Hi.  I got to this thread a bit late, and others have noted some
excellent resources.  I would just add, be careful.  At a recent archy
conference in Baton Rouge, I heard a paper in which the author, on the
basis of one privy full of patent medicine bottles, combined with census
data and Sanborn maps, conclusively proved that the Irish emigrant
occupants of the block (in New Orleans) were low status and drunks.
Fortunately, no one from the Hibernia Association was present, but there
were some prehistorians who probably concluded that based on this paper,
hist archies are stupid, superficial, and insensitive.  Not to mention
bad analysts.  I don't think the author of the paper even realized what
the paper said.I didn't bother to ask how much $ had been spent on this
"analysis", and, unfortunately, it was indeed a contract project.  Not
much can be more powerful than an intelligent paper in hist archy, but
sometimes not much can sound more stupid.  Good luck with your research.
 
Leslie C. Stewart-Abernathy
Arkansas Archeological Survey
Arkansas Tech University
Russellville, AR