Archeology vs Archaeology

The keen observers of this website may notice that there are two versions of the spelling of archeology/archaeology. The NHAS uses the shorter version while you may see the longer version used in some cases. For purposes of discussion let’s just call them ‘e’ or ‘ae’. When the society was founded in 1947 ‘e’ was chosen.

There was no specific reason why and it stands in contrast with the sister societies in the bordering states, all of whom use ‘ae’. We at the NHAS use the ‘e’ in all of our publications (print and electronic) however there are many cases where reference is made to a journal, an organization or an official title (e.g. Archaeology of Eastern North America, Society for American Archaeology, or NH State Archaeologist) and of course that spelling must be retained.

Barbara Little, a nationally recognized scholar from the University of Maryland, was tasked with addressing this issue by the Society for American Archaeology and her paper can be accessed here. It does not fully solve the problem but does give some insight on the issue.