Beyond the Site Boundary: Between Specific Sites and Expansive Narratives

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

This paper considers the relationship between oral history and archaeology through two interconnected projects studying the Down the Bay neighborhood in Mobile, Alabama. The I-10 Mobile River Bridge Archaeology Project focuses on 13 bounded sites within the corridor of the proposed bridge expansion, which fall along the eastern edge of Down the Bay. The Down the Bay Oral History Project was only feasible with a much broader, neighborhood-level focus. While differences in spatiality and temporality present significant challenges to collaboration, they also result in productive tensions. In this paper, we share case studies and lessons learned from taking a broad approach to oral history. It not only offers an opportunity to incorporate community memories into archaeological projects when direct descendants cannot be identified, it also allows us to better situate sites within the surrounding landscape.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow