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Anita's right, there is a sense of deja vu all over again about this
discussion.It is possible to have a field of study that calls itself
"historical archaeology" that is not completely defined and constituted by
the words that make up the title. [why, I often use my cupboard for other
things as well as cups, and even make something other than sauce in my
saucepan]The problem of what to call this thing that we do goes back to
young Bob Schuyler's day, and probably Harrington. None of the labels that
have been proposed have been free of problems and some have now carved
themselves similarly inconsistent domains [a big cheerio to all the
post-medieval, maritime and industrial archaeologists out there]. In the
absence of a usefully distinctive and self-explanatory name I am happy to
keep referring to what I do as historical archaeology because it at least
picks up on a major feature of what I do - the presence of a historical
record that is actively used as one of our data sources.If you read Anders
Andrens 'Between artefact and text', which surveys all the archaeologies of
literate societies [Egyptian, Shang +], a fair few of them have a complete
disjunction between historical and archaeological interpretation to the
point where they could be discussing different cultures, and in rarely can
make use of documentary evidence in the way that we do routinely. The issue
for us isn't just presence of a historical record, but one that is so
abundant and vernacular [?] that it allows for documentary contextualising
of even mundane archaeological evidence. Right now I'm avoiding writing
something on market gardening in Sydney, but it would happily mix
archaeological / physical evidence with legislation, newspaper items,
personal narratives such as letters and oral histories, photographs and maps
and plans, and biogrraphical information . Hard to do when you only have
half a dozen Maya codex or must make do with a selective and sparse written
record that is essentially an instrument of state power.As for the future of
the forum, I think it has served a vital role in comunication and I would
hope it continued to do so.cheersDenisDenis GojakBanksia Heritage +
ArchaeologyPO Box 457Newtown NSW 2042Australia
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