This is being forwarded to Histarch as per the request of Jonathan Bateman
of
Britarch. It concerns the Thematic Block, Archaeology and the Modern World
at
the forthcoming European Association of Archaeologists meeting in St.
Petersburg, Russia.

_________________________
William Moss, RPA

Archéologue principal
Design, Architecture et Patrimoine
Service de l'aménagement du territoire
Ville de Québec
CP 700 Haute-Ville
Québec (Québec)
Canada G1R 4S9
Tél. : 418.641.6411, poste 2149
Fax  : 418.641.6455
[log in to unmask]
www.ville.quebec.qc.ca
_________________________


From: Russell Palmer [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 17 February 2003 15:59

A session in the Thematic Block, Archaeology and the Modern World, in the
9th
Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists (EAA), 10-14
September, 2003, St. Petersberg, Russia.

Session Title:
NEW DIRECTIONS IN 'EUROPEAN' HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY? ISSUES OF DEFINITION
AND
SCOPE.

Organisers:
Stephanie Koerner (University of Manchester)
Russell Palmer (University of Manchester)

Discussant:
Laurent Olivier (Musee de Antiquites Nationales, Saint Germain-en-Laye,
France)

The last several EAA meetings have seen growing interest in going beyond
traditional disciplinary boundaries, and in developing innovative ways to
integrate archaeology, historiography, and the humanities. This session will
provide a context for discussing new directions in the research on
historical
periods. The 2003 meeting promises an exciting context for exploring issues
of
scope and definition from the diverse perspectives of researchers who are
studying historical periods, in different countries, institutional contexts
and intellectual traditions. Unsurprisingly, such studies exhibit much
variety
in regards to methods, periods investigated, and focusing research
questions.
But they share several important features.

For one thing, they challenge views that archaeology is simply
historiography's 'handmaiden' and the deterministic/ teleological
philosophies
of history that motivate such views. There is also a deep concern with the
complexity of relationships between modes of periodisation; methodological
strategies; the categories used to classify materials; and contextual
factors
that bias that research questions. Relating to these points are new
critically
oriented research foci. Many studies in historical archaeology concern
people
and processes, which have been rendered invisible by 'handmaiden' approaches
that perpetuate traditions of 'the historiography of great men and famous
battles' (cf Bloch 1944). Numerous recent projects focus on specific aspects
of modernity, such as capitalism, slavery and exploitation, with attention
to
the advantages of the 'prism of the local' as an investigative framework for
illuminating broader issues (cf Koerner and Palmer 2002).

Projects that are being carried out in Europe today, which bring together
archaeological materials, historical documents, oral histories, and
ethnographic and ethno-historical insights, might be placed under the banner
of historical archaeology. This may allow us to explore such issues as the
following:

· Can, or should, there be a unified European historical archaeology?
· What is the range of current approaches, and why do these exist?
· Challenges facing attempts to integrate diverse methodologies and
materials
· The diversity of questions that researchers are trying to broach.
· Contrasting perspectives on relations between the content of archaeologies
of historical periods and the socio-historical contexts in which researchers
carry out their work.

We are concerned to have the session include both critical overviews of the
ways in which archaeologies of historical periods developed in different
contexts, along with individual case studies that illustrate the variety of
current approaches. We welcome suggestions of additional issues that would
be
useful to explore in the session.