NEW TOPIC: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY
NO ANNOTATED REFERENCES DUE
STRUCTURE OP HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY---
WHAT’S THE CONCEPTURAL STRUCTURE OF THIS SPECIALITY
IS HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY SCIENCE OR POST-MODERN OR BOTH?
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PREHISTORIC AND HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY.
Definitions: historical Archaeology1) Historical Archaeology as archaeology with the
addition of textural descriptionsIn Europe, this means that historical archaeology is pre-Roman. In the Middle East, it dates to Sumer, 3000 B. C.
Slave Castle, Ghana
Sumerian writing—Cuneiform
Temple, Sumer
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.
If Historical Archaeology is the Archaeology of Europeans, how do these two disciplines work together?
Slave Castle, Ghana
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.
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 diagnosticsdifferences in access to goods ( status; elites). Ex: Changing status of “hookers” in 18th C. inWashington D. C.
2) This Specialization results in an artificial Separation between Prehistory and History in the Americas.
Prehistory is Native American; History is European
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
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
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
M. Herskovits
Pocahontas
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?
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
Archaeology of the Historic Record/ Challenging the Hegemony of History
(consider these together because both put archaeology in the driver’s seat or treat archaeology independently)
Archaeological investigations as an independent research domain of the historic period. Use history but don’t 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
Rr
Kathleen Deagan Ron Towner
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.
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.
Summary
1. Archaeology and history have different understandings of the past.
2. The tying of archaeology to history renders archaeological understanding invisible.
3. Separating the two disciplines and independently investigating a topic leads to a more fulsome understanding, explanation, interpretation.
