The Land of Prehistory

by Alice Beck Kehoe

First published in 1998. The Land of Prehistory reveals the powerful ideological function American archaeology has naively served, from the discipline's construction in Victorian societal reform movements to the present. Alice Beck Kehoe chronicles major movements and influences such as the support of racist Spencerian evolutionism and Manifest Destiny ideologies, and the 1960s New Archaeology pandering to Big Science money. She concludes with a discussion of the recent revolutionary shift to multicultural voices within the field.

Genres: Archaeology

304 pages, Paperback

First published August 27, 1998

Reviews

[Dave Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you read only 1 book about archaeology, I recommend making it this one. I loved it so much I taught intro to archaeology with it for 6 years. From the secret origin of the field to racism and the brilliant things First Peoples actually did, this has it all. No pictures tho.