Reddit reviews In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life

Here're a couple of my favorite archaeology books. The first one is about modern garbage, and is based around the idea that "what people have owned--and thrown away--can speak more eloquently, informatively, and truthfully about the lives they lead than they themselves ever may."

Rubbish!

The second one is a seminal text of historical archaeology, James Deetz' In Small Things Forgotten. amazon link

For your convenience :)

https://www.amazon.com/Small-Things-Forgotten-Archaeology-American/dp/0385483996

I don't know if these are the best and more important books I've read, but they're ones I heartily recommend:

• In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early Modern American Life, in which the author (James Deetz) asks his readers to consider the small things forgotten (fancy that) in the archaeological and historical record. Buttons, cups, doorways, gravestones. What do these tell us about people and the everyday?
  
  
• I was quite impressed by Barbed Wire: An Ecology of Modernity, by Reviel Netz. He discusses the invention of barbed wire and its use in and effects on agriculture, warfare, and concentration camp. It's rather theoretical, but it's easy to read and really well done. I am partial to history books that focus on one seemingly mundane object (such as salt, as on your list; cod; the clock; or the cat).
  
  
• Holy Fast, Holy Feast, by Caroline Walker Bynum, is required reading for any medievalist. She discusses the significance of food and fasting to medieval religious women.