The Death of Prehistory

Since the eighteenth century, the concept of prehistory was exported by colonialism to far parts of the globe and applied to populations lacking written records. Prehistory in these settings came to represent primitive people still living in a state without civilization and its foremost index, literacy. Yet, many societies outside the Western world had developed complex methods of history making and documentation, including epic poetry and the use of physical and mental mnemonic devices. Even so, the deeply engrained concept of prehistory-deeply entrenched in European minds up to the beginning of the twenty-first century-continues to deny history and historical identify to peoples throughout the world. The fourteen essays, by notable archaeologists of the Americas, Africa, Europe, and Asia, provide authoritative examples of how the concept of prehistory has diminished histories of other cultures outside the West and how archaeologists can reclaim more inclusive histories set within the idiom of deep histories-accepting ancient pre-literate histories as an integral part of the flow of human history.PREFACE ; LIST OF FIGURES ; NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS ; 1. Introduction: The Death of Prehistory ; PART I: HISTORIES OF PREHISTORY ; 2. Prehistory's History ; 3. Presencing the Past: Implications for Bridging the History-Prehistory Divide ; PART II: PERSPECTIVES ARISING OUT OF AFRICA AND INDIA ; 4. Routes to History: Archaeology and Being Articulate in Eastern Africa ; 5. Historical Archaeology, Colonial Entanglements, and Recuperating 'Timeless' Histories through Structuralism ; 6. Swahili Historical Chronicles from an Archaeological Perspective: Bridging History, Archaeology, Coast, and Hinterland in Southern Tanzania ; 7. Creating Prehistory and Protohistory: Constructing otherness and politics of contemporary indigenous populations in India ; PART III: PERSPECTIVE ARISING OUT OF THE AMERICAS ; 8. History Interrupted: Doing 'Historical Archaeology' in Central America ; 9. Rethinking the Archaeology of Human/Environmental: Interactions in Deep-Time History ; 10. Sites in History, History in Sites: Archaeology, historical anthropology and indigenous knowledge in the Chesapeake ; 11. The Tyranny of Prehistory and the Search for a Deeper History ; 12. Cultural Practice and Authenticity: The search for real Indians in New England in the 'historical' period ; 13. Pueblo Time, Space, and History in the Aftermath of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 ; 14. Conclusion: Reflections on Reforming the Past, Looking to the Future ; APPENDIX: SWAHILI CHRONICLES ; BIBLIOGRAPHY ; INDEX