ANTHONY, DAVID W. 1990. Migration in archaeology:
  The baby and the bathwater. American
  Anthropologist   92:895-914

In this oft-cited paper Anthony argues that prehistoric demography and population studies cannot properly be undertaken without taking migration into account. He proposes that asking how to identify migrations archaeologically, rejecting modern migration studies for application to prehistory, and searching for causes of migration are all wrong approaches to migration studies. Rather, our “methodology must be dependant upon an understanding of the general structure of migration as a patterned human behavior (895).” These general structures can be identified using modern and historical migration studies and then applied to prehistory.


ANTHONY, DAVID W. 2007. The horse, the wheel,
  and language:How bronze age riders from the
  eurasian steppes shaped the modern world
  Princeton: Princeton University Press.

This recent book by Anthony claims to identify who spoke Proto-Indo-European, where and when by combining linguistic evidence with archaeological remains. Anthony acknowledges the problem with associating artifacts with language but uses the concept of persistent frontiers to tie them together. Building on his earlier works that focused on structures of migrations he develops his theory of the Indo-European migrations made possible by the domestication of the horse and the invention of the wheel.


ADAMS, WILLIAM Y., DENNIS P. VAN GERVEN, AND RICHARD S. LEVY. 1978. The retreat from
  migrationism. Annual Review of Anthropology
  7:483-532

This review article exemplifies the thoughts behind the theoretical rejection of migration as an explanatory concept. Almost belittling in tone, it lays out their thoughts on what is keeping migration from being rejected totally. The authors provide a critical look at migration studies in archaeology, linguistics, and physical anthropology. They see migration as little more than an ad hoc explanation and argue that since the beginning of the twentieth century it has been losing respectability.


BERNARDINI, WESLEY. 2005. Hopi oral tradition and
  the archaeology of identity. Tuscon: The University of
  Arizona Press

Bernardini examines the population movement of southwest peoples using oral tradition as a source of theory about the past rather than trying to correlate it with historical events and places. He focuses on identity and the scale of migrations based not on taxonomic evidence but oral tradition and then attempts to see it in the material record.


BRETTELL, CAROLINE B., AND JAMES F. HOLLIFIELD. 2008. Migration theory: Talking across
  disciplines. New York: Routledge.

This edited volume containins interdisciplinary looks at migration. Drawing upon authors with backgrounds in history, demography, economy, sociology, anthropology, geography, political science, and law, the book seeks to establish an understanding of migration from multiple angles in an attempt to develop migration theory which can be used by all disciplines studying migration. Although lacking any discussion of archaeology it provides an excellent overview of the structure and processes of migration.


BURMEISTER, STEFAN.2000. Archaeology and
  migration: Approaches to an archaeological proof of
  migration. Current Anthropology 41(4):539-567.

Burmeister attacks the methodological question of how to identify migrations in the archaeological record. Using Bourdieu’s concept of habitus he attempts to develop both a theory and method for the understanding of recent migrations. The article also incorporates many German language sources not often found in the literature and is followed in typical CA fashion by comments from several leading scholars of migration.


CHAPMAN, JOHN, AND HELENA HAMEROW. 1997,
  Migrations and invasions in archaeological
  explanation. BAR International Series 664.

This short edited volume contains six articles dealing with migrations and invasions. The volume has a European focus with an emphasis on how to identify movement. The first two chapters provide brief histories of migration, the third a review of processes which may influence it, and the remainder focus on case studies in an effort to establish identity in the past and see the movement of people.


MADSEN, DAVID B., AND DAVID RHODE. 1994.Across the west: Human population movement
  and the expansion of the Numa. Salt Lake City:
  University of Utah Press.

This edited volume is dedicated to understanding the Numic Expansion in the western United States. The book contains 24 chapters divided into four sections; background, theoretical and methodological issues, regional perspectives, and a summary. Bringing together in one volume a diverse group of scholars the book specifically focuses on the linguistic and archaeological evidence for population movement.


MASCIE-TAYLOR, C.G.N., AND G.W. LASKER. 1988.
  Biological aspects of human migration. Cambridge:
  Cambridge University Press. 

This edited volume examines the biological signature that may be left by migrating people(s). Chapters focus on genetic evidence, morphological characteristics, adaptation, disease, and modeling all of these biological aspects. A brief review of migration studies and a case study of the peopling of the Americas and Australia are also included at the beginning of the volume.


RAVENSTEIN, E.G. 1889. The laws of migration:
  Second paper. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society
  52(2):241-305

The second paper in which Ravenstein presented his “laws” of migration. After presenting a hefty quantity of facts and figures to back up his assertions, he concludes that other than overpopulation (which he views as the primary causal factor of migration), there are six principles of migration. (1) Migration movement is gradual. (2) Because of this most migrations are short-distance. (3) The main migration current produces a weaker counter current. (4) Urban areas grow at the expense of rural ones. (5) Females dominate short distance migrations. (6) Migration increases and is indicative of life and progress.


ROUSE, IRVING. 1986. Migrations in prehistory:
  Inferring population movement from cultural remains.
  New Haven: Yale University Press.

This classic study by Rouse is a fine example of the methodological approach to migration. He argues that if there is evidence of change in material culture within a locality, it must be the result of one of three processes: diffusion (which includes trade), local development, or migration. Within migration he makes the distinction between local, small scale migrations and large-scale migrations of whole groups of people. Focusing on the large-scale migrations-what he terms population movement-he examines four case studies; the Polynesians, the Eskimos, the Japanese, and the Tainos, to illustrate his methodology.


WILLEY, GORDON R., CHARLES C. DIPESO, WILLIAM A. RITCHIE, IRVING ROUSE, JOHN H. ROWE, AND DONALD W. LATHRAP. 1956.  "An
  archaeological classification of culture contact
  situations," in Seminars in archaeology:1955. Edited
  by  Robert Wauchope. Salt Lake City: The Society for
  American Archaeology.

This chapter is the published result of a seminar in 1955 which focused on how to identify culture contact archaeologically. Using the definition of culture as “customary behavior” which may or may not be correlated to ethnic identity the authors divide culture contact into “site-unit” intrusions and “trait-unit” intrusions. These are further divided into four types each. They also argue that without classification and chronology no attempt at determining types of contact, or even the occurrence of contact, is possible.