Twists and Turns through the Dark Tunnel

This chapter is actually a lot of fun to write. It feels kind of like an amusement park ride. You know what I mean, one of those rides that is sometimes bright and clear, but then you see the dark tunnel up ahead, and you brace yourself for what is coming up ahead. You're in the dark for a while, twisting and turning, not really knowing which way the ride will take you next. This part is a bit scary but also exciting. Then you finally come back into the light and see the clear path ahead. 

As I said in an earlier post, I am writing about the history of evolutionary cognitive archaeology as a field. It hasn't been around that long, so I was aware of most of its history before beginning to write. But there are some decades that I apparently know very little about, and it's kind of like going down that dark tunnel, not knowing where I will emerge. This is why I almost always write my introduction last because I don't know if the ride will suddenly jerk to the left after I read this article and then take a quick descent once I discover that book. I continue to learn new things. Thankfully, they often they lead me back to the theory under which I am operating, which is always reassuring.

I haven't met my goal to finish Section V yet, but I think this is because I keep discovering additional sources that add to the story I'm trying to tell. As you can see below, I have finished Subsections A and B of Section V. I wrote around 3 pages the past two days and read a book and several articles. I also read through what I have written so far, expecting it to be terrible, and it wasn't actually too bad. 

I. Introduction
II. Pre-World War II
III. Post-World War II
IV. 1979: Contemporary evolutionary cognitive archaeology begins
V. 1980s: A Piagetian framework
    A. Examples
    B. Critiques     
    C. Intelligence vs. cognition
VI. 1990s in Europe
VII. A coming of age in the US
VII. New approaches of new millennium
VIII. Introduction of neuroimaging techniques
IX. Summary

I won't be at camp tomorrow because my parents, whom I have not seen since Christmas, are visiting from Indiana this weekend. We made plans for them to come out when I thought that there was not enough room for me in the dissertation camp. I'm kind of bummed that I have to miss tomorrow, but I think it's good that I am feeling excited already to get back to writing. I will be back at it again on Monday!