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Perspectives from the Society for Historical Archaeology: Public Archaeology, From Outreach and Education to Critique and Global Justice
This book provides a broad overview of the key concepts in public archaeology, a research field that examines the relationship between archaeology and the public, in both theoretical and practical terms. While based on the long-standing programme of undergraduate and graduate teaching in public archaeology at UCL’s renowned Institute of Archaeology, the book also takes into account the growth of scholarship from around the world and seeks to clarify what exactly ‘public archaeology’ is by promoting an inclusive, socially and politically engaged vision of the discipline. Written for students and practitioners, the individual chapters provide textbook-level introductions to the themes, t...
An introduction to the ways in which archaeologists study the recent past (c.AD 1500 to the present).
Even before the Mayflower sailed across the Atlantic in 1620, the material and cultural lives of the 'Old' and 'New' worlds were inextricably linked. This book reflects the techniques which archaeologists have used over the last 30 years to try and unravel, from a mass of material evidence, the lives of early Americans, and their English contemporaries. This book discusses the unique methodologies which historical archaeologists (in both Britain and the US) have developed to study early modern and industrial societies and new theoretical approaches focusing on ethnicity and domestic space, and new practical techniques using environmental as well as artifactual evidence. The book contains forty two essays arranged thematically. Five are concerned with the use and interpretation of evidence; thirteen describe settlements and their communities on both sides of the Atlantic; four are on nautical and military operations; thirteen are concerned with artefacts and pottery and their manufacture and distribution; and seven use environmental evidence to throw new light on the human populations, and the plant and animal worlds of the time.
In studying the past, archaeologists have focused on the material remains of our ancestors. Prehistorians generally have only artifacts to study and rely on the diverse material record for their understanding of past societies and their behavior. Those involved in studying historically documented cultures not only have extensive material remains but also contemporary texts, images, and a range of investigative technologies to enable them to build a broader and more reflexive picture of how past societies, communities, and individuals operated and behaved. Increasingly, historical archaeology refers not to a particular period, place, or a method, but rather an approach that interrogates the t...
Historical archaeology has made great strides during the last two decades. Early archaeological reports were dominated by descriptions of features and artifacts, while research on artifacts was concentrated on studies of topology, technology, and chronology. Site reports from the 1960s and 1970s commonly expressed faith in the potential artifacts had for aiding in the identifying socioeconomic status differences and for understanding the relationships be tween the social classes in terms of their material culture. An emphasis was placed on the presence or absence of porcelain or teaware as an indication of social status. These were typical features in site reports written just a few years ag...