The Archaeology of Industrialisation

This book offers a critical view of the archaeology of industrialisation, which is presented as one of the different practices coexisting within a broader industrial archaeology.The main ideas, research frameworks, sources of information, and tools for recording, analysing and explaining industrial sites are examined. The archaeology of industrialisation is defined as the study of the industrial period through its material remains. The industrialised society is not understood as an isolated nor as a homogeneous group, but as a complex social system of global dispersion and impacts. Thus, it is argued that the archaeology of industrialisation is an archaeology of the Contemporary Age focused on the industrial production, distribution and consumption of things. Some space is dedicated to theorising about industrial heritage, which is approached as a related topic through a critical and archaeological lens. The ideas presented are illustrated with examples from Spain, Brazil and the People’s Republic of China. These cases help us rethink industrial archaeology and heritage from the Global South while observing alternative industrialization processes and industrial societies.