Middle-range theory (Archaeology)

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The middle range theory in archaeology describes how people use objects and structures and the human behaviors associated with this use. Middle range theory links archaeological data with the relevant aspects of human behavior or natural processes (such as the actions of water or of animals). It is an important archaeological aspect because it transitions from the archaeological observable, facts, to the archaeological invisible, such as human behavior, culture, beliefs, rituals, or natural processes of the past. The middle range theory answers questions such as "Why do we think that this stone tool was used for scraping hides and not for scraping wood to make a boat?" and "Why do we know that these bones were purposefully and forcefully damaged by humans instead of gnawed on by animals?"

Middle level archaeological research seeks situations in which ongoing human behavior or natural processes and the material results of this behavior and processes can be observed. At this point, archaeologists turn to experimental archaeology, ethnoarchaeology, and taphonomy.

Lewis Binford, the main proponent of the middle range theory, conducted his own ethnographic fieldwork among the Nunamiut Eskimo, the Navajo, and the Australian aborigines, testing the utility or archaeological concepts and methods on the trash of living peoples. He studies the relationship between these people and their utility of the trash they produce. Binford focuses more on how humans interact with the objects they made and used and how they fit in their ecological niche. Binford developed the middle range theory concept as applied in archeology from the sociological middle range theory of Robert K. Merton.

Middle range research seeks to provide archaeology with the tools needed to infer behaviors from the contemporary archaeological record. Binford's contribution to archaeology is more theoretical than practical.