In Historical Archaeology, readers will find lively current debates and case studies in historical archaeology from North America, Latin America, Africa, the Pacific, and Europe. Written by experts in the field, this volume explores how historical archaeologists think about their work and how they piece together information from both material culture and documents to create an understanding of the lives and struggles of people who lived during the course of the last several centuries. Although examining wide-reaching issues of international significance and impact, Historical Archaeology does not subsume local experiences of people into global patterns; instead, it examines the character of local identities and lives.The book serves not only to summarize the current state of historical archaeology, but also to set the course for the field in decades to come.