Paper short abstract:

Contemporary archaeology is increasingly having an immense impact on practitioners in historical archaeology. Boundaries between disciplines are breaking down, and the concept of what can be considered archaeological or anthropological has changed. What happens when such approaches are reflected back onto more ‘traditional’ archaeological material and sites?

Paper long abstract:

Contemporary archaeology, whether one considers it the study of modern-day material culture, stripped of the temporal limits of examining the relationship between people and things in the past, or alternatively as a focus on methods and process, seeing all archaeology as existing in the contemporary world, is increasingly having an immense impact on practitioners in historical archaeology. Boundaries between disciplines are breaking down, at least in terms of the fields in which our research and fieldwork are bound up; the concept of what can be considered archaeological or anthropological has changed.

What happens when such approaches are reflected back onto more 'traditional' archaeological material and sites? The buildings around Dalston Junction Station, in east London, reflect the area's transformation between 1850 and 1950; from outlying village, to prosperous middle-class suburb, to local centre for the entertainment of East Enders in the area's cinemas, bars and nightclubs. Demolition of a large number of these buildings has called for archaeological fieldwork, but it has proved impossible to separate historical Dalston from the present-day community, and their concerns for their future.