Archaeology in 1992: A Perspective on the Discipline from the Society for American Archaeology Annual Meeting Program

Abstract

A survey of presentations at recent Society for American Archaeology annual meetings (1983, 1991, and 1992) is taken to examine the state of American archaeology. Roughly 80 percent of the presentations focus on New World archaeology, and between 60 and 80 percent are concerned with the last 3,000 years. In the last 10 years, there has been a slight shift away from subsistence and production studies to a greater concern with settlement and regional systems, sociopolitical organization, and public archaeology. A major trend has been increased participation by women.