The Archaeology of Contact in Settler Societies

This work provides a global approach to the study of contact archaeology in settler societies.

Tim Murray (Edited by)

9780521792578, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 14 October 2004

284 pages, 30 b/w illus. 6 maps 9 tables
24.4 x 17 x 1.7 cm, 0.65 kg

"the individual chapters have plenty to offer for archaeologists and historians alike who are interested in colonialism, whether it is European or not." - Peter van Dommelen, University of Glasgow

Several decades of research into the archaeology of contact in North America have laid the foundations for the global exploration of the archaeology of European colonization. It is significant, however, that archaeologists, unlike historians and geographers, have yet to develop a global account of contact and its consequences. This edited work presents case studies from nations developed from British settlement so as to allow historical archaeologists to examine differences and similarities between the histories of modern colonial societies world-wide. Written by an international team of experts, the work shows that historical archaeologies can assume marvellously different and suggestive forms when examined from the periphery. Furthermore, the imperatives of the periphery could result in different perspectives on North American and European archaeological contexts. The work also examines the role of a global vision of the historical archaeology of colonialism in providing a new basis for the evolution of the 'nation'.

1. The archaeology of contact in settler societies Tim Murray
Part I. Diverse Contacts and Consequences: 2. Beads, bodices and regimes of value: from France to North America, c.1500–c.1650 Laurier Turgeon
3. Ships for the taking: culture contact and the maritime fur trade on northwest coast of North America Steven Acheson and James P. Delgado
4. Culture contact view through ceramic petrography at the Pueblo mission of Abó, New Mexico Patricia Capone
5. The transformation of indigenous societies in the south western Cape during the rule of the Dutch East India Company, 1652–1795 Yvonne Brink
6. Contact archaeology and the landscapes of pastoralism in the north west of Australia Rodney Harrison
7. Tenacity of the traditional: the first hundred years of Maori-European settler contact on the Hauraki Plains, Aotearoa/New Zealand Stuart Bedford
Part II. Issues and Methods: 8. Fur trade archaeology in western Canada: who's digging up the forts? Olga Klimko
9. Contact archaeology and the writing of aboriginal history Christine Williamson
10. In the footsteps of George Dutton: developing a contact archaeology of temperate Aboriginal Australia Tim Murray.

Subject Areas: Archaeology [HD], General & world history [HBG]