DEFINITIONS AND CONCEPTS OF HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY SINCE ITS INCEPTION.

1. LECTURE 1

2. DEFINITIONS
&
CONCEPTS

3. There is currently a great deal of
disagreement among scholars
regarding the definition of historical
archaeology.
This situation has arisen partly
because historical archaeologists
employ different approaches and
diverse methods to derive data for
their study.

4. This is because of two reasons:
Some scholars emphasize specific
areas and things in its practice.
Others consider the discipline by
their methodologies which are the
data sets used and their underlying
epistemologies

5. Definition 1
Orser and Fagan (1995: 2) for
example, define historical
archaeology as a discipline that
“combines excavated information
with traditional historical
information.”

6. Advantage
•It recognizes the relevance
of archaeological data and
historical documents as
important sources of data.

7. Disadvantage
• The major adverse criticism of this
definition has come from Africanist
historical archaeologists because it
excluded many societies in sub-
Saharan Africa which were non-
literate and hence could not
document their past in writing.

8. • Africanists historical archaeologists reject the
notion that it is archaeology used solely in
conjunction with documented data.
• To remedy the anomaly, they argue historical
archaeologists need to incorporate oral
traditional history as an important source of
information when researching non-literate
societies.

9. Definition 2
• Merrick Posnansky and Christopher
DeCorse (1986: 6) also defined
historical archaeology as
“archaeology undertaken in periods
or for areas in which the principal
source of contextual information is
provided by documentary evidence.”

10. Advantage
•It recognizes the relevance
of contextual data and its
complementary role in
buttressing archaeological
data.

11. Disadvantage
• Critics have noted that even in literate
societies, the extent to which historical
data can be used to illuminate the
human past is limited because of
inconsistencies in the historical data and
biased reportage especially when they
have come from European writers and
explorers during the early contact period.

12. Definition 3
•Stanley South (1977: 25)
defines historical
archaeology as
“archaeology carried out
on sites of the historic
period.”

13. Advantage
• This definition places emphasis on
chronology and geography and considers
the two as integral in contemporary
historical archaeological research.
• It can thus be used to study non-literate
cultures.

14. disadvantage
•Historic periods vary
from place to place.
There is thus no specific
time range to place the
historic period.

15. Definition 4
• “The archaeology of the
spread of European culture
throughout the world since
the fifteenth century and its
impact on indigenous peoples”
(Deetz 1996: 5).

16. Advantage
•This definition
considers the
discipline from a
global perspective.

17. Disadvantage
• Europeans were not the only people to have
colonized other peoples. There have been
instances where other races were involved
in the colonization process.
• For example in certain places in Africa,
traditional ethnic groups are known to have
colonized neighbouring ethnic groups during
certain periods in their history.

18. Definition 5
• “The study of the material
manifestation of the expansion of
European culture into the non-
European world starting in the
fifteenth century and ending with
industrialization or the present,
depending on local conditions” (R. L.
Schuyler 1970: 88).

19. Advantage
• This definition aptly describes and suits
the Afro –European culture contact along
the West Coast, Southern Africa and the
East African Coast.
• The period also coincides with the
African encounter with Europeans on the
Guinea Coast

20. Disadvantage
• These definitions have been rejected by
most Africanist historical archaeologists
mainly because they reflected the
ethnocentric views of European scholars
who only highlighted the impact of
European culture on the indigenous
populace and ignored the impact of
indigenous cultural life-ways on
Europeans.

21. Disadvantage
• It emphasizes European
expansionism and its attendant
rise of global capitalism and
industrialization primarily
because it “privileges Western
history over indigenous local
understandings.”

22. Disadvantage
• Scholars like Pikirayi and Pwiti (1999)
have also noted that this definition
completely negated African
interactions with indigenous
populations outside Africa such as
India and China which long predated
European contact.

23. Definition 6
• Orser and Fagan (1995: 14) defined
historical archaeology as “a
multidisciplinary field that shares a
special relationship with the formal
disciplines of anthropology and history,
focuses its attention on the post
prehistoric past and seeks to understand
the global nature of modern life.”

24. advantage
• It recognizes the multi-faceted nature of
historical archaeology.
• It does not specify a specific time frame.
• It recognizes the contribution of all
groups of people involved in the culture
contact

25. Advantage
•It also emphasized the
cultural and historical
processes of the modern
world as well as the global
dimension of the discipline.

26. Definition 7
• “The study of sites which can be
interpreted with the aid of
historical evidence such as
written sources, oral traditions
and historically datable imported
artifacts” (Pikirayi 1999: 70).

27. END