The daily lives of prehistoric Native Americans are often inappreciable to the contemporary researcher and sometimes overlooked by the professional archaeologist. The archaeological record is one source of information that helps us to conceptualize specific tribal events in the distant past. Written historic ethnographic accounts are a second source; a third, and perhaps most continuous, source of information for interpreting the past is traditional tribal knowledge passed down through generations by Native American oral communication. However, much more information is needed. Debates over such archaeological theories—old and new—are ongoing and contribute greatly to our notions of the past. Yet, more important than considering the profession's interpretive community is the definition of each theory's object of study or inquiry. This article discusses many complex cultural theories as composites of scientific and social-scientific approaches and how archaeologists use them to interpret the past.
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