Over the past several decades, archaeologists have given increased attention to studying the contemporary world, using archaeological methods and theory to examine the material record of people living today and in the very recent past. Most archaeologists are likely familiar with the landmark studies in the 1970s focusing on contemporary household waste and landfills, and many may be aware of more recent archaeological research on contemporary phenomena and events such as festivals, protests, disasters, pandemics, and more. Over the past few years, the study of contemporary times has continued to evolve into what many consider a distinct subfield of archaeology, sometimes referred to as “contemporary archaeology” or “the archaeology of contemporary times.”
To date, there has been no book-length introductory overview of this emergent subfield as it is practiced in North America. William A. Caraher makes a valiant attempt to fill this gap in The Archaeology of Contemporary America, published by the University Press of Florida in its American Experience in Archaeological Perspective series. The book provides an excellent overview of the nature and scope of the subfield, and it includes many excellent descriptions of important archaeological research on contemporary times.
The book’s introduction provisionally defines this field with reference to the archaeological record of the past 50 years. Caraher describes methods commonly used by archaeologists studying recent and contemporary times and provides a brief history of the subfield, including the different trajectories, interests, and themes emphasized by scholars in the United States and in Europe.
The book consists of two main parts, with four chapters in each. Part I is anchored by Caraher’s research associated with the Alamogordo Atari project, including the recovery of discarded Atari game cartridges in a landfill in a New Mexico desert in 2014. Chapter 1 provides detail of the Atari excavation project, including the way the dumping of the cartridges in the 1980s reached the status of an urban legend, the project’s association with a documentary film crew funded by Microsoft, and the planning, execution, and documentation of the excavation and recovery of the game cartridges. Following chapters in Part I provide some context to the Atari excavations, focusing on (1) archaeological interests in contemporary trash beginning in the 1970s and continuing through the present; (2) archaeology’s growing interest in consumer culture; and (3) the emergence of media archaeology, including archaeogaming and digital archaeology.
Part II is anchored in Caraher’s North Dakota Man Camp Project, involving the study and documentation of the material and social conditions at a camp associated with the oil industry during the early twenty-first century. The opening chapter in this part of the book situates the camp in the context of resource extraction, oil booms, modern forms of settlement, migrants, and homelessness. Following chapters provide context to the man camp project, linking to archaeological interests in (1) global trends in temporary housing, including military bases, internment camps, boarding and residential schools, and university campuses; (2) industrialization, urbanism, and protests; and (3) extractive industries, labor, and climate change.
Principal themes of the archaeology of contemporary times covered in Part I of the book include discard behavior, consumer culture, and the digital world in which we live. Principal themes in Part II include production and consumption, colonialism, capitalism, domesticity, urbanism, institutions, migrant labor, and protests.
Caraher’s writing style is engaging and personal. He incorporates many stories of his own work in the chapters, and his writing is often reflexive. While concentrating on his own projects, he does an admirable job of using dozens of other case studies to support and provide context, and by doing so, he introduces readers to many other projects in the archaeology of contemporary times.
The book has an extensive and impressive works cited section , 12 figures, an index, and a short appendix that includes a reflexive autocritique of gender bias in the citations. Although the book focuses on North America, there are many gestures to more global perspectives on the topics and themes that Caraher covers.
Overall, The Archaeology of Contemporary America brings to light much of the significant archaeological work spanning the last several decades on the archaeology of contemporary times in North America. It draws together much of the history of this emergent subfield, identifying key interests, themes, and methods.
