Inconstant companions archaeology and North American Indian oral traditions - Mason, Ronald J. (University of Alabama Press, 2007)
Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002
Includes bibliographical references (pages 253-286) and index
Introduction -- On history -- On memory -- Norsemen, trojans, and ancient Israelites -- On the nature of oral tradition -- Mixing apples and oranges, or Looking for kernels of truth -- Mammoth remembrances -- On the historicity of symbols and symbolic praxis -- On the central Siouans before J. Owen Dorsey -- Conclusions
One of the most significant theoretical issues in contemporary American archaeology & mdash;the role of oral tradition in scientific research. Ronald J. Mason explores the tension between aboriginal oral traditions and the practice of archaeology in North America. That exploration is necessarily interdisciplinary and set in a global context. Indeed, the issues at stake are universal in the current era of intellectual "decolonization" and multiculturalism. Unless committed to writing, even the most esteemed utterances are inevitably forgotten with the passing of generations, however muc