments

Abstract

Several archaeologists (Binford 1977; Goodyear, Raab and Klinger 1978) have recently called for the creation of "middle range theory" in archaeology. By this term they mean the establishment of a body of theory which will help bridge the interpretive gap between static archaeological facts and the dynamic past phenomena responsible for them. This body of theory would encompass such considerations as natural and cultural formation processes (Schiffer 1976; Sullivan 1978). In response to this exhortation I offer the following discussion and model of the flow of goods through a market center.