Middle Atlantic Prehistory

Foundations and Practice

Heather A. Wholey, Carole L. Nash

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
• Year: 2018
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781442228764
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: Social Sciences

Regional identities and practices are often debated in American archaeology, but Middle Atlantic prehistorians have largely refrained from such discussions, focusing instead on creating chronologies and studying socio-political evolution from the perspective of sub-regions. What is Middle Atlantic prehistoric archaeology? What are the questions and methods that identify our practice in this region or connect research in our region to larger anthropological themes?

Middle Atlantic Prehistory: Foundations and Practice provides a basic survey of Middle Atlantic prehistoric archaeology and serves as an important reference for situating the development of Middle Atlantic prehistoric archaeology within the present context of culture area studies. This edited volume is a regional, historic overview of important themes, topics, and approaches in Middle Atlantic prehistory; covering major practical and theoretical debates and controversies in the region and in the discipline.

Each chapter is holistic in its review of the historical development of a particular theme, in evaluating its contributions to current scholarship, and in proposing future directions for productive scholarly work. Contributing authors represent the full range of professional practice in archaeology and include university professors, cultural resources professionals, government regulatory/review archaeologists and museums curators with many years of practical and theoretical immersion in his/her chapter topic, and is highly regarded in the discipline and in the region for their expertise.

Middle Atlantic Prehistory provides a much-needed synthesis and historical overview for academic and cultural resource archaeologists and independent scholars working in the Middle Atlantic region in particular.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Part 1: Archaeological Practice in the Middle Atlantic
• Chapter 2: A Chronicle of Prehistoric Archaeology in the Middle Atlantic Region
• Chapter 3: CRM in the Mid-Atlantic
• Chapter 4: Public Archaeology and Outreach in the Middle Atlantic Region
• Chapter 5: The Research Potential of Museum Collections and Their Influence on Archaeology in the Middle Atlantic
• Chapter 6: Not Just Bells and Whistles
• Chapter 7: Ethnohistoric Studies
• Chapter 8: Experimental Research in Middle Atlantic Archaeology
• Part 2: Topics in Middle Atlantic Prehistory
• Chapter 9: The Use, Misuse, and Abuse of Typology
• Chapter 10: The Contributions and Practice of Culture History in the Middle Atlantic Region
• Chapter 11: Peopling of the Middle Atlantic
• Chapter 12: Zoological Perspectives in Middle Atlantic Subsistence Studies with an Emphasis on Virginia
• Chapter 13: Middle Atlantic Region Settlement Pattern Studies
• Chapter 14: Prehistory and Population in the Middle Atlantic
• Chapter 15: A Postcolonial Perspective on Contact Period Archaeology
• Chapter 16: In Defense of Region
• Appendix