Vanishing Chinese Historical Sites

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Towards a More Inclusive Archaeology (General Sessions)" , at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Archaeological excavations in Wyoming have helped to illuminate where Chinese people lived and what their lives looked like in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, but physical remains of historic Chinese sites dating between 1867 and 1949 are rare. Understanding why historic structures and cemeteries in Wyoming were destroyed helps explain how the archaeological record was created. This paper will briefly look at archaeological and historical evidence that suggests, in some communities, destruction of historic Chinese sites was an intentional attempt at editing historic memories. However, the archaeological record proves that erasing historic memories is not easily accomplished.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Towards a More Inclusive Archaeology (General Sessions)   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2021

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology