Abstract
Historical archaeology, since its very beginnings, has been shaped more by the manner in which research is funded than by the intellects of its practitioners. Prevailing research and management approaches today are examined critically and argued to be maladaptive for continued growth and evolution of the discipline in the future.
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death.
—Shakespeare, Macbeth 5.5.22-23
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Beaudry, Mary C. [1996] Reinventing Historical Archaeology. In Historical Archaeology and the Study of American Culture, edited by Bernard L. Herman and LuAnn De Cunzo. Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Winterthur, Delaware, in press.
Binford, Lewis R. (editor) 1977 For Theory Building in Archaeology. Academic Press, New York.
Bruner, Edward M. 1994 Abraham Lincoln as Authentic Reproduction: A Critique of Postmodernism. American Anthropologist 96(2):397–415.
Cleland, Charles E., and James E. Fitting 1978 The Crisis of Identity: Theory in Historic Sites Archaeology. Reprint of 1968 article. In Historical Archaeology: A Guide to Substantive and Theoretical Contributions, edited by Robert L. Schuyler, pp. 242–245. Baywood, Farmingdale, New York.
Cotter, John L. 1958 Archeological Excavations at Jamestown Colonial National Historical Park and Jamestown National Historic Site, Virginia. Archeological Research Series No. 4. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.
Deagan, Kathleen 1983 Spanish St. Augustine: The Archaeology of a Colonial Creole Community. Academic Press, New York.
1991 Historical Archaeology’s Contributions to Our Understanding of Early America. In Historical Archaeology in Global Perspective, edited by Lisa Falk, pp. 97–112. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.
Deetz, James 1991 Introduction: Archaeological Evidence of Sixteenth-and Seventeenth-Century Encounters. In Historical Archaeology in Global Perspective, edited by Lisa Falk, pp. 1–9. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.
Ferguson, Leland 1992 Uncommon Ground: Archaeology and Early African America, 1650–1800. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.
Hammer, Michael, and James Champy 1993 Reengineering the Corporation. HarperBusiness, New York.
Harrington, J.C. 1952 Historic Site Archeology in the United States. In Archeology of the Eastern United States, edited by James B. Griffin, pp. 335–344. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois.
1978a Archaeology as an Auxiliary Science to American History. Reprint of 1955 article. In Historical Archaeology: A Guide to Substantive and Theoretical Contributions, edited by Robert L. Schuyler, pp. 3–7. Baywood Farmingdale, New York.
1978b New Light on Washington’s Fort Necessity. Reprint of 1957 report. In Historical Archaeology : A Guide to Substantive and Theoretical Contributions, edited by Robert L. Schuyler, pp. 91–138. Baywood, Farmingdale, New York.
Honerkamp, Nicholas (editor) 1988 Questions that Count in Historical Archaeology: Plenary Session, 1987 Meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology Conference on Historical and Underwater Archaeology, Savannah, Georgia. Historical Archaeology 22(1):5–42.
Hymes, Dell (editor) 1972 Reinventing Anthropology. Second edition. Pantheon Books, New York.
Jones, Olive 1985 Review of The Development and Application of a Chronology for American Glass, by Ronald William Deiss. Historical Archaeology 19(1):115–116.
Kidd, Kenneth E. 1949 The Excavation of Ste. Marie 1. University of Toronto Press, Toronto.
Lees, William B., and Vergil E. Noble (editors) 1990 Methodological Approaches to Assessing the Archaeological Significance of Historic Sites: Symposium. Historical Archaeology 24(2):9–54.
Leone, Mark P. 1973 Archaeology as the Science of Technology: Mormon Town Plans and Fences. In Research and Theory in Current Archaeology, edited by Charles L. Redman, pp. 125–150. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
Leone, Mark P., and Parker B. Potter, Jr. 1988 Introduction: Issues in Historical Archaeology. In The Recovery of Meaning, edited by Mark P. Leone and Parker B. Potter, Jr., pp. 1–22. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.
Leone, Mark P., Parker B. Potter, Jr., and Paul A. Shackel 1987 Toward a Critical Archaeology. Current Anthropology 28(3):283–302.
Lewis, Kenneth E. 1984 The American Frontier: An Archaeological Study of Settlement Pattern and Process. Academic Press, New York.
McManamon, Francis P. 1991 The Many Publics for Archaeology. American Antiquity 56(1):121–130.
Noble, Vergil E., Jr. 1979 On Planning and Preservation. Historical Archaeology 13:120–122.
Patterson, Thomas C. 1986 The Last Sixty Years: Toward a Social History of Americanist Archaeology in the United States. American Anthropologist 88(1):7–26.
Roosevelt, Franklin D. 1935 Letter to Hon. Robert F. Wagner, Chairman, Committee on Public Lands and Surveys, United States Senate, 10 April 1935. Senate Reports, Public Vol. 2. 74th Congress, First Session (3 January–26 August 1935). U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
South, Stanley 1977 Method and Theory in Historical Archeology. Academic Press, New York.
Swannack, J. D. 1975 Mission-Oriented Agencies: Means and Ends of Historic Sites Archaeology. Historical Archaeology 9:81–82.
Walker, Ian C. 1978 Binford, Science, and History: The Probabilistic Variability of Explicated Epistemology and Nomothetic Paradigms in Historical Archaeology. Reprint of 1972 article. In Historical Archaeology: A Guide to Substantive and Theoretical Contributions, edited by Robert L. Schuyler, pp. 223–239. Baywood, Farmingdale, New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Noble, V.E. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow: A plea for change in the practice of historical archaeology. Hist Arch 30, 74–84 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03373589
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03373589