1.1 The Name

The term ‘modern’ has been adopted by this panel in preference to possible alternatives including ‘post-medieval’ and ‘later historical’^[1]. Some reflections on this conscious and deliberate choice are offered here by way of an introduction to the panel’s direction of travel.

‘Post-medieval’ and ‘later historical’ are terms used by archaeologists to denote the period of the last five  centuries or so.  Each term was coined in particular circumstances.

Post-medieval Archaeology emerged in the post-War decades as archaeologists began to recognise that certain continuities in ‘medieval’ material traditions continued into the 16^th, 17^th and earlier 18^th centuries^[2]. Initially, ‘post-medieval’ described the period to c.1750; now it denotes the whole period from c.1500 to the present day^[3].

In the 1990s, some archaeologists began to argue for an alternative term: Later Historical Archaeology (e.g. Johnson 1996, 1-18; West 1999).  This term represented a desire to break away from the perceived empiricism of  previous scholarship and to connect with the more anthropological approach taken by Historical Archaeologists in North America and elsewhere.  Historical Archaeology, in a New World context, is concerned with the period of the last five centuries; in a British and European context the qualifier ‘later’ was added to acknowledge the longer timepsan of documentary history.

Much of this nomenclature debate is irrelevant in the present context, but there is one important point which emerges from it: each term, simple in itself, makes a deeper and more complex statement about the stance and  of its advocates.  Given this, at an early stage in the framework-development process, the Panel found it useful to reflect on its name as a means of defining and clarifying it’s perspective and approach.

The terms ‘post-medieval’ and ‘later historical’ place the emphasis, variably, on: chronology (after the medieval; the latter part of the historical era); the character of the evidence (this is a historical period – where archaeological evidence sits alongside documentary and other categories of evidence); or particular sympathies (Post-medieval Archaeology with Medieval Archaeology; Later Historical Archaeology with Historical Archaeology).

In a similar manner, the term ‘modern’ makes a series of statements.  ‘Modern’:

Is (arguably) more widely intelligible . . .

Although the term ‘post-medieval’ does occur outside of archaeology, scholars in cognate disciplines can find it curious as a label for the recent past.  Added to that, understanding of the term is variable within archaeology, not least because its meaning has changed.  And the term is opaque to the public.  The meaning of ‘later historical’ is ambiguous and unclear for most and the term is not widely used.  Other terms for this period or for its component parts are more familiar: ‘modern’, ‘early modern’, ‘Renaissance’.  Why does this matter here?  The nature of the subject and current directions in its study suggest that any framework for the study of the modern past should place an emphasis on dialogue between disciplines, and the public significance of the modern past encourages the use of terms which are intelligible to non-archaeological audiences more generally (or, at least, terms which can be translated without too much difficulty).

Reduces the emphasis (in this framework) on chronology . . .

The Modern Panel has set itself flexible temporal boundaries, with a remit for the past five centuries or so.  Research into the modern past extends back into the medieval period and it extends forward into the present, with the result that the temporal start and end points of any research framework for this period have to be fluid and contingent on the question at hand.  ‘Modern’, here, refers not so much to a strictly delimited period of time as it does to an emerging and developing modern world, and to the states of being and the social, environmental and material relationships which characterise that world.  The modern world has roots extending back beyond A.D. 1500 and it is both our past and our present, a still-living archaeological subject.

Decreases the emphasis (in this framework) on sources and evidence . . .

This is not to argue against the value of a sound and critical understanding of the evidence; it is to emphasise that, while knowledge of the evidence is essential, it is not the ultimate goal of research.  Questions of which evidence to consider and how to acquire and construct that evidence should not, therefore, drive the creation of a strategic framework for research.  Evidence is a means not an end and knowledge of that evidence is contributory towards something else . . .

Places the emphasis on the ends of the research . . .

Archaeology is a humanistic and scientific discipline whose ultimate aim is knowledge and understanding of the human condition in the past, of people’s relationships with the material world and of the relationships between past, present and future.  How did people live their lives, understand themselves and relate to the world around them? How did they create the world (knowingly or not), and how did it create them?  How has the past conditioned the present and how can understanding of the past contribute to the creation of the future?

The broad aim of research in the Modern Panel’s field is to achieve knowledge and understanding of modern life, modern society and the modern world as it has emerged and developed over the past 500 years or so.  The term ‘modern’ is an appropriate one for the panel because it denotes not just a period in time, for which there is evidence of a particular sort; it denotes a particular constellation of relationships and ways of being and living.  And it is appropriate because it acknowledges the very real connections between this most recent of pasts and the present it has created.