It's a real problem, finding a disciplinary tent.

Formal training in critical historical research is absolutely essential for
anyone who presumes to interpret material remains in their historical
context.

It would seem that such training would come from a graduate program in
history. Unfortunately, most  "higher" historical writing is irrelevant to
what we do. Academic historians tend to prefer "big picture" subjects of
little interest to the likes of us.

Budding historical archaeology students should be encouraged to take courses
in historical research, preferably with a local history emphasis, or
journalism. In either case they would get exposure to critical methods
applied to localized study. Students need to understand how to critically
read documents. They need to understand how government works, because most
of our documentary sources are government documents. Students also should
learn to read deed descriptions, estate inventories, and other documentary
sources. They need to know how to drag biographies out of a chaos of
documents.

So far, I have not heard of a history course that provides such training.

Ned Heite ([log in to unmask])