I feel the historic archaeologist can not develop a feel for the subject
matter without reading all the historic material before entering the field.
This does not preclude an historian finding all that material first. I have
approached this many ways over the years, but there is much my mind uniquely
picks from the archives that an historian would not bother to record. So, I
cast my vote to have the historic archaeologist totally immerse him/herself
in the archival record before refining the research design and entering the
field.
Ron May