Great question, Anna!  Thanks for asking it!

I don’t know if you were thinking monographs or textbooks, but I’m going to assume the former since that is what you gave examples of.  The two you mention would have been my first and second answers, as well, as those are the two books that, together, made me decide to become a historical archaeologist.

Other than those, I would have to say my third favorite is Johnson’s “An Archaeology of Capitalism.”  Though I don’t exactly teach historical archaeology these days, I do teach a graduate seminar in material culture, which is basically "intro to historical archaeology for historians.”  I use Johnson’s book in it because, one, I love the book, and two, I think it does a great job of illustrating how documents, maps, landscapes, architecture, etc. are all artifacts too.  It is great for the historians because it bridges the gap between materials they are familiar with and methods/perspectives they aren’t, but I think it is equally important for archaeology students to remember that in historical archaeology documents are part of the data set (and not just as something to be read and quoted, but something to be analyzed and examined).

Best,
Elizabeth


Elizabeth Terese Newman, Phd
Assistant Professor of History, Stony Brook University
www.elizabethnewman.org

Check out my new book, Biography of a Hacienda (University of Arizona Press 2014).



> On Oct 16, 2014, at 10:47 AM, Anna Agbe-Davies <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> Hello HistArchers,
> 
> I'm building a new course (undergrad historical archaeology) for next year and I thought this might make an interesting topic for conversation, so after consulting the syllabi on the SHA webpage, I'm wondering:
> 
> What is the one book (besides In Small Things Forgotten--which is pretty much ubiquitous) that you like best for teaching an undergraduate course in historical archaeology? And, even more crucially, why?
> 
> I'll go first.  For me, there's no book like Uncommon Ground for the clarity and unfussiness of the writing, the balance between text and artifact data in the argument, and the clear social message of the entire project.
> 
> (Then again, I use it every year for another class, so I'm going to resist my impulse to include it on this syllabus, too!)
> 
> Happy Thursday, all,
> 
> Anna
> 
> -- 
> Anna S. Agbe-Davies, Ph.D.
> Assistant Professor
> Department of Anthropology
> UNC-Chapel Hill
> CB # 3115 / 301 Alumni Building
> Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3115
> 
> [log in to unmask]
> 919.962.5267