Overview
- Shows the multiple histories that have been made in Annapolis as the city encountered challenge to the "status quo"
- Employs a series of historic landscapes derived from archaeological investigations to show that the physical world below the surface of the city has been defined by constructions of modernity in tandem with the survival of certain traditions
- Contrasts and documents the shared interests of post structural anthropology and field archaeology, joinin other critical histories of archaeological practices (Kehoe, Shanks, Patterson, Trigger, Hodder, ect.)." Choice 40:5
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology (CGHA)
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Table of contents (6 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
As the foundations of the modern world were being laid at the beginning of the 19th century, Annapolis, Maryland, identified itself as the Ancient City. This unusual appellation has served Annapolis into the present as a city that has consistently defined and redefined for itself what being ancient means. The process of historical recognition and preservation that has played out in Annapolis provides valuable insights into the way modern Americans in general have come to know and use the past.
Though often conceived to be in opposition, modernity and tradition can be paired as cultural strategies that allow the modern world to be articulated with the tradition it hoped to replace. The multiple histories and historic landscapes derived from archaeological investigations in Annapolis are presented to show that the physical world below the surface of the city has been defined by constructions of modernity in tandem with the survival of certain traditions.
Reviews
"Matthews interprets the archaeological record and formation of the record itself as a componentn through which past traditions were created, altered, and replaced. This provocative, specialized treatise [... ]contrasts and documents the shared interests of poststructural anthropology and field archaeology, joining other critical histories of archaeological practices."
(Choice, 40:5, 2003)
"This is a book full of powerful and important ideas. It includes an excellent discussion of the concepts and relationship among tradition, history, and authenticity. Archaeologists would do well to seriously consider Matthews' effort to frame a new approach to historical archaeology and how we might do archaeologies of history."
(Randall H. McGuire, Binghamton University in Journal of Anthropological Research, 59, 2003)
Authors and Affiliations
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: An Archaeology of History and Tradition
Book Subtitle: Moments of Danger in the Annapolis Landscape
Authors: Christopher N. Matthews
Series Title: Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0541-9
Publisher: Springer New York, NY
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eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive
Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media New York 2002
Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-306-46756-1Published: 30 June 2002
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4613-5123-8Published: 29 October 2012
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4615-0541-9Published: 06 December 2012
Series ISSN: 1574-0439
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXII, 162
Topics: Archaeology, Anthropology, History, general