Historical archaeology in Australia

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Historical Archaeology is the study of the past through material remains such as artefacts (i.e. objects), structures (e.g. standing and ruined buildings, fences, roads), features (e.g. ditches, mounds, canals, landfill), and even whole landscapes modified by human activity and their spatial and stratigraphic contexts.

There has been debate between archaeologists whether the definition of historical archaeology should be a time based one - such as "the Archaeology of the Modern World" (where modern is defined as 1500A.D.); a subject based one - for example "the Archaeology of Capitalism" or methods based one - such as "text aided archaeology" ^[1]. In Australia much of this discussion has been avoided and definitions of historical archaeology such as those adopted by the Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology and the Government regulatory agencies, have focused on a definition emphasising the combined use of documentary and material evidence ^[2].

In contrast with archaeological practice in the United Kingdom and the USA Historical archaeology in Australia has always been intimately linked with Industrial Archaeology in Australia sharing common practitioners, research goals and training. Eleanor Casella has noted this association and the generally positive effect it has had on both fields of study. Historical archaeologists in Australia are better able to understand industrial processes and industrial archaeologists better able to understand social processes because of this linkage. ^[3].

The techniques of historical archaeology have also been applied to so called "Contact sites" (aka Australian Aboriginal historical archaeology). This area of study has looked at the encounters between Aboriginal people and settlers ^[4].. This work has been seen an overlap of research interests between various groups of archaeologists and historians as well as the Aboriginal community (see below).

Maritime Archaeology in Australia is also seen by some (possibly not by Maritime Archaeologists!) as a branch of historical archaeology. Certainly there is a considerable overlap in interests and techniques and this has been recognised by close relationships between the two professional bodies the Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology and the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology.

The origins of the practice of Historical archaeology in Australia are generally held to lie in archaeological investigations by the late William (Bill) Culican at Fossil Beach in Victoria ^[5], research at Port Essington in the Northern Territory by Jim Allen Ph.D. at the Australian National University in 1966-1968^[6], and by Judy Birmingham from the University of Sydney working at Irrawang Pottery in the Hunter Valley of NSW (1967-1975).