An Archaeology Of Australia Since 1788

This volume provides an important new synthesis of archaeological work carried out in Australia on the post-contact period. It draws on dozens of case studies from a wide geographical and temporal span to explore the daily life of Australians in settings such as convict stations, goldfields, whalers' camps, farms, pastoral estates and urban neighbourhoods. The different conditions experienced by various groups of people are described in detail, including rich and poor, convicts and their superiors, Aboriginal people, women, children, and migrant groups. The social themes of gender, class, ethnicity, status and identity inform every chapter, demonstrating that these are vital parts of human experience, and cannot be separated from archaeologies of industry, urbanization and culture contact. The book engages with a wide range of contemporary discussions and debates within Australian history and the international discipline of historical archaeology. The colonization of Australia was part of the international expansion of European hegemony in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. The material discussed here is thus fundamentally part of the global processes of colonization and the creation of settler societies, the industrial revolution, the development of mass consumer culture, and the emergence of national identities. Drawing out these themes and integrating them with the analysis of archaeological materials highlights the vital relevance of archaeology in modern society.

The papers collected in this volume address the historical archaeology of Aboriginal Australia & its application in researching the shared history of Aboriginal & settler Australians.

This field manual provides essential background information for those interested in undertaking archaeology in Australia. Professional archaeologists provide their personal tips for working in each state and territory, dealing with a living heritage, working with Aboriginal peoples, and coping with Australian conditions. Grounded in the social, political and ethical issues that inform Australian archaeology today, this book is also packed with practical advice.

Peter Hiscock presents an introduction to the archaeology of Australia from prehistoric times to the 18th century AD.

This book compares consumer behavior in two nineteenth-century peripheral cities: Melbourne, Australia and Buenos Aires, Argentina. It provides an analysis of domestic archaeological assemblages from two inner-city working class neighborhood sites that were largely populated by recently arrived immigrants.The book also uses primary, historical documents to assess the place of these cities within global trade networks and explores the types of goods arriving into each city. By comparing the assemblages and archival data it is possible to explore the role of choice, ethnicity, and class on consumer behavior. This approach is significant as it provides an archaeological assessment of consumer behavior which crosses socio-political divides, comparing a site within a British colony to a site in a former Spanish colony in South America. As two geographically, politically and ethnically distinct cities it was expected that archaeological and archival data would reveal substantial variation. In reality, differences, although noted, were small. Broad similarities point to the far-reaching impact of colonialism and consumerism and widespread interconnectedness during the nineteenth century. This book demonstrates the wealth of information that can be gained from international comparisons that include sites outside the British Empire.

Against the backdrop of embryonic Melbourne, John Thomas Smith left behind his currency roots to become an influential member of society. A widely recognised figure about town smoking a cutty pipe and wearing a white top hat, in 1851 he became Lord Mayor of Melbourne; he went on to be re-elected seven times. His scandalous marriage to the daughter of an Irish Catholic publican, however, and his awkwardly appropriated gentility made him unpopular with certain sections of society. He could never shake the shadow of his background and was dogged by ignominious rumours. From 1849 to 1860 Smith and his family occupied 300 Queen Street, Melbourne, one of the first true residential townhouses in the city. Flashy, Fun and Functional: How Things Helped to Invent Melbourne’s Gold Rush Mayor explores the things they left behind. Excavations at the site in 1982 by Judy Birmingham and Associates uncovered a rich and important archaeological record of the Smiths’ lives in the form of a cesspit rubbish deposit. The recovered artefacts can be used to examine the distinctive way the Smith family used material culture to negotiate their position in colonial society. Popular decoration styles and expensive materials suggest the family’s efforts to secure their newly obtained social status. The artefacts evoke the turmoil, volatility and opportunity of life in the first decades of the colony of Port Phillip. They provide an example of the possibility of social mobility in the colony, but also of the challenges of navigating the customs of a newly forming society.

The Social Archaeology of Indigenous Societies presents original and provocative views on the complex and dynamic social lives of Indigenous Australians from an historical perspective. Building on the foundational work of Harry Lourandos, the book critically examines and challenges traditional approaches which have presented Indigenous Australian past as static and tethered to ecological rationalism. The book reveals the ancient past of Aboriginal Australians to be one of long term changes in social relationships and traditions, as well as the active management and manipulation of the environment. The book encourages a deeper appreciation of the ways Aboriginal peoples have engaged with and constructed their worlds. It solicits a deeper understanding of the contemporary political and social context of research and the insidious impacts of colonialist philosophies. In short, it concerns people, both past and present. The Social Archaeology of Indigenous Societies looks beyond the stereo

In studying the past, archaeologists have focused on the material remains of our ancestors. Prehistorians generally have only artifacts to study and rely on the diverse material record for their understanding of past societies and their behavior. Those involved in studying historically documented cultures not only have extensive material remains but also contemporary texts, images, and a range of investigative technologies to enable them to build a broader and more reflexive picture of how past societies, communities, and individuals operated and behaved. Increasingly, historical archaeology refers not to a particular period, place, or a method, but rather an approach that interrogates the tensions between artifacts and texts irrespective of context. In short, historical archaeology provides direct evidence for how humans have shaped the world we live in today. Historical archaeology is a branch of global archaeology that has grown in the last 40 years from its North American base into an increasingly global community of archaeologists each studying their area of the world in a historical context. Where historical archaeology started as part of the study of the post-Columbian societies of the United States and Canada, it has now expanded to interface with the post-medieval archaeologies of Europe and the diverse post-imperial experiences of Africa, Latin America, and Australasia. The 36 essays in the International Handbook of Historical Archaeology have been specially commissioned from the leading researchers in their fields, creating a wide-ranging digest of the increasingly global field of historical archaeology. The volume is divided into two sections, the first reviewing the key themes, issues, and approaches of historical archaeology today, and the second containing a series of case studies charting the development and current state of historical archaeological practice around the world. This key reference work captures the energy and diversity of this global discipline today.