Dossier: Architecture in Historical Archaeology

Abstract

In September 2022, the VIII National Congress of Historical Archaeology was held at the National University of La Plata. The meeting -which has the merit of having been the first of its kind in South America - was attended by researchers from Argentina, Chile, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, France and the United States. The papers presented showed the diversity of topics and problems that currently attract the attention of local historical archaeology, while consolidating its long tradition of interaction and dialogue with other fields of research. In this sense, it is interesting to note that the link between historical archaeology and architecture has developed for more than half a century, thanks to sustained collaborations and joint projects, particularly in urban contexts, which exposed its potential. It was a path of disciplinary learning that was not without conflict, but whose successful outcome was the recognition of the multidimensionality of the built record as an object of archaeological study and the multiplication of theoretical and methodological tools for its analysis. This dossier brings together four of the six presentations included in the VIIICNAH thematic round table entitled Architecture from the perspective of archaeology. Each of the papers explores a particular aspect of the study of the built record of sites in Argentina and Chile, demonstrating, from different perspectives and scales, the possibilities offered by this link for the integrated study of their materiality.