The title of this paper is not meant as the trumpet fanfare for a new debate over whether historical archaeology should be history or anthropology. Its purpose is to suggest that historical archaeology can be more than a social history that relies upon material culture as one of its primary sources of data. We need to ask historically important questions, but we should also emphasize the comparative approach employed in anthropology and focus on those topics that have cross-cultural applicability over both time and space. Two major problem domains are outlined: world urbanization and environmental history. Subsidiary topics, including the impact urbanization has had on the work of both men and women are also addressed. These topics are well suited for investigation by historical archaeologists, assuming that we expand our repertoire of methods. With the latter point in mind the importance of a comprehensive interdisciplinary approach is discussed within the context of our two problem domains. It is argued that both world urbanization and environmental history are topics involving socially and politically significant questions to which historical archaeology can make important contributions.