Development of Argentine Archaeology

North American scholars have had available for some time a very rich source on the development of studies in Northwest Argentina by Rex Gonzales (1976), specifically written for American Antiquity at the request of the then editor Dr. Patty Jo Watson. Gonzales was influenced by the seminal work of Willey and Sabloff as well as Willey and Phillips.

Because of this ready source I find myself not going back to the original literature base in Argentina. However, there are some good historical analyses of the discipline, published in Argentina, which ought not be over­ looked. Prof. Dolores Carolina Elkin of Buenos Aires has recently reminded me of a book of significant impor­tance, the 320 page review of Jorge Fernandez.

Fernandez covers many fronts; he starts with a review of the major periods as he defines them in Argentina, then looks at the contributions and histories of the major institutions conducting research in the country. the impact of international congresses and foreign investigators, and finishes his text with a review of the patterns of development of regional archaeological paradigms. This discussion takes up 180 pages; the remaining 140 pages are a very nice bibliography of Argentine archaeology.