"oral history . . . is a most imperfect one if the person telling the
story being recorded was not the witness to the event. Every generation
which passes the story on changes it."
 
Sounds like "History" ;)=20
 
Without the ad hominem sidebars, however, this area already has been =
hashed-out fairly coherently. Back to Historical Archaeology 101: =
Schuyler addressed this issue in his ". . .: Basic Definitions and =
Relationships" paper reprinted in his ". . . Guide to Substantive and =
Theoretical Contributions."
 
Braun, an Israeli archaeologist (if I'm correct), and his colleagues may =
use the term "historical archaeology" in different contexts than we =
Americans do. It's awful darn provincial of us to exclude other =
definitions and uses of a term codified by American archaeologists. =
Perhaps -- taking a cue from Andy Rooney on "60 Minutes" last week -- we =
should ask all of the HISTARCH listserv subscribers to define =
"historical archaeology." Those folks who give a definition that does =
not limit the use of the term (and maybe even the discipline's methods) =
to the study of post-medieval European colonial expansion through =
archaeology should be asked to leave the list and go to a more =
"appropriate" list. (for all the literalists out there: I'm joking, of =
course)
 
DSR