Historical Archaeologies of the American West

Abstract

Historical archaeology in western North America includes a vast collection of research that underscores the region's dynamic cultural heritage. Here, I review a sample of the literature related to this research and organize them into four conceptual themes: colonialism and postcolonialism, landscape transformation, migration and diaspora, and industrial capitalism. I conclude that the future of historical archaeology in the West will be grounded in research that integrates these themes. As the region continues to experience human dilemmas related to issues such as balancing resource extraction with sustainable conservation and lingering issues of colonialism, these archaeologies have value for transcending the natureculture divide and for understanding the ways in which humanity can navigate pressing issues relevant to our modern world, including vulnerability, risks, adaptation, resilience, and sustainability.

Writing histories at Êngkahonovita Ogwêvi: multicultural entanglement at Red Canyon, Wyoming

“…Amanda left Sweden during widespread immigration to the USA; Jacob was raised in an Illinois community born of frustration with Swedish political and religious leaders. Both had reinvented themselves in their new homeland, exemplifying the “dynamic cultural heritage” of the West (Dixon 2014: 177).…”

Connecting Native Students to STEM Research Using Virtual Archaeology

“…All of us have a connection with water and a deep attachment to its significance in our everyday life. This is particularly germane in the arid U.S. Mountain West, where water access has long been a major concern (e.g., Dixon 2014; Miller 2007; Simms et al 2020). Although our learning objectives included basic skills related to knowledge building (such as repeat tasks, defining, and summarizing), principally, we wished to share the research process with mentees, and we wanted to move quickly to more advanced knowledge-building tasks such as manipulating data, developing interpretations, and drawing comparisons.…”

Aerial Photogrammetry in the American West: Documenting the Construction of Cattle Water Tanks by Texas Cowboys

“…The cowboys of the Western United States are perhaps the most historically acknowledged [17] and romanticized group of cattle wranglers. Nevertheless, few archaeological studies have focused on cattle ranching in Northwest Texas [18] or the greater American West [19]. The culture of cattle ranching also has developed in many other parts of the world and is shared globally [20][21][22][23][24][25].…”