I don't agree with geoff though I see nothing offensive in what he said 
just a little passion and I have heard embittered frustration at German 
patriarchy even from tenured professors.. The multi-period nature of 
European archaeology does give us a different perspective. However, our 
Chinese colleagues would certainly agree we were are all anglocentic in 
our emphases. But then a French collegue told me capitalism was a 
temporary anglo-american fad and would soon dissapear.

paul

:
> I did my MA in Historical Archaeology of the Modern World (1492-present)...in
> England.  Stop bashing Americans.  Can we drop this now please??  It's becoming
> offensive on a personal level.
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: geoff carver<[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Tue, December 14, 2010 1:35:35 PM
> Subject: Re: Pompeii skeletons reveal secrets of Roman family life
>
> Are you now going to decide who is or who is not an historical
> archaeologist? Here in Germany I'm told I'm not an archaeologist because my
> training did not include Latin. I tell many of my colleagues they're not
> archaeologists because they can't use a theodolite, write a soil description
> or draw a Harris Matrix. I'm an historical archaeologist when I work in
> urban contexts, which can and do date from WW2 to Roman cellars, all within
> a single site. Am I supposed to excavate part of the site to some random
> cut-off date of 1492 that has absolutely no relevance here, then give the
> excavation over to someone else to do the earlier bits?
> The definition you put over is an American definition. Period. Sorry. Here
> there is no qualitative change after 1400. If "The Modern Period is set off
> qualitatively from the rest of human history and prehistory," what is the
> defining factor? Moveable type? The Protestant Reformation? The Viking
> voyages to the New World? Marco Polo? Columbus?
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> The definition I put forth is not an "American"
> definition. It is a definition based on cultural evolution which is
> global. Post-Medieval Archaeology is an integral part of our
> specialization, for example, but Etruscan archaeology is not.
>
>
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>