Archaeology as Cultural History


Book Description

This book shows the reader how much archaeologists can learn from recent developments in cultural history.




An Archaeological History of Japan, 30,000 B.C. to A.D. 700


Book Description

An original, substantial contribution to interpretive archaeology (the first of its kind for Japan and East Asia), An Archaeological History of Japan addresses a broad range of issues concerning the self-identification of groups and the use of the past in contemporary society.




Historical Archaeology


Book Description

This book provides a short, readable introduction to historical archaeology, which focuses on modern history in all its fascinating regional, cultural, and ethnic diversity. Accessibly covering key methods and concepts, including fundamental theories and principles, the history of the field, and basic definitions, Historical Archaeology also includes a practical look at career prospects for interested readers. Orser discusses central topics of archaeological research such as time and space, survey and excavation methods, and analytical techniques, encouraging readers to consider the possible meanings of artifacts. Drawing on the author’s extensive experience as an historical archaeologist, the book’s perspective ranges from the local to the global in order to demonstrate the real importance of this subject to our understanding of the world in which we live today. The third edition of this popular textbook has been significantly revised and expanded to reflect recent developments and discoveries in this exciting area of study. Each chapter includes updated case studies which demonstrate the research conducted by professional historical archaeologists. With its engaging approach to the subject, Historical Archaeology continues to be an ideal resource for readers who wish to be introduced to this rapidly expanding global field.




Cultural Negotiations


Book Description

This meticulously researched reference work documents the role of women who contributed to the development of Americanist archaeology from 1865 to 1940. Between the Civil War and World War II, many women went into anthropology and archaeology, fields that, at the beginning of this period, welcomed and made room for amateurs of both genders. But over time, the increasingly professional structure of these fields diminished or even obscured the contributions of women due to their lack of access to prestigious academic employment and publishing opportunities. As a result, a woman archaeologist during this period often published her research under her husband's name or as a junior author with her husband. In Cultural Negotiations archaeologist David L. Browman has scoured the archaeological literature and archival records of several institutions to bring the stories of more than two hundred women in Americanist archaeology to light through detailed biographies that discuss their contributions and publications. This work highlights how the social and cultural construction of archaeology as a field marginalized women and will serve as an invaluable reference to those researchers who continue to uncover the history of women in the sciences.




The Sound of Silence


Book Description

Colonial encounters between indigenous peoples and European state powers are overarching themes in the historical archaeology of the modern era, and postcolonial historical archaeology has repeatedly emphasized the complex two-way nature of colonial encounters. This volume examines common trajectories in indigenous colonial histories, and explores new ways to understand cultural contact, hybridization and power relations between indigenous peoples and colonial powers from the indigenous point of view. By bringing together a wide geographical range and combining multiple sources such as oral histories, historical records, and contemporary discourses with archaeological data, the volume finds new multivocal interpretations of colonial histories.




A History of Archaeological Thought


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Traces of the Past


Book Description

An innovative multidisciplinary study of the relationship between visual perception and temporal meaning in ancient Greek literature and history writing




Historical Archaeology Through a Western Lens


Book Description

A 2017 Choice Outstanding Academic Title The mythic American West, with its perilous frontiers, big skies, and vast resources, is frequently perceived as unchanging and timeless. The work of many western-based historical archaeologists over the past decade, however, has revealed narratives that often sharply challenge that timelessness. Historical Archaeology Through a Western Lens reveals an archaeological past that is distinct to the region—but not in ways that popular imagination might suggest. Instead, this volume highlights a western past characterized by rapid and ever-changing interactions between diverse groups of people across a wide range of environmental and economic situations. The dynamic and unpredictable lives of western communities have prompted a constant challenging and reimagining of both individual identities and collective understandings of their position within a broader national experience. Indeed, the archaeological West is one clearly characterized by mobility rather than stasis. The archaeologies presented in this volume explore the impact of that pervasive human mobility on the West—a world of transience, impermanence, seasonal migration, and accelerated trade and technology at scales ranging from the local to the global. By documenting the challenges of both local community-building and global networking, they provide an archaeology of the West that is ultimately from the West.




Uncovering the Past


Book Description

This study focuses on the development of archaeology as a discipline, tracing the milestones in the evolution of systematic excavation. It covers the entire history of archaeology from the "heroic age" (1450-1925), to the advanced stages of archaeology beg




Historical Archaeology and Environment


Book Description

This edited volume gathers contributions focused on understanding the environment through the lens of Historical Archaeology. Pressing issues such as climate change, global warming, the Anthropocene and loss of biodiversity have pushed scholars from different areas to examine issues related to the causes, processes, and consequences of these phenomena. While traditional barriers between natural and social sciences have been torn down, these issues have gradually occupied a central place in the field of anthropology. As archaeology involves the transdisciplinary study of cultural and natural evidence related to the past, it is in a privileged position to discuss the historical depth of some of the processes related to environment that are deeply affecting the world today. This volume brings together substantial and comprehensive contributions to the understanding of the environment in a historical perspective along three lines of inquiry: Theoretical and methodological approaches to the environment in Historical Archaeology Studies on environmental Historical Archaeology Historical Archaeology and the Anthropocene Historical Archaeology and Environment will be of interest to researchers in both social and environmental sciences, working in different disciplines and research areas, such as archaeology, history, geography, anthropology, climate change studies, environmental analysis and sustainable development studies.