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“In Small Things Forgotten” By, James Deetz

Introduction

The book “In Small Things Forgotten”, written by James Deetz, is the most influential and broadly-read book in the historical archaeology. It was published in 1977 for the first time, after which it was revised in 1996. Deetz has used several studies from different regions and populations for demonstrating general approach to historical archaeology. It is to use the material culture of the American past for characterizing shifts that are visible in historic American material culture, influential regions and populations and the meaning of this material culture to the people who used it (Morrison, 279). Specifically, Deetz discusses shifts in material culture particularly related to architectural styles, ceramics, and gravestone imagery in New England and the southern plantation states of Virginia and the Carolinas. However, in general this book is excellent as an introduction to historical archaeology or for scholars interested in examining Deetz' material culture focus.

Significance to Archeology

Major emphasis in the book, “In Small Things Forgotten”, is placed on technological advances, like mass-produced cream ware, or shifts in fashion, like the colonial shift away from using trenchers to ceramic vessels. While this focus does a good job of describing how a need to keep up with the Joneses is visible in the historical record. It does not address questions of why styles would shift in a direction, cases in which a change in material culture is more practical than stylistic, or cases in which a community might be purposefully rejecting the dominant fashion or be using it in a subversive manner (Robbins et al. 1998:29).

Deetz touches upon ideological causes of ceramic style change where he discusses Puritan restrictions on the elaboration and variety of styles of ceramic vessels. However, he is much more effective at examining the ideological implications of material ...