Read the three articles that are posted. The old article by Lehmann-Hartleben is often cited as the basis for the assertion that Thomas Jefferson was the “father of American archaeology,” a designation that subsequently made its way into many archaeology textbooks, including current ones. The 2005 article by Thomas views Jefferson’s role in the beginnings of American archaeology as complicated. Focus your essay on the ideas presented in Thomas’s article. Exactly what were Jefferson’s positive contributions to American archaeology? to American anthropology? What were his responses to European attitudes toward North America? Was Jefferson a defender of the American Indian? What policies did he support that contributed to scientific investigations in archaeology and other disciplines? Did he support policies that had negative impacts on Native Americans? To what extent were Jefferson and his ideas the result of the times in which he lived?
