The Familiar Past challenges the popular perception that archaeologists are people who dig up things from the prehistorical or classical world. A survey of material culture from 1500 to the present day, this collection demonstrates how its study can bring a new understanding to what we think of as the known past.
In fourteen case studies, grouped under related topics, the editors draw together current interpretive work explicitly influenced by recent methodological and theoretical developments. Discussion of issues include the origins of modernity in urban contexts, the historical anthropology of food, the social and spatial construction of country houses, the social history of workhouse sites, changes in memorial forms and inscriptions, and the archaeological treatment of gardens.