Historical archaeology has been a discipline rooted in the local. Unearthing the remains of specific sites, scholars have recreated patterns of life and death within discrete communities. This collection of essays, however, argues for a global perspective. In essays that open and close the book, James Deetz and Kathleen Deagan suggest that historical archaeology can point to patterns across and between cultures as well as uncover societies lost to the written record. Comparing excavation results from around the world, scholars can trace frontiers of trade, disease, and change. Three other essays illustrate this principle by counterpointing two Dutch trading outposts, on established in 1617 near what is now Albany, New York, the other in 1657 at the Cape of Good Hope in southern Africa. Detailing the evidence of each site, Paul Huey and Carmel Schrire generate far different pictures of relations between the Dutch and the native communited they encountered. Further comparing the outposts, Schrire and Donna Merwick trace patterns of trade and the terms of colonialism as practices at opposite ends of the world. This book demonstrates for scholars, students and general readers the role of historical archaeology in deepening our knowledge of the contact era and the various populations touched in the meeting of worlds. Read Less