Urban myths: rethinking the archaeology of the modern Scottish city

Dalglish, C. (2005) Urban myths: rethinking the archaeology of the modern Scottish city. Scottish Archaeological Journal, 27(2), pp. 147-183.

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Abstract

A generation ago, Scotland witnessed a campaign to establish Medieval urban archaeology as a viable proposition. Now, with growing interest in the more recent past, the time seems right to discuss the future of Scotland’s Modern urban archaeology. The Modern urban past is already served by a tradition in industrial archaeology, but there are good reasons to rethink that tradition and to develop a wider approach to the archaeology of urban society. In this paper, with Glasgow as a focus, I discuss some barriers to the type of urban archaeology proposed, namely the preconceptions that the recent past is already familiar and that anything new we might wish to know about it is easily addressed by a trip to the archives. I then review the development of Scottish industrial and urban archaeology, recognising their achievements while highlighting some areas of historical understanding traditionally avoided. From there, I explore some possibilities for the future – especially, not exclusively, in the archaeology of labour and of urban domestic and social life.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Dalglish, Dr Christopher
Authors: Dalglish, C.
Subjects:C Auxiliary Sciences of History > CC Archaeology
College/School:College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > Archaeology
Journal Name:Scottish Archaeological Journal
ISSN:1471-5767

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