The Times of Their Lives: Life, Love, and Death in Plymouth Colony

Abstract

for over a quarter century James Deetz led the movement to integrate archaeology and material culture into the study of American history. The movement's manifesto was his seminal work, In Small Things Forgotten. Published in 1977 and based largely on his archaeological projects for the Plimoth Plantation museum, the book used archaeology to bring insight and excitement to early New England history. The approach Deetz introduced heavily influenced a generation of social and cultural historians and shaped the emerging field of historical archaeology. Deetz left New England and carried out a range of archaeology projects in California and Virginia before finally returning to Plymouth Colony to bring his work full circle. He and his wife, Patricia Scott Deetz, published The Times of Their Lives just before his death on November 25, 2000. This book closely examines the material lives of Plymouth colonists and in the process destroys many cherished Pilgrim myths. Such traditions as the first Thanksgiving, Plymouth Rock, and the cheerless lives of sullen separatists have been challenged by other scholars, but James and Patricia Deetz give them a thorough debunking. For example, rather than a solemn religious occasion, the first Thanksgiving is portrayed as a somewhat rowdy harvest home celebration, in which Native Americans greatly outnumbered Englishmen.