NEW TOPIC: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY

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NEW TOPIC HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY NO ANNOTATED
REFERENCES DUE
STRUCTURE OP HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY--- WHATS
THE CONCEPTURAL STRUCTURE OF THIS SPECIALITY IS
HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY SCIENCE OR POST-MODERN OR
BOTH? RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PREHISTORIC AND
HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY.
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Definitions historical Archaeology

• Historical Archaeology as archaeology with the
  addition of textural descriptions
• In Europe, this means that historical
  archaeology is pre-Roman. In the Middle East, it
  dates to Sumer, 3000 B. C.

Slave Castle, Ghana
Temple, Sumer
Sumerian writingCuneiform
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2) Historical Archaeology, in the Americas, is
the archaeology of Europeans. It covers the last
600 years of time and begins with European
conquest/invasion
San Marcos, St Augustine FL
Colonial Williamsburg, Va.
Monticello, VA.
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If Historical Archaeology is the Archaeology of
Europeans, how do these two disciplines work
together?
Ivor Noel Hume founder, developer of Colonial
Williamsburg Archaeology is the stepchild of
History . In essence, in relation to history,
archaeology will always lose and is a weaker
contributor A lot of history and a little
archaeology Initially, then history was the
intellectual home of historical archaeology.
Why is this the case? 1. We are a literate
society and value the written word above other
kinds of artifacts 2. The historical record is
written by individuals the archaeological
record is collective--- the results of many
individual actions 3. The temporal resolution
of the historical versus the archaeological
record.
Slave Castle, Ghana
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Some Consequences of this position

• 1) Historical archaeologists develop specialties,
  e.g., bottle shapes, European ceramics

European Artifacts are used , as all artifacts
are used temporal diagnostics differences in
access to goods ( status elites). Ex
Changing status of hookers in 18th C.
in Washington D. C.
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2) This Specialization results in an artificial
Separation between Prehistory and History in the
Americas. Prehistory is Native American
History is European
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Why this separation makes no sense

• Native record does not terminate with Europeans.
• The nature of contemporary American society is a
  product of what of the long trajectory of change
  that goes back 12,000 years.
• Cuts the past off from the Present
• There is no pure European or pure Indian
• This is myth

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Historical Archaeology within Anthropology

• Several Directions, all of which, utilize an
  anthropological framework
• Historical Anthropology
• Archaeology of the Historic Record
• May be either post modern of science
• Challenging the Hegemony of History

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Historical Anthropology Then and now

• Acculturation The study of the process of
  change that occurs when two societies with
  different traditions come into direct contact

Pocahontas
M. Herskovits
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Pros and Cons of Classic Acculturation

• Pros
• Introduced the use of texts to understand the
  process of change.
• Cultural traditions are not static
• Cons
• Direction of Change from Europeans to native
  populations.
• Native Populations as passive recipients of
  goods, ideas, and institutions. (This is
  obviously not the case.)
• European goods, ceramics for instance, as
  superior
• to native manufacture. Is this the case?

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New Historical Anthropology

• Pluralistic anthropology---
• The goal is to understand the nature of change
• Change has multiple directions
• All people directly involved in the context are
  changed. The structures that emerge are tied to
  the past but are new hyrid
• Uses all available evidence to examine change as
  ongoing
• Texts, archives, oral history and artifacts

Fort Ross
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Archaeology of the Historic Record/ Challenging
the Hegemony of History (consider these together
because both put archaeology in the drivers seat
or treat archaeology independently)
Archaeological investigations as an independent
research domain of the historic period. Use
history but dont put archaeology in the service
of history. When examine each discipline
independently, we build a more integrated
knowledge of the process of change that occurred
with European conquest
Kathleen Deagan Ron Towner
Rr
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Taino Disappearance Haiti

• Earliest hispanic colony History Taino
  disppear with 20 years of Columbus. Destroyed by
  disease and enslavement in the mining of placer
  gold. So Why Study
• En Bas Saline
• Separation of pre and post-1492.
• Continuation of Taino Tradition even as they
  decline.

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Abandonment of the Chama by Native Peoples

• History says natives gone by 1600 when Onate
  establishes San Gabriel at San Juan Pueblo
• Archaeological Time Tree Ring Dates, ceramic
  cross-dates, and luminescence dates to evaluate
  when Lower Chama is abandoned.
• Results They are still there in the 17th C. in
  fact until the Pueblo Revolt.

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• Summary
• 1. Archaeology and history have different
  understandings of the past.
• The tying of archaeology to history renders
  archaeological understanding invisible.
• Separating the two disciplines and independently
  investigating a topic leads to a more fulsome
  understanding, explanation, interpretation.