Subject: | |
From: | |
Reply To: | |
Date: | Tue, 31 Mar 2009 09:47:01 +1100 |
Content-Type: | text/plain |
Parts/Attachments: |
|
|
Perhaps it would be helpful for the list managers and / or members to
come up with a definition of historical archaeology that we can all
accept. Or to have a statement regarding the rules of the list - what it
is intended to cover.
Here are some
# Historical archaeology is a branch of archaeology that concerns itself
with "historical" societies, i.e. those that had systems of writing. ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_archaeology
# A discipline within archaeology concerned with supplementing written
history with archaeological research to create a more complete account
of the past. The term applies only to the study of societies with
written records.
www.archaeological.org/webinfo.php
# the archaeological study of historically documented cultures. In North
America, research is directed at colonial and post-colonial settlement,
analogous to the study of medieval and post-medieval archaeology in
Europe.
www.china.org.cn/english/features/Archaeology/98851.htm
# the study of past cultures where written records can assist in the
interpretation of excavated remains and artifacts.
http://members.shaw.ca/readingthebones/RB-3Act3.doc.
I have always taken Historical Archaeology to be the study of any period
where the archaeological record can be correlated with the historical
record. Perhaps the definition lies in the balance between the two. So
historical archaeology for my own city starts in the 1830s, but for
Sydney it goes back to 1788. In both places, aboriginal communities
remained undocumented in some areas for decades after British invaders
were writing about themselves, so their archaeological record cannot be
Hist Arch . If archaeology of the Roman Period, or Marco Polo can be
carried out in a context where historical documents can be used as a
corroborating source, and vice-versa, then this also could be considered
Historical Archaeology.
Perhaps a simple test would be whether the post relates to an
archaeological issue within a historical place and period.
___________________________________
Gary Vines
-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
geoff carver
Sent: Tuesday, 31 March 2009 6:31 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Marco Polo
Prevailing in the US? I'd never heard that till relatively recently;
where did that come from?
-----Original Message-----
Neither topic is consistent with the prevailing definition of Historical
Archaeology, which I would paraphrase as the study of Western
expansionist interaction with rest of the world in the Age of Discovery
and beyond
|
|
|