This commentary cites the remarkable progress made in the field of historical archaeology during the time since the founding of The Society for Historical Archaeology in 1967. Despite new sophistication in the technical aspects of the discipline, we have witnessed a perplexing tendency to focus research on unique events and thus have largely abandoned the search for the regularities of cultural practice. It is suggested that if historical archaeology is to achieve its full potential as a discipline, it must develop a methodology which draws from its unique strengths. The opposition of archival and archaeological data sets in the context of scientific inquiry is recommended.