HISTARCHERS,

While perusing the latest edition of Historical Archaeology (Vol 38, No 1), I came across the following in an article by Kerri Barile. She begins with a quote from the Texas Historical Commission [THC], which opines:

"If you provide a research design that. explains why archaeological data are better than archival or historic sources for studying these questions, the THC will support it."

Barile continues.

".this statement re-emphasized the tendency to separate archaeology from the cohesive study of all historic cultural resources, including architecture, archival research, and oral history."

How right you are, Kerri. 

How sad it is that after I don't know how many years of historical archaeology it's still necessary to make this kind of statement. It puts me in mind of certain public officials who, in their scarily myopic understanding of how historical archaeology works, ask me to justify my work by lining up the "facts" that I have learned exclusively from the archaeological remains.

Well, duh.

Adrian Praetzellis
Sonoma State University