Jeff --

Pleased to meet a kindred spirit!

As a fellow history-based CRM type, I would urge you to find a way to get
your historic contexts better integrated into the "historic" archaeology
project.  Your context should be a key component in developing the research
design for the project, and later in helping to place the results/findings
into an evaluative or interpretive framework, i.e. "what does it all mean?"

BTW --

What did you do your history MA thesis on?  I once met a fellow who got his
PhD in History from W&M, but relied heavily on historical archaeology in
his work.  ( I was once trying to do the same thing with 18th century
military sites, only within the Amer. Std. program at GW in DC.) Last I
heard he had went off to some museum in Maine.  I've always admired with
work of Axtell, and one of the other history profs there, Whittenburg,  who
tries to work on integrating the history with the "historical"
archaeology. Kathleen Deagan is another progressive who tries to do the
same thing from the other side of the fence.

Feel free to contact me off list if you wish.

Cheers!

Carl Barna
Regional Historian
BLM Colorado State Office
[log in to unmask]
303-239-3727