Introduction

The Routledge Handbook of Historical Archaeology presents a comprehensive treatment of the sub-discipline exploring key contemporary debates, and providing a series of specially commissioned geographical overviews. The book brings together 46 chapters by leading historical archaeologists and has been designed to offer a starting point for students who may wish to pursue particular topics in more depth, as well as for non-archaeologists who have an interest in how historical archaeology may help us to reflect upon the origins of the modern world. The editors recognize that because advances in historical archaeology and the wider discipline are coming at such a rapid pace this handbook merely offers a snapshot of current theory and practice, and it is difficult to anticipate where the sub-discipline will be in five years’ time. We nevertheless view the active and ever-changing character of historical archaeology as a positive sign that the sub-discipline is capable of constantly transforming itself to address new issues and audiences and that by drawing attention to and questioning inequality, structural violence, racism, and environmental destruction, historical archaeologists can make a powerful contribution to political debates in the contemporary world

The Routledge Handbook of Global Historical Archaeology

The proposed Handbook of Global Historical Archaeology is designed to offer readers an up-to-date introduction to the rapidly growing, worldwide field of historical archaeology. Whereas the field was once restricted to the United States (largely as an anthropological pursuit) and Great Britain (generally as a historical endeavor called ‘post-medieval archaeology’), today’s historical archaeologists live and conduct important research in places only dreamt of twenty years ago. Given the ever-developing nature of the discipline, the contributors to this handbook will concentrate most of their discussions on archaeological achievements made since about 2006. The field has traditionally been defined in two ways: as the methodological combination of archaeological and historical sources, and as the archaeological analysis of the post-1500 CE world. Tension has always existed between the two definitions, but most practicing historical archaeologists understand historical archaeology in terms of the second definition. Archaeologists pursuing research under the first definition usually self-define as Mesoamerican, Egyptian, or classical archaeologists rather than as historical archaeologists per se. As such, this handbook uses the second definition and does not intend to describe research in earlier historical epochs. In any case, including information from the broader definition would double the size of the volume. The authors contributing to the handbook will explore the seminal topics posed by today’s practitioners, including new methods, disciplinary histories, core theories, and specific examples of key research. The target audience for the proposed handbook are undergraduate, post-graduate, and mature students of archaeology, anthropology, history, historical preservation, and geography, as well as members of the general public who have an interest in history and historical archaeology. The handbook will be an important resource for learning about the current theoretical trends of the field, its thematic directions, and the most important sites discovered and excavated during the first years of the twenty-first century. The growth of the discipline means that readers throughout the world will find the handbook useful. Historical archaeologists now teach and conduct research throughout South and Central America, in Australia and New Zealand, the Pacific and Indian Oceans, in India and Southeast Asia, Africa, and in Western, Central, and Eastern Europe. Historical archaeologists have even conducted research in Antarctica. Given the complexity and breadth of underwater/maritime archaeology, this subject is accorded only one chapter in the proposed volume. A separate handbook would be required to cover that subject in depth

Indigenous Traces in Colonial Spaces: Archaeologies of Ambiguity, Origins, and Practices

This article reconsiders how archaeologists find Indigenous people, particularly Native Americans, in past colonial communities. Significant progress has been made in studying indigenous living areas associated with colonial communities but not in recovering evidence for (or even remembering) Native people laboring in distinctly colonial spaces. I propose that the reason for the lag lies in an incomplete perspective on material culture and space that denies their polyvalent and ambiguous, yet informative and manifestly real, nature. A new perspective can be forged with greater use of social theory pertaining to practice, space, and labor. Reconceptualizing material culture and space in colonial contexts requires that archaeologists acknowledge the role of labor relations in structuring material and spatial practices and not conflate origins of artifacts and spaces with other possible social meanings derived from practice. This article examines these two dimensions with three North American cases from New England, Florida, and California