Historical archaeology

Historical archaeology is a branch of archaeology that concerns itself with "historical" societies, i.e. those that had systems of writing. It is often distinguished from prehistoric archaeology which studies societies with no writing. However, in current international usage the term historical archaeology is particularly used, especially in North America and Australasia, to describe the archaeology of the most recent past - from approximately AD 1500 to the present - meaning that it is concerned with the material remains of the modern period.

One particular focus has been the archaeology of European settler societies, as distinguished from the archaeology of Indigenous inhabitants - although there is an overlap in the field of "contact archaeology" which covers the interaction between settlers and Indigenous societies.

In Europe, the term historical archaeology is increasingly used to refer to Post-medieval archaeology (circa AD 1450-present). In the United Kingdom Post-Medieval Archaeology traditionally refers to a period that ends c. 1750, but increasingly includes the 18th and 19th centuries. Some archaeologists, especially in the UK, have also begun to engage with archaeologies of the very recent past (20th and 21st centuries) and the "contemporary past" - leading to the emergence of the field of contemporary archaeology. Some refer to the study of the last 200 years as Industrial Archaeology.

Notable historical archaeology sites in the United States

*African Burial Ground, New York City
*Annapolis, Maryland
*Jamestown Settlement, Virginia
*Monticello, Virginia
*Mount Vernon, Virginia
*Plimoth Plantation, Massachusetts
*St. Mary's City, Maryland
*Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia

External links

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Further reading

* Connah, Grahame. 1988 "Of the hut I builded" The archaeology of Australia's history". Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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* M. Hall and S. Silliman (eds) 2006. Historical Archaeology. Oxford: Blackwell.
* [http://dx.doi.org/10.2277/0521619629]
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