AUSTRALASIAN SOCIETY FOR HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY
The Australian Society for Historical Archaeology (ASHA) was founded in 1970 to promote the study of historical archaeology in Australia. In 1991 the Society was expanded to include New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region generally, and its name was changed to the Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology.
ASHA membership is open to all! Members get a copy of the journal, discounts and more.
• SEE MOREExplore our diverse range of publications spanning the past 45 years.
• VIEW PUBLICATIONSFind out about our next conference, or browse the abstracts from previous years.
• SEE EVENTSVolume 36 of Australasian Historical Archaeology was mailed to members in January. The issue is the first of the new editorial team of Annie Clarke, Penny Crook, James Flexner and Sarah Hayes and showcases a range of papers on historical archaeology in Australia–Pacific region.
The issue includes a fascinating review of the politicisation of Australian colonial smoking practices and clay pipe form known as the ‘Squatters Budgeree’ (Gojak and Courtney) and a review of recent palynological evidence of the landscape of the Tank Stream in Sydney (Macphail and Owen).Two papers from the broader Pacific rim, on foreign goods in Hawaiian households (Flexner et al) and a mission house in Vanuatu (Zubrzycka et al) showcase developing trends in historical archaeology in the region, and demonstrate the importance of regional context for Australian and New Zealand sites where similar stories of cultural intersection echoed through the colonies.
An introduction to the archaeology of the Parramatta Industrial School for Girls (Jones) demonstrates the importance of reflecting on the material culture of recent times through an archaeological lens.
The volume also includes two studies of overlooked components of infrastructure best understood by a landscape approach: water-management infrastructure in the case of the Victorian goldfields (Davies and Lawrence) and stone-arch bridges in the case of transport networks in Canterbury, NZ (O’Connell and Koenig).
A contribution to the advancement of use-wear analysis on glass vessels from Christchurch (Platts and Smith) has potential applications for artefact studies through the Australasian region.
Finally, a research report on a mining settlement in the Blue Mountains of NSW (Parkes et al) sets out the potential for a closer study of this domestic assemblage in an industrial setting.
Along with book reviews and thesis abstracts, this diverse selection of papers demonstrates the strength of AHA as the outlet for new research in historical archaeology.
For the full contents list see http://www.asha.org.au/journals/2010s/volume-36.
Volume 37 is filling up fast so prospective authors should email editor@asha.org.au as soon as possible if they are planning to submit in 2019 (and note the revision Submission Guidelines http://www.asha.org.au/submission-information.html).
If you haven’t received your copy, contact secretary@asha.org.au.
Welcome to the New Year and the new committee!
In case you haven’t been introduced here are the new committee members:
Just a bit of shameless advertising…if you have anything you would like to blog please feel free to email us at blog@asha.org.au. Perhaps there is an upcoming event you would like to advertise or a past event you would like to share. Is there an artefact worthy of the title ‘Artefact of the Month’ or an interesting project you have been working on or dreaming about? Send them to us and we will pop them on the website. We have some exciting blogs already planned but are always keen to have many more up our sleeves!
The agenda covered:
The sessions were very productive with the agenda discussed and debated, actions decided, and timeframes set. Stay tuned for more details and information
on our action list progress in the next few months.
Thank you to GML for providing the Canberra office space for the weekend. Also a huge thank you to Caiti D’Gluyas for her fantastic morning/afternoon
teas and lunches.