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CONVERSATIONS with LEWIS R. BINFORD on HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 29 Or As He Joked in One Telephone Conversation, Roots

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CONVERSATIONS with LEWIS R. BINFORD on HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 29 Or As He Joked in One Telephone Conversation, Roots MELBURN D. THURMAN concerned with Binford's career in historical ar­ chaeology, the field's method and theory, and its Conversations with Lewis R. place in scholarship-were recorded in a morning session and one in the afternoon. Binford on Historical Binford is now at work on his magnum opus, Archaeology which will generalize about hunting and gather­ ing cultures on a worldwide basis. He works on Introduction this at his home, with its mixture of comfortable furniture, striking antique pieces, and mementos Had Lewis R. Binford-renowned as an ar­ of an extraordinary scholarly career, which has chaeological theorist since the early 1960s-never taken him to the far comers of the world-the been specifically concerned with historical archae­ Arctic, Tierra del Fuego, Australia, Europe, Af­ ology, his contribution to this field, through the rica, Southeast Asia, and beyond. field' s association with anthropological and ar­ A glassed-in, tiled, sunken patio, off the chaeological methods and theory, would, never­ Binford kitchen, is dominated by a mural-sized theless, still be immense. But Binford has also oil of him in an Eskimo village. This painting, excavated historic sites, thought deeply about the by an admiring British artist, was used on the interrelationships of historical and archaeological paperback edition of one of his books. The pa­ data, and made a number of methodological and tio looks out over the garden, where Binford theoretical contributions of primary interest to likes to putter around with plants. historical archaeologists. Indeed, even when But the scholarly heart of the house-what had Binford's work specific to the field of historical been the master bedroom-is the two-level study archaeology is considered by itself, he must be where he writes. The main floor is lined with ranked as a major figure in this field (Figure I). books on one wall. On the other side of the Binford, then, is in a unique position for as­ room is a table with a desktop computer. Behind sessing the current strengths and weaknesses of Binford, when sitting at his computer, is a long historical archaeology as a part of archaeological, bank of file cabinets. The files contain, as historical, and anthropological scholarship. So his Binford says in the interview, "nothing but ma­ views on these matters, expressed here, will cer­ terial on hunters and ethnographic material on tainly be of interest to all the toilers in the vine­ hunters and gatherers." yard of historical archaeology. And in elucidating Although most archaeologists are now familiar the logic of his own intellectual development, in with the Binford charisma through his public which historical archaeology played a substantial presentations, the massive goodwill he exudes in role, Binford's retrospective view of his involve­ informal situations can only be suggested by the ment with historical archaeology must provide brackets, such as "[laughs]," in this published food for thought for all those who are concerned interview. He speaks with, what the interviewer's with the ultimate aims of archaeology in general. wife used to refer to as, "a really charming ac­ This interview was conducted 7 March 1997, cent"-a trace of the South modified by long at the Binford home in Dallas, Texas, where he residence in the Midwest, California, and the lives with his wife, Nancy Stone, an academi­ Southwest. cally trained archaeologist and talented chef. The In large measure, while Binford's portion of home is about a IO-minute drive from the South­ the conversations was spontaneous, the inter­ ern Methodist University campus, where he viewer relied heavily on prepared questions. An teaches. The conversations with Binford stretched edited transcript, with minor changes from the out from early morning through late evening. verbatim transcript, was sent to Binford for ap­ About three hours of talks-those specifically proval. He asked for only cosmetic modifications, Historical Archaeology, 1998,32(2):28-55. Permission to reprint required. CONVERSATIONS WITH LEWIS R. BINFORD ON HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 29 or as he joked in one telephone conversation, roots. Had Marlon Brando not given the word "I'm putting verbs in some sentences that don't another meaning, it might be said that some have them." scholars are regarded as the "Godfathers" of the The interviewer was an undergraduate student field. Through your career, have you had any of Binford 's at the University of Chicago, and contact with, or were you influenced by, the worked under his direction during the Carlyle "Godfathers." First, J. C. "Pinky" Harrington? Reservoir excavations. Later, he took graduate I first saw Pinky Harrington when I was in courses with Binford at UCLA. junior high school at Norfolk and he was work­ The interview was undertaken with one over­ ing at Jamestown. I had a field trip arranged riding thought in mind: "What would most his­ through the school I went to. Harrington gave us torical archaeologists ask Binford if they had an children a talk on Jamestown and walked us opportunity to quiz him about their field?" In around. This was the first time I had ever seen fact, the questions of some colleagues, who shall him. Later I just decided I was interested and remain anonymous, were solicited before the in­ went to Jamestown and volunteered at the exca­ terview was conducted. vations. The Interview [Q:] Was that your first excavation? Yes. [Question:] Historical archaeology, more than So I worked as a volunteer. I basically carried most disciplines, has been very aware of its things and dug holes where people told me. But FIGURE 1. Lewis R. Binford at work . (Photo by Nancy M. Stone.) 30 HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 32(2) that was when I met him . I got to know him a cated. Up at Michigan, Stanley would keep me bit. And then I didn't see him for years and informed about what was going on. And we'd years . write or talk on the phone. Stanley was not When I started the pipe stem work , I had, by happy with the ideas of Noel Hume-particularly that time, read a lot of historic sites archaeology about ceramic typology, but also various other because I was working on the ethnohistory of things. I think I met him one time when I at­ groups in Virginia. And, of course, any time I'd tended one of Stanley's conferences. see Harrington's name, I read the paper because I knew him . So I knew his writings and knew [Q:] John Cotter? his work-early work-on pipe stems. Later, I That's a different story. You might not have began to try to apply his early work to material known it, but you were illegally working on John I had collected. Cotter's money at Carlyle. [Q:] When was that? [Q:] Wait a minute, Lew. Are we beyond the That would have been 1953-1954. statute of limitations? Oh, I think so. [MDT laughs.] [Q:] And at what stage were you in your ca­ At that time there weren't any laws really yet reer? on salvage archaeology. The Corps of Engineers I had just entered the University of North didn't have any legal responsibility to do archae­ Carolina. I had just come back from the military. ology at all. But they had decided that they had I had been to VPI (Virginia Polytechnic Institute) a kind of moral obligation. So they were looking before. But I had to take all these undergraduate for people who could finance work in the degree courses. I had transferred a bunch of Carlyle[, Illinois,] Reservoir. But they didn 't have courses. All the science courses were acceptable, any money. but none of the social science courses. I had to I found some money from Chicago-a little take them all again, so I just entered their degree bit. "Mike" [Melvin] Fowler got some from SID program. [Southern Illinois Uni versity, Carbondale]. But Harrington had given me some-I forget now the person who financed that work was Johnny what it was-piece of information some years Cotter. I had known Cotter before, and Mike before. I couldn't find the note, and he couldn't Fowler had also. We called around various gov­ find it either. We joked that we were losing data [laughs]. So I worked with the pipe stems and a ernment agencies before, looking for somebody knowledge of Harrington's work. I frequently had who might be sympathetic to what was going on. questions, and would call him on the phone and And John Cotter dumped Park Service money we would have long talks. I think I talked about into the Corps of Engineers project at Carlyle this in one of Stan South's Conference publica­ and supported us. tions. Anyway, I continued to talk to Pinky on He always supported me. Right from the be­ the telephone, but when I was at Michigan, I ginning he liked what I was doing . He had been stopped working on pipe stems, and I didn't see at Jamestown, and he knew about historical him again. work. He always supported me . Right. Every time I needed it, I got John Cotter's support. [Q:] What about Noel Hume? I was unaware of Noel Hume until Stanley [Q:] Charles Fairbanks? South started being critical of him. South had Now I knew Chuck, but I didn't ever work made a decision to go into historic sites archae­ with him. I just knew him as an important per­ ology, and we talked. He sort of kept me edu- son and read his work. CONVERSATIONS WITH LEWIS R. BINFORD ON HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 31 [Q:] "Bunny" Fontana? Lake Superior.
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