In Australia assimilation meant conforming to the dominant British culture. One of the major political debates in Australia at the moment is that of the Stolen Generation of Aborigines which refers to various Governmental attempts at forced assimilation of Aborigines into white society via removing children from their families and either keeping them in homes (or orphanages) where they could be brought "properly" or sending them to foster families. The aim seems to have been to break down "traditional" Aboriginal values and assimilate Aborigines into white culture. All this was done by various "Boards of Protection" and Church groups whose aim was to help Aboriginal people. As you can imagine the effects on families and individual people was appalling. Their was a major inquiry into the whole process about 2 years ago and as part of the wash up most Parliaments passed motions unreservedly apologising for the actions of the past. Of course our gutless prime minister could not say sorry but he expressed his "regret". Now he is saying it wasn't a generation because only 10% of the Aboriginal population was removed! As you can imagine assimilation is quite an interesting topic. Its major effect on archaeology lies in the relationship between Aborigines and the mainly white Archaeologists. Iain Stuart