New Orleans Archaeology at the Tricentennial

Part of: Society for Historical Archaeology 2018

The years since Hurricane Katrina have seen an explosion of archaeological activity in the City of New Orleans, both in the form of large projects initiated in response to federal historic preservation laws, and of smaller projects conducted in partnership with private property owners or institutions. This has produced a wealth of new archaeological data, at a time when interest in the history of the city is high, and when debates over how its past is memorialized and how its distinctive identity may be preserved have become intense. While New Orleans has occasionally been seen as exceptional among American cities, we believe that recent work has broad significance in contemporary studies of class, race, gender, sexuality, immigration, and identity. This symposium brings together this work in order to explore larger issues pertinent to urban America that arise from it.