Lost Narratives: Current Historical Archaeology in Southern California

One of the most powerful roles of historical archaeology in the modern era is the telling of histories that have been overlooked. These "lost narratives" represent society as a far more complex entity than that encoded in national/regional ideology. This is particularly true in southern California where mainstream perspectives on history are distinctively simplistic. Until relatively recently, historical archaeology in the region was also comparatively traditional, focused on colonial-era missions or narrow slices of historic contexts exposed by modern construction. Recent projects, however, delve more deeply into the complexity of southern California, emphasizing questions of memory, consumption, identity, conflict, political economy, and the sheer intricacy of the communities that have coexisted in the region over time. Papers in this session represent time periods from the late eighteenth century through the 1940s. Documentary analysis combines with diverse archaeological methodology to maximize new interpretive opportunities and creative applications of theory. Engagement with descendant communities and the use of legacy collections enrich these projects and highlight fruitful directions for future scholarship.