Historical Archaeologies of the American West Kelly J. Dixon Published online: 19 January 2014 Ó The Author(s) 2014. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract Historical archaeology in western North America includes a vast col- lection of research that underscores the region’s dynamic cultural heritage. Here, I review a sample of the literature related to this research and organize them into four conceptual themes: colonialism and postcolonialism, landscape transformation, migration and diaspora, and industrial capitalism. I conclude that the future of historical archaeology in the West will be grounded in research that integrates these themes. As the region continues to experience human dilemmas related to issues such as balancing resource extraction with sustainable conservation and lingering issues of colonialism, these archaeologies have value for transcending the nature– culture divide and for understanding the ways in which humanity can navigate pressing issues relevant to our modern world, including vulnerability, risks, adap- tation, resilience, and sustainability. Keywords American West Á Historical archaeology Á Aridity Á Colonialism Á Diaspora Á Industrial capitalism Á Global change Á Landscape transformation Á Migration Introduction [We] trap out the beaver, subtract the Mandan, infect the Blackfeet and the Hidatsa and the Assiniboin, overdose the Arikara; call the land a desert and hurry across it to get to California and Oregon; suck up the buffalo…kill off the nations of elk and wolves and cranes and prairie chickens and prairie dogs; dig up the gold and rebury it in vaults somewhere else…kill Crazy Horse, kill Sitting Bull; harvest wave after wave of immigrants’ dreams and send the K. J. Dixon (&) Department of Anthropology, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA e-mail: kelly.dixon@mso.umt.edu 123 J Archaeol Res (2014) 22:177–228 DOI 10.1007/s10814-013-9071-3