Historical archaeology is a form of
archaeology
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsc ...
dealing with places, things, and issues from the past or present when written records and oral traditions can inform and contextualize cultural material. These records can both complement and conflict with the archaeological evidence found at a particular site. Studies focus on literate, historical- period societies as opposed to non-literate,
prehistoric
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The us ...
societies. While they may not have generated the records, the lives of people for whom there was little need for written records, such as the
working class
The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...
, slaves, indentured labourers, and children but who live in the historical period can also be the subject of study. The sites are found on land and underwater.
Industrial archaeology
Industrial archaeology (IA) is the systematic study of material evidence associated with the industrial past. This evidence, collectively referred to as industrial heritage, includes buildings, machinery, artifacts, sites, infrastructure, doc ...
, unless practiced at industrial sites from the prehistoric era, is a form of historical archaeology concentrating on the remains and products of industry and the Industrial era.
Definition
According to the overall definition given here based on methodological and theoretical aspects
classical archaeology
Classical archaeology is the archaeological investigation of the Mediterranean civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Nineteenth-century archaeologists such as Heinrich Schliemann were drawn to study the societies they had read about i ...
or
Egyptology
Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native relig ...
as well as
medieval archaeology are disciplines of historical archaeology. In practice, however – mainly in the
Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...
– historical archaeology refers to the modern, post-1492 period, which in Europe is often referred to as
post-medieval archaeology.
Notable historical archaeologists
*
Judy Birmingham
*
John L. Cotter
John Lambert Cotter (6 December 1911 – 5 February 1999) was an American archaeologist whose career spanned more than sixty years and included archaeological work with the Works Progress Administration, numerous posts with the National Park Serv ...
*
James Deetz
*
J. C. Harrington
*
Ivor Noël Hume
Ivor Noël Hume, OBE (30 September 1927 – 4 February 2017) was a British-born archaeologist who did research in the United States. A former director of Colonial Williamsburg’s archaeological research program and the author of more than 20 book ...
*
Mark P. Leone
*
Stanley South
Stanley A. South (February 2, 1928 - March 20, 2016) was an American archaeologist who was a major proponent of the processual archaeology movement. South's major contributions to archaeology deal in helping to legitimize it as a more scientific e ...
Further reading
* Connah, Grahame. 1988 ''"Of the hut I builded" The archaeology of Australia's history''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*
*
*
*
*
* M. Hall and S. Silliman (eds.) 2006. ''Historical Archaeology''. Oxford: Blackwell.
*
*
*
External links
*
*
*
*
{{Authority control