Diffusionism in Archaeological Theory: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Abstract

This volume deals with archaeological, linguistic, and biological evidence for contact between the Pacific islands and the Americas and thus relies heavily on migration, interaction, and direct cultural diffusion as explanatory variables. In the 1970s diffusion as a concept was generally marginalized by the "New Archaeology," which tried to distance itself from earlier types of explanation, particularly migration and diffusion. ... The purpose of this chapter is to present a brief history of archaeological thought on the principle of diffusion, particularly as it applies to the Pacific and the Americas. The work strives to set a tone for the volume by outlining the ways in which the concept came to be so heavily disfavored in the 1970s. In arguing that diffusion still has value as an explanatory principle, we also hope to separate ourselves from publications that employ diffusion in racist or ethnocentric frameworks in order to justify religious or political ideas of culture origins and change. In this chapter, we set out specifically to explore the definitions of diffusion and the history of diffusionist thought from the 19th century to the present, particularly as it relates to Polynesian and American archaeology. We then explore criteria that may be used to distinguish artefacts of diffusion in the archaeological record in order to develop a rigorous set of criteria to establish contacts in prehistory.