Historical archaeology

Historical archaeology

Defining historical archaeology Society for Historical Archaeology: Historical archaeology is the study of the material remains of past societies that also left behind some other form of historical evidence. ( ) By examining the physical and documentary record of sites, historical archaeologists attempt to discover the fabric of common everyday life in the past and seek to understand the broader historical development of their own and other societies. James Deetz: the archaeology of the spread of European cultures throughout the world since the fifteenth century, and their impact on and interaction with the cultures of indigenous peoples

What differentiate historical archaeology? DETAIL AND METHOD OF WORKING: Large source material: written documents, maps, paintings, sketches, photographs, folktales, architecture, excavated material: ability to focus on individuals and their life biographies Dichotomies between material culture and written word Documenting and studying relatively recent past: relevance for living communities

Founding figure James Deetz (1930-2000) Key projects: Plymouth Settlement (early English settlement in New England, N America); Mission La Purisima in California; Plantation Flowerdew Hundred in Virginia; Free African-American settlement of Parting Ways in Massachusetts "My interest in historical archaeology, over the last thirty years and more, has been concerned with culture change -- how relationships perceived in the designs and forms of different sets of artifacts relate to organizing principles that tie a whole society together, and how, over time, these shift.

Themes in historical archaeology Colonialism Plantations and slavery Industrialization Urbanization

Historical archaeology in Scandinavia New and developing field; academic program at Lund University (since 2005) Focus on the middle ages, growing interest into post-medieval and recent times Traditional focus of medieval research: towns, rural landscapes, castles and aristocracy, church architecture and ideology. New questions: margins (social, geographical), colonial archaeology

Examples of research Medeltidsstaden 1976-1985 76 medieval towns. Issues of urbanization, social structure, institutions and networks with the countryside and foreign trade

Utmark: archaeology in marginal areas of Sweden and Norway (1000-1800) Medieval colonization Finnish settlement (skogsfinnar) Industralization in the wooded outland Material conditions of life in the outland Economy and social divisions Traditions and folklore Environment and people

Project initiatives of National Museum in Copenhagen: Ghana Initiativet, Tranquebar Initiativet Danish colonial outposts in Ghana (Frederiksgave Plantation) and India

Historical archaeology in Lund Johanna Bergqvist (doktorand): medicinsk verksamhet i Sverige under medeltid och tidigmodern tid Mattias Karlsson (doktorand):romanska kyrkor Mats Mogren (forskare/lektor): plantageekonomins förvandling av kulturlandskapet i Sri Lanka och kulturmöten under den koloniala epoken 1500-tal till 1900-tal Magdalena Naum (forskare): senmedelitida migration i Östersjöområdet; kolonin Nya Sverige Anders Ohlsson (doktorand):etableringen av feodalt gods i Skåne, dess idémässigt, socioekonomiskt och politiskt roll Mats Roslund (docent):medeltidens stadsmiljöer Joakim Thomasson (doktorand): urban byggnadskultur och det medeltida borgerskapets framväxt i de östdanska städerna 1000 1700 Anders Ödman (docent): senmedelitida borgar, järnproduktion, experimentell arkeologi Jes Wienberg (professor): rundkyrkor och runda kyrkotorn i Skandinavien; minne och monument

Organizations and journals Society for historical archaeology Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology