Greetings, all:
Spinning off from what is developing into an interesting and important conversation, I want to note that for more than thirty years I've been teaching an introductory course first entitled "Archaeology & Prehistory" in the 1960s. I've never been entirely happy with the title and have always spent some class time discussing what "prehistory" means, how it differs from "history" and why it's not a really satisfactory term. I would consider changing the course title, but as this conversation is pointing out, the proposed alternatives all seem to have their own difficulties of one sort or another. In addition, I am within a couple of years of retirement and making a course name change would have to not only go through my institution's bureaucratic maze, but also that of the education bureaucracy of the state in which I work. In my final years here, I have "other rats to stomp," as an old friend of mine used to say. I will enjoy following this conversation and perhaps some workable alternative terminologies will emerge that better reflect more current conceptions and perceptions that are both historically more accurate and more culturally inclusive. Who knows? If some really good solutions emerge that begin to coalesce into some consensus in our field, I might even be willing to start the process of trying to change the title of my introductory course!
Thanks also for the Silliman and Lightfoot references. These are good reads on the issues being discussed in this thread!
-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jim Gibb
Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2018 8:52 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Protohistory on the Utah site form
Rob,
Thank you for providing the Silliman and Lightfoot references...I know I was going to drive myself nuts trying to find them this evening.
Jim
Jim Gibb
Gibb Archaeological Consulting
Annapolis, MD
[log in to unmask]
410.693.3847
-----Original Message-----
From: Mann, Robbie <[log in to unmask]>
To: HISTARCH <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thu, Mar 22, 2018 11:47 am
Subject: Re: Protohistory on the Utah site form
I agree with Jim. As we continue to decolonize archaeological practice it is important to think carefully about the terms we use to categorize people in time and space. Indigenous, aboriginal, and precolonial have all been put forward as workable substitutes for "prehistoric," though each has their own drawbacks. The terms "protohistoric" and "contact period" are equally troubling and are loaded with colonialist assumptions. Keep us posted on the work of the task force.
Best,
Rob
Suggested Readings:
Steve Silliman
2014 Archaeologies of Survivance and Residence: Reflections on the Historical Archaeology of Indigenous People. In Rethinking Colonial Pasts through Archaeology, edited by Neal Ferris, Rodney Harrison, and Michael Wilcox, pp. 57-75. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2010 Crossing, Bridging, and Transgressing Divides in the Study of Native North America. In Across a Great Divide: Continuity and Change in Native North American Societies, A.D. 1400-1900, edited by Laura S. Scheiber and Mark Mitchell, pp. 258-276. Amerind Studies in Archaeology 4. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
2005 Culture Contact or Colonialism? Challenges in the Archaeology of Native North America. American Antiquity 70(1):55-74.
Lightfoot, Kent G.
1995 Culture Contact Studies: Redefining the Relationship Between Prehistoric
and Historic Archaeology. American Antiquity 60(2):199-217.
*************************************************
Rob Mann, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Department of Anthropology
St. Cloud State University
252 Stewart Hall
720 4th Avenue South
St. Cloud, Minnesota 56301
Phone: 320-308-4181
-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jim Gibb
Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2018 9:48 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Protohistory on the Utah site form
I don't have a completely satisfactory solution to the problem, but in recognition that indigenous peoples of the Americas have histories, regardless of whether or not we know much about them, I prefer as overlapping categories Aboriginal History and European or EuroAmerican era. My solution at least acknowledges that these groups have histories, hence human agency. Prehistory can imply that there is no history, no agency, and risking ethological, rather than ethnological perspectives. I realize that a fair amount of effort has been invested in the Utah situation, but protohistoric--a term with some history in the field, but not much currency--can be misconstrued as a vaguely transitional period when these peoples came out of the dark and into the light made possible by European writing. I doubt many who identify as Native American will like this concept any more than they like the concept of prehistory. Maybe before trying to resolve the problem of categorizing those aboriginal sites contemporary with EuroAmerican expansion, but no direct contact, we need to rethink the whole concept of prehistory. Given the number of archaeologists who have long identified as prehistorians, this will be contentious, but perhaps necessary to advance our thinking. Full disclosure: I identify as an archaeologist and not as any particular kind.
Jim Gibb
Gibb Archaeological Consulting
Annapolis, MD
[log in to unmask]
410.693.3847
-----Original Message-----
From: Timothy Scarlett <[log in to unmask]>
To: HISTARCH <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thu, Mar 22, 2018 10:00 am
Subject: Re: Protohistory on the Utah site form
Hannah-
I’m really glad to hear about this effort. It is a start at breaking down that Prehistory/Natural History vs. history problem in Utah.
I wonder about the term “Ethnohistoric period.” Given the interplay of oral history, ethnography, archival documents, archaeology, and material culture analysis, I wonder if Ethnohistoric period wouldn’t capture the interdependence of those different research modes for the period?
Colonial era would work also, but it places the emphasis on the spread of colonial power instead of the idea of indigenous history.
Some may not like the baggage of Ethnohistory and studies of ethnicity, however, or the associations with folklore.
I look forward to the discussion!
Best,
Tim Scarlett
Michigan Tech
> On Mar 22, 2018, at 9:52 AM, Speal, Charles S <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Some people out East use the terms pre-Colonial and Colonial to get past this issue. I would agree that Contact Period is preferable to "Proto-historic" as the latter still implies 'just learning to use history'.
>
>
> C. Scott Speal
> National Register Specialist, Archaeology
>
> Office of Environmental Planning
> Connecticut Department of Transportation
> 2800 Berlin Turnpike
> Newington, CT 06131
> Phone: 860-594-2918
> Fax: 860-594-3028
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Hannah Russell
> Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2018 9:37 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Protohistory on the Utah site form
>
> Good Morning HistArch community,
>
> Over the past year in Utah, we have been working with a new site form (see link below). One of the new features on the site form is a new site class. The state has added "Protohistoric" to "Prehistoric" and "Historic". For a lot of reasons, this addition is pretty exciting, the state has acknowledged on the site form the false duality of "prehistory"
> and "history". That's an awesome step towards better inclusivity in the archaeological record, and a more holistic way to talk about the historical
> experiences of Indigenous peoples! As the site form and manual are
> written however, the use of the word is incorrect. The manual defines prehistoric as Native American sites prior to 1800, Protohistoric as 1800-1900, and historic as non-native groups after 1800.
>
> These time frames, and the use of protohistry can and should be improved on our new form. At the consultants meetings for the last two years, we've been told that there is room to make changes on the form. I've brought this issue up at both of those meetings and have been told that the task force to create and improve the site form haven't found a better alternative word to protohistory.
>
> I've been invited to the next site form task force meeting to discuss this issue further, and I'd like to workshop some ideas with the histarch group. Personally, when I write and talk about the early and sustained interactions between Indigenous and Euro-Americans in the archaeological record, I use multiple terms together including protohistory, contact, and historical Indigenous. When talking about this issue with a friend, she suggested contact period as an alternative to protohistory. Does anyone have any other suggestions? Or for that matter suggested reading?
>
> https://heritage.utah.gov/history/archaeology-site-form-release
>
> Thanks so much for your time,
>
> --
> Hannah Russell, RPA
> Cottonwood Archaeology, LLC
> [log in to unmask]
> (435) 210-0414
>
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