Introductory Session: Why Histories of Archaeology?

In recent years there have been a number of significant developments in the study of the history of archaeology, a field that has for some time been largely made up of memoirs and wide-ranging, insubstantial and largely whiggish surveys. The new history of archaeology has grown up both within and outside archaeology, and has benefited from influences in intellectual history and the history of science and medicine.  In this talk I want to examine the value of the new history of archaeology for archaeologists, for historians and practitioners in related disciplines, and as a fascinating and exciting field of endeavour in its own right.  I will draw most of my examples of current work from the activities of my colleagues in the international Histories of Archaeology Research Network.