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The Death of Owasco

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John P. Hart  and
Hetty Jo Brumbach
John P. Hart
Affiliation:
Research and Collections Division, New York State Museum, 3140 Cultural Education Center, Albany, NY 12230, jph_nysm@mail.nysed.gov
Hetty Jo Brumbach
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University at Albany, SUNY, Arts & Sciences Building, Room 237, 1400 Washington Ave., Albany, NY 12222, brumbach@albany.edu
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Abstract

The Owasco culture is a critical taxon in William A. Ritchie's culture history of New York. In its final construction, Owasco was viewed by Ritchie as representing the onset of recognizable northern Iroquoian traits. This interpretation is widely accepted among archaeologists currently working in New York. An examination of the history of the taxon shows that it is nothing more than a subjectively defined unit based on the thoughts of Ritchie and his predecessor Arthur C. Parker. Recent empirical research has shown that the key traits Ritchie used to define Owasco have very different histories than he thought. Owasco does not stand either theoretically or empirically and should be abandoned as a unit of analysis.

Résumé

Résumé

La cultura Owasco es un categoría crítica en la historia cultural de Nueva York de William A. Ritchie. En su construcción final, Ritchie considera que lo Owasco representa el principio de los rasgos reconocidos como iroqueses norteños. Esta interpretación es aceptada ampliamente entre los arqueólogos que trabajan en la actualidad en Nueva York. Al realizar una revisión de la historia de esta categoría, es posible mostrar que no es más que una unidad definida subjetivamente basada en las reflecciones de Ritchie y de su predecesor Arthur C. Parker. Investigaciones empí ricas recientes demuestran que las características claves que utilizó Ritchie para definir lo Owasco, tienen historias bastantes diferentes a lo que previamente había pensado. Owasco no se puede calificar teórica o empí ricamente y debe ser abandonada como una unidad de análisis.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 68 , Issue 4 , October 2003 , pp. 737 - 752
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2003

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References

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