Network Theory and the Archaeology of Modern History

Abstract

In my book A Historical Archaeology of the Modern World (1996), I outlined a general approach intended to help forge a truly global historical archaeology. The gist of my argument was that after about A.D. 1500, conscious agents of colonialism, capitalism, Eurocentrism. and modernity created a series of complex, multidimensional links that served to tie together diverse peoples around the globe. My arguments were, in essence, that it was the interaction of these diverse peoples that created the many historical manifestations of the modern world, the world which we in fact now inhabit. Central to my argument was the idea that men and women, in the course of their daily lives, create and maintain the connections that precipitate both cultural change and cultural continuity over time. I argued then that historical archaeology, to have a truly significant place in today’s scholarship, should embrace the issue of global connections, providing empirical studies demonstrating the origin and earliest development of globalization,modernization, and colonialist expansion. I still believe in the essential validity of my general research program (Orser, 1998c), but having outlined the general approach, it is now appropriate to devise a concrete framework for conducting archaeological studies of the sort I advocate. Among the many approaches that might