I believe the quote, which Jim often repeated was from Ivor Noel Hume. I
think I recall him saying it in one of his films, perhaps search for a
century.
Eric

On Thu, Jun 29, 2017 at 1:07 PM, Barbara Voss <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Dear colleagues:
>
> I'm trying to track down the source of a quote often attributed to Jim
> Deetz -
>
> "Historical archaeology is the most expensive way in the world to learn
> something we already know."
>
> Wikipedia's Historical Archaeology page attributes this to Deetz 1991:1,
> but the webpage does not list a Deetz 1991 citation. Wikipedia lists a
> longer quote than the one I remember:
>
> "Historical archaeology has several definitions. One of the more
> unfortunate ones -- which is certainly not true... is that historical
> archaeology is the most expensive way in the world to learn something we
> already know."
>
> Google failed me, so I'm turning to something better - the HistArch
> hive-mind. Any leads?
>
> Thanks!
> Barb
>
> -----------------------------------------------
> Barbara L. Voss, Associate Professor
> Department of Anthropology
> 450 Serra Mall, Bldg. 50, Main Quad
> Stanford University
> Stanford CA 94305-2034
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> https://web.stanford.edu/dept/anthropology/cgi-bin/web/?q=node/75
> https://stanford.academia.edu/BarbaraVoss
>