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200:. These works uniquely combine an archaeological perspective with the use of historical materials and have led to four books and numerous articles, many of the latter aimed at archaeologists with behavioral models for studying technological change. The behavioral approach to technological change has been synthesized in Schiffer's 2011 book,
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in 2014. He once said, “Anthropology is the only discipline that can access evidence about the entire human experience on this planet.” Hence his fascination with making information public. He is currently a
Research Associate in the Lemelson Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian
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built the
Laboratory of Traditional Technology at the University of Arizona. Their experiments in ceramic technology revealed, for example, previously unsuspected techno-functional performance characteristics of traditional surface treatments and temper types. Together, Schiffer and Skibo published
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Schiffer's body of theory and method is based on the idea that cultural and noncultural processes (whose patterns are described by generalizations: c-transforms and n-transforms) convert the 'systemic context' (the original dynamics between societies and material objects) into the 'archaeological
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assumption that the archaeological record is a transparent fossil record of actual ancient societies. He argues that artifacts and sites undergo, respectively post-use and post-occupational modification by diverse formation processes.
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and many journal articles, are mainly concerned with the formation processes of the archaeological record (cultural and noncultural). His most important early contribution to archaeology was the rejection of the common
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article
Schiffer, using flow models, explained that artifacts generally pass through numerous social contexts of procurement, manufacture, use, recycling, and disposal and that the same kind of artifact can enter the
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His works on early modern and modern technologies have been largely favorably reviewed by historians of science and technology, but in archaeology he remains best known for publications in behavioral archaeology.
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around a dozen articles based on their collaboration in the laboratory, which included a different way to think about experimental archaeology and a framework for studying technological change.
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In that work, the editors and authors strove to demonstrate that cutting-edge research is a requirement for crafting rigorous arguments about the significance of archaeological resources.
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at many points through this life history. As societies become more sedentary, the archaeological record typically seems to be one of garbage disposal.
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Schiffer is also known for his early contributions to cultural resource management studies, co-editing in 1977 with George J. Gumerman,
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University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City. This book reprints a selection of writings on behavioral archaeology from 1972 to 1987.
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context' (the record of artifacts examined by archaeologists). Although this approach has been criticized, notably by
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Schiffer, M.B. 2013. The
Archaeology of Science: Studying the Creation of Useful Knowledge. Springer, New York.
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Draw the
Lightning Down: Benjamin Franklin and Electrical Technology in the Age of Enlightenment.
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Power
Struggles: Scientific Authority and the Creation of Practical Electricity Before Edison.
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Institution, and a research professor, the
Department of Anthropology, University of Maryland.
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Michael Brian
Schiffer. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 2(4): 725–726.
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During the 1990s and later, Schiffer returned to an old interest in historic electric and
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In the 1980s
Schiffer's interests expanded to include technological change, and he and
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and one of the founders and pre-eminent exponents of behavioral archaeology.
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Conservation
Archaeology: A Guide for Cultural Resource Management Studies.
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The Material Life of Human Beings: Artifacts, Behavior, and Communication.
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Michael Brian Schiffer. European Journal of Archaeology. 16(4): 739–742.
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Binford, L.R. 1981. Behavioral archaeology and the "Pompeii premise".
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Schiffer, M.B. 1994. (with Tamara C. Butts, and Kimberly K. Grimm)
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Schiffer, M.B. 2003. (with Kacy L. Hollenback and Carrie L. Bell)
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Schiffer, M.B. 1972. Archaeological context and systemic context.
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People and Things: A Behavioral Approach to material Culture.
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from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially
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Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC. Won the 1995
139:(born October 4, 1947, in Winnipeg, Canada) is an American
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of Distinction from the Society of Automotive Historians.
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Schiffer retired from the School of Anthropology at the
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Studying Technological Change: A Behavioral Approach.
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Studying Technological Change: A Behavioral Approach.
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Studying Technological Change: A Behavioral Approach
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Schiffer's earliest ideas, set out in his 1976 book
296:Taking Charge: The Electric Automobile in America.
254:Formation Processes of the Archaeological Record.
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335:Behavioral Archaeology: Principles and Practice.
289:Technological Perspectives on Behavioral Change.
268:Technological Perspectives on Behavioral Change.
208:Schiffer was also the founding editor of the
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314:Anthropological Perspectives on Technology.
211:Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory
305:Schiffer, M.B. 1999. (with Andrea Miller)
53:about living persons that is unsourced or
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323:University of California Press, Berkeley.
316:University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.
275:Behavioral Archaeology: First Principles.
124:Learn how and when to remove this message
359:Behavioral Archaeology: First Principles
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350:Skibo, J.M. and M.B. Schiffer. 2009.
263:. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
386:https://www.u.arizona.edu/~schiffer/
291:University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
284:University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
282:The Portable Radio in American Life.
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