Reviews 233

Barbara J. Little: Historical

Archaeology. Why the Past
Matters. Left Coast Press, Walnut
Creek, CA 2007. 205 pp., 11 figs.
ISBN 97-1-59874-022-6 (hbk); 978-
1-59874-023-3 (pbk)

TIM MURRAY

There is no shortage of textbooks on historical

archaeology, and there is a large and growing
number of ‘companions’ and ‘guides’, among the

Tim Murray, La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia.

E-mail: T.Murray@latrobe.edu.au
234 Reviews
most recent being the Cambridge Companion to
Historical Archaeology (2006). So, instructors
have a wide range of possible choices, not least
because no single work seems to be able to
capture the essence of the field. What happens
instead is that teachers tend to set multiple
readings in an effort to get breadth of coverage
and approach, while at the same time arguing
that students should read critically and seek to
distinguish between substance and spin.
Importantly, the vast bulk of contemporary
historical archaeologies – be they about cities
or rural areas, the ‘Atlantic world’ or elsewhere,
migration and identity formation or one of a
number of a host of other concerns that jostle
for attention – are strongly connected to broader
debates within the societies where they are
practised. Practitioners well understand the
social and cultural importance of their work, if
only because it focuses on the recent histories of
communities and places that have been either
transformed or created by the modern world.
Archaeologies created in the contexts of the
recent or immediate past are redolent with
meanings both shared and disparate that can
act powerfully in society. Long gone are the
days when historical archaeology and its con-
cerns were a quaint afterthought in American
archaeology – the sort of place where people
who liked collecting clay pipes or bothering
about wear patterns on musket flints could find
a home with the steam enthusiasts or the
engineering obsessives.
I often wonder whether this was ever true. The
late Jim Deetz (a pioneer of what was to become
known as ‘contact’ archaeology) could write
about the decoration of headstones in a way that
went right to the core of the archaeologist’s
project. Invitation to Archaeology (1967) and In
Small Things Forgotten (1977) are among the
best discussions of the nature and purpose of
archaeology, and they were written by a
historical archaeologist whose role in the devel-
opment of late 20th-century theoretical archae-
ology has yet to be fully appreciated. Indeed, it
is very much the case that contemporary
archaeological theory continues to be much
influenced by historical archaeology and archae-
ologies of the recent past, although one could be
forgiven for believing otherwise when prehistor-
ian colleagues, who consume those perspectives
(especially in Europe) when they write about the
Neolithic and the Bronze Age, often seem unable
to find room in their departments for archae-
ologists working on the archaeology of the last
three centuries. No such prejudices inhibit
contexts where the archaeology of the modern
world is routinely practised – the post-colonial/
post-imperial settler societies of North America,
Australia and New Zealand (and the somewhat
different context of South Africa). Here histor-
ical archaeology is vibrant and growing quickly
and very strongly connected to the rapidly
expanding industry of archaeological heritage
management.
Little’s Historical Archaeology should be seen
as a product of all that vibrant activity and an
attempt to explain to neophytes about the ways in
which historical archaeology contributes to our
attempts to make history. In this it has a lot in
common with other general surveys of the field,
particularly in terms of its focus on the social and
cultural consequences of practice. Long ago
historical archaeologists used to argue with
historians about their capacity to elicit informa-
tion about society’s mute and dispossessed, the
people whose lives rarely (and then only fleet-
ingly) appear in written records. It was true then
and to a lesser extent remains so, if only because
some historians have now got the message that
material things and their archaeological contexts
contain valuable historical information. Many of
the settings that archaeologists of the modern
world work in – those of diaspora, indigenous
dispossession, slavery, convictism, the creation of
new nations, the consequences of imperialism and
colonialism, charting the flows of capital and
technology, and the creation of global trade in
commodities and consumer goods – naturally
throw up significant ethical issues that budding
practitioners need to get to grips with. Little’s
book discusses a sample of these potentially
contentious research areas in a forthright and
generally useful kind of way, and in so doing lays
down a coherent set of principles that guide her
activities as a historical archaeologist.
Of course, given the size of the work, Historical
Archaeology cannot be considered to be a compre-
hensive survey of the field. However, the core of the
book is a clear exposition of the line Little takes
through such contentions. In this it is a useful
addition to the literature. But its limitations of
scope and approach critically limit its utility
outside this pretty narrow focus. Given that the
 Reviews 235

book was published in 2007 it is very surprising

that its focus is so North American. Although
some hasty nods are cast in the direction of the
archaeology of Australian convictism and the odd
mention of things from Europe and Africa (all of
which, from the reference list, look like the
products of a lack of familiarity with relevant
literature), the vast bulk of the cases used by Little
are from North America. Furthermore most of the
sites and contexts discussed by her ( for example
Five Points, the African Burial Ground, the
Garbage Project) are very well known and with
large literatures of their own. Given the amount of
work that has been done outside North America
over the last 30 years the lack of detailed
engagement with historical archaeology as a global
practice significantly limits the pedagogical value
of the work.
To some extent this lack of diversity is
compensated for in the final section, in which
Little reflects on broader ethical issues of
historical archaeology as public archaeology. In
several very short chapters she considers mem-
ory, education, reconciliation and the public role
of history which, taken together, pose some
significant questions that resonate outside North
America. However, the discussion of these issues
is too short to foster a serious engagement with
them. This sense of superficiality is reinforced by
a partial (in both senses of the word) list of
suggestions for further reading. In the end I
believe that this might be a somewhat false
impression. Little has a very solid understanding
of the core issues she is seeking to discuss, but
the organization of the volume around numer-
ous small chapters with very limited examples
gave her scant opportunity to demonstrate
clearly the value of her perspective on the
importance of historical archaeology.

REFERENCES
Deetz, J. 1967. Invitation to Archaeology. Natural
History Press, Garden City, NY.
Deetz, J. 1977. In Small Things Forgotten. Anchor
Press/Doubleday, Garden City, NY.
Hicks, D. & Beaudry, M. C. 2006. The Cambridge
Companion to Historical Archaeology.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

# 2008 Tim Murray