Michael Brian Schiffer

Michael Schiffer is one of the founders and pre-eminent exponents of behavioral archaeology. Schiffer's ideas, set out in his 1976 book Behavioral Archaeology and a number of journal articles, are mainly concerned with site formation processes. His most important contribution to archaeology is his rejection of the common processualist assumption that the archaeological record is a transparent fossil record of actual ancient societies. Schiffer explains that artefacts are destroyed and transformed by numerous cultural and natural processes.

In his 1972 American Antiquity article Schiffer explained that artefacts generally pass through numerous social contexts of procurement, manufacture, use, recycling and disposal and that the same kind of artefact can enter the archaeological record at many points through this trajectory. As societies become more sedentary, the archaeological record typically seems to be one of garbage disposal.

Schiffer's body of theory and method is based on the idea that cultural and natural processes (C-transforms and N-transforms) convert the 'systemic context' (the original dynamics between culture and material objects) into the 'archaeological context' (the record of artifacts examined by archaeologists). Although this approach has been criticised, notably by Lewis Binford, it has permanently affected how archaeologists interpret the archaeological record.

In the 1980s Shiffer's interests expanded to include technological change, especially historic electric and electronic technologies. In the 1990s he also engaged with Darwinian evolutionary theory in his archaeological work. This work has been favorably reviewed but Schiffer remains best known for his behavioralist archaeology publications. He is currently Professor of Anthropology at the University of Arizona.

References and Select Bibliography

• Binford, L.R. 1981. Behavioral archaeology and the "Pompeii premise". Journal of Anthropological Research 37(3): 195-208
• Schiffer, M.B. 1972. Archaeological context and systemic context. American Antiquity 156-65
• Schiffer, M.B. 1976. Behavioral Archeology. Academic Press.
• Schiffer, M.B. 1991. The Portable Radio in American Life. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
• Schiffer, M.B. 1992. Technological Perspectives on Behavioral Change. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
• Schiffer, M.B. 1995. (editor) Behavioral Archaeology: First Principles. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City. This book reprints a selection of writings on behavioral archaeology from 1972 to 1987.
• Schiffer, M.B. 1994. (with Tamara C. Butts, and Kimberly K. Grimm) Taking Charge: The Electric Automobile in America. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC. Won the 1995 Cugnot Award of Distinction from the Society of Automotive Historians and nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
• Schiffer, M.B. 1999. (with Andrea Miller) The Material Life of Human Beings: Artifacts, Behavior, and Communication. Routledge, London.
• Schiffer, M.B. 2001. (editor) Anthropological Perspectives on Technology. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.
• Schiffer, M.B. 2003. (with Kacy L. Hollenback and Carrie L. Bell) Draw the Lightning Down: Benjamin Franklin and Electrical Technology in the Age of Enlightenment. University of California Press, Berkeley.
• Schiffer, M.B. 2011. Studying Technical Change: A Behavioral Approach. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.
• Trigger, B.G. 1996 Review of Behavioral Archaeology: First Principles Michael Brian Schiffer. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 2(4): 725-726.

External links

• Schiffer's homepage

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