This book provides a clear, practical structured approach to studying archaeological and historic objects. The text, which includes nine detailed case studies, acts as a comprehensible guide to the different methods and approaches (cultural, forensic, technical) which can and have been used to study ancient artifacts.
- Shows how information obtained from objects builds into a picture of the ancient society that made and used the object
- Explains the commonly used scientific techniques for object analysis
- Reveals how and why object typologies work
- Demonstrates that cultural and economic factors as well as the properties of materials influence what objects are made of
- Demonstrates how simple observation of an object can be built into a biography of the object
- Reveals the answers to such questions as:
o Can DNA be obtained from objects?
o Why did artists sign their pictures?
o Why do people X-ray ancient artifacts?
o Can you determine the source of metal objects from their trace elements?
This book is designed to provide a clear and comprehensive textbook to all archaeology, conservation and museum students who are studying artifacts. It will help them appreciate the detailed scientific and technological information and come to grips with the jargon of anthropological and art historical approaches to studying artifacts.

After neo-evolutionism, how does one talk about the pre-modern state? Over the past two decades archaeological research has shifted decisively from check-list identifications of the state as an evolutionary type to studies of how power and authority were constituted in specific polities. Developing Gramsci's concept of hegemony, this book provides an accessible discussion of general principles that serve to help us understand and organise these new directions in archaeological research. Throughout this book, conceptual issues are illustrated by means of case studies drawn from Madagascar, Mesopotamia, the Inca, the Maya and Greece.

"Digital Archaeology" is a unique edited work addressing the changing and growing role of digital technologies in all aspects of archaeology and heritage management. Exploring the wide potential of IT across the discipline, this book goes beyond the prevailing notion that computers are merely a methodological tool, and considers their influence on the very nature of archaeological study.
Blending rigorous archaeological theory with the extensive practical knowledge of professionals in the field, Digital Archaeology is a highly accessible text that shows and discusses the ways in which computing can be holistically incorporated into archaeology. The book discusses elements of archaeological theory and reveals how computers can be used to reintegrate theoretical questions into the application of field work and analysis.
Beginning with a history of the growth of computing within the field, the book goes on to look at examples of how and why different technologies have been implemented into archaeological theory and method. It includes GIS, virtual reality modelling, internet publishing and archiving, and on-site digital recording using such examples as the integrated digital recording of the Ferrybridge Chariot and other case studies from around the world. This volume also discusses ways in which technology can now be used in normal excavations and how this affects the study of archaeology as a whole, from planning to publication.

The 20th century saw the unlawful killing of approximately 200 million civilians. Sadly, the conflicts and tensions that gave rise to these deaths continue into the 21st century and the task of those involved in investigating mass murder, war crimes and genocide is larger than ever.;"Forensic Archaeology, Anthropology and the Investigation of Mass Graves" provides clear theory and practice for investigators in training, and aims to establish best practice by forensic practitioners. Offering detailed advice on locating and excavating graves, the analysis of human remains, and the surrounding social, political and legal contexts - this book, is a useful reference.

As in the present, past peoples commemorated, constructed, and manipulated their past for their own social and political ends. Archaeologists can use a variety of evidence to study social memory and to recover past ideas about what the more distant past was like. "Archaeologies of Memory" is a groundbreaking text that presents a coherent framework for the study of memory in past societies.

This unique collection of new essays brings together contributions from both anthropological and classical archaeologists. Essays, drawn from a variety of cultures and time periods, engage a number of common themes, such as issues of authority and identity, and the role memory plays in their creation and transformation. "Archaeologies of Memory" is an accessible investigation into the central issues in the study of memory and provides an engaging introduction to this controversial subject.

Geophysics is used in dealing with problems from academic to practical interest. Applications can include, an understanding of the structure of the Earth, resource exploration, environmental and construction concerns, as well as archaeology, palaeontology, law enforcement, and counter-terrorism. The nature of this science makes inaccessible to all but those with rigorous training in mathematics and physics. While there are a great many publications in geophysics at various levels, none has been directed towards those that have a professional need to know about the geophysical techniques or are simply curious. This book was written with that particular audience in mind. Although its fundamental focus is on archaeological applications, it is sufficiently broad to be useful as a reference to support other applications and is sufficiently self-contained to serve as an introductory text.

The use of computation in archaeology is a kind of magic, a way of heightening the archaeological imagination. Agent-based modelling allows archaeologists to test the 'just-so' stories they tell about the past. It requires a formalization of the story so that it can be represented as a simulation; researchers are then able to explore the unintended consequences or emergent outcomes of stories about the past. Agent-based models are one end of a spectrum that, at the opposite side, ends with video games. This volume explores this spectrum in the context of Roman archaeology, addressing the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities of a formalized approach to computation and archaeogaming.

SEEING THE UNSEEN. GEOPHYSICS AND LANDSCAPE ARCHAEOLOGY is a collection of papers presented at the advanced XV International Summer School in Archaeology 'Geophysics for Landscape Archaeology' (Grosseto, Italy, 10-18 July 2006). Bringing together the experience of some of the world's greatest experts in the field of archaeological prospection, the focus of this book is not so much on the analysis of single buried structures, but more on researching the entire landscape in all its multi-period complexity. The book is divided into two parts. The first part concentrates on the theoretical basis of the various methods, illustrated for the most part through case-studies and practical examples drawn from a variety of geographical and cultural contexts. The second part focuses on the work carried out in the field during the Summer School. Tutors and students took part in the intensive application of the principal techniques of geophysical prospecting (magnetometry, EM, ERT and ground-penetrating radar) to locate, retrieve, process and interpret data for a large Roman villa-complex near Grosseto. SEEING THE UNSEEN. GEOPHYSICS AND LANDSCAPE ARCHAEOLOGY provides a clear illustration of the remarkable potential of geophysical methods in the study of ancient landscapes, and will be usefull to Archaeologists, Geophysicists, Environmental scientists, and those involved in the management of cultural heritage.

Archaeologists have long given attention to landscape, especially within settlement archaeology. In recent years, however, the focus on landscape has shifted and what was once generally passive background has now assumed the foreground. This results partly from archaeologists expanding their view beyond individual sites to considering a more comprehensive distribution of human traces in and especially between specific "places of special interest."

This book offers new and diverse perspectives on the ideational qualities of past landscapes. The editors introduce several theoretical sources supporting studies of ideational landscapes and, in so doing, give definitions of key categories of landscape, as constructed, conceived, and ideational. The contributors draw on the wide range of literature on these kinds of landscape, numerous case studies and their own theoretical background and experience to provide a thematic examination of the archaeologies of landscape.

Where do we find the world's very first art? When, and why, did people begin experimenting with different materials, forms and colours? Were our once-cousins, the Neanderthals, also capable of creating art? Prehistorians have been asking these questions of our ancestors for decades, but only very recently, with the development of cutting-edge scientific and archaeological techniques, have we been able to piece together the first chapter in the story of art. Overturning the traditional Eurocentric vision of our artistic origins, which has focused almost exclusively on the Franco-Spanish cave art, Paul Bahn and Michel Lorblanchet take the reader on a search for the earliest art across the whole world. They show that our earliest ancestors were far from being the creatively impoverished primitives of past accounts, and Europe was by no means the only 'cradle' of art; the artistic impulse developed in the human mind wherever it travelled. The long universal history of art mirrors the development of humanity.

Author Biography:
Gary Lock is University Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Oxford and is the editor of Archaeology and Geographic Information Systems: A European Perspective, with Zoran Stancic.

The past few years have seen a revolution in our ability to map whole genome DNA from ancient humans. With the ancient DNA revolution, combined with rapid genome mapping of present human populations, has come remarkable insights into our past. This important new data has clarified and added to our knowledge from archaeology and anthropology, helped resolve long-existing controversies, challenged long-held views, and thrown up some remarkable surprises. The emerging picture is one of many waves of ancient human migrations, so that all populations existing today are mixes of ancient ones, as well as in many cases carrying a genetic component from Neanderthals, and, in some populations, Denisovans. David Reich, whose team has been at the forefront of these discoveries, explains what the genetics is telling us about ourselves and our complex and often surprising ancestry. Gone are old ideas of any kind of racial 'purity', or even deep and ancient divides between peoples. Instead, we are finding a rich variety of mixtures. Reich describes the cutting-edge findings from the past few years, and also considers the sensitivities involved in tracing ancestry, with science sometimes jostling with politics and tradition. He brings an important wider message: that we should celebrate our rich diversity, and recognize that every one of us is the result of a long history of migration and intermixing of ancient peoples, which we carry as ghosts in our DNA. What will we discover next?

Peter G. Gould seeks to identify the success factors associated with economic development projects within communities adjacent to archaeological or heritage sites, a growing interest among archaeologists and heritage managers. Typically, the success of site museums, tourism businesses, or crafts cooperatives is rarely reported on in scholarly literature or subjected to systematic study. This book addresses that gap. Gould argues that the success of community projects is inextricably linked to the mechanisms community members use to govern their project activities, and provides a much-needed assessment of the issues relating to community governance. Drawing together insights from economic analysis, political science, tourism scholarship, complexity scholarship, and the governance of non-profit enterprises, Gould suggests a model for community governance and illustrates the workings of that model through four case studies. Armed with this book's theoretical foundation, heritage professionals will have practical approaches to consider when designing community economic development projects.

The Science and Archaeology of Materials is set to become the definitive work in the archaeology of materials. Henderson's highly illustrated work is an accessible and fascinating textbook which will be essential reading for all practical archaeologists. With clear sections on a wide range of materials including ceramics, glass, metals and stone, this work examines the very foundations of archaeological study. Anyone interested in ancient technologies, especially those involving high temperatures, kilns and furnaces will be able to follow in each chapter how raw materials are refined, transformed and shaped into objects. This description is then followed by appropriate case studies which provide a new chronological and geographical example of how scientific and archaeological aspects can and do interact. They include:
*Roman pale green and highly decorated glass
*17th Century glass in Britain and Europe
*the effect of the introduction of the wheel on pottery technology
*the technology of Celadon ceramics
*early copper metallurgy in the Middle East
*chemical analysis and lead isotope analysis of British Bronzes
*early copper alloy metallurgy in Thailand
*the chemical analysis of obsidian and its distribution
*the origins of the Stonehenge bluestones
This book shows how archaeology and science intersect and fe ed off each other. Modern scientific techniques have provided data which, when set within a fully integrated archaeological context, have the potential of contributing to mainstream archaeology. This holistic approach generates a range of connections which benefits both areas and will enrich archaeological study in the future.

This work takes as its starting point the role of fieldwork and how this has changed over the past 150 years. The author argues against progressive accounts of fieldwork and instead places it in its broader intellectual context to critically examine the relationship between theoretical paradigms and everyday archaeological practice.
In providing a much-needed historical and critical evaluation of current practice in archaeology, this book opens up a topic of debate which affects all archaeologists, whatever their particular interests.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203132254

Series Information:
One World Archaeology

Statistics in Practice A new series of practical books outlining the use of statistical techniques in a wide range of application areas:

• Human and Biological Sciences
• Earth and Environmental Sciences
• Industry, Commerce and Finance

The authors of this important text explore the processes through which archaeologists analyse their data and how these can be made more rigorous and effective by sound statistical modelling. They assume relatively little previous statistical or mathematical knowledge. Introducing the idea underlying the Bayesian approach to the statistical analysis of data and their subsequent interpretation, the authors demonstrate the major advantage of this approach, i.e. that it allows the incorporation of relevant prior knowledge or beliefs into the analysis. By doing so it provides a logical and coherent way of updating beliefs from those held before observing the data to those held after taking the data into account. To illustrate the power and effectiveness of mathematical and statistical modelling within the Bayesian framework, a variety of real case studies are presented covering areas of common interest to archaeologists. These case studies cover applications in areas such as radiocarbon dating, spatial analysis, provenance studies and other dating methods. Background to these case studies is provided for those readers not so familiar with the subject. Thus, the book provides an examination of the theoretical and practical consequences of Bayesian analysis for examining problems in archaeology. Students of archaeology and related disciplines and professional archaeologists will find the book an informative and practical introduction to the subject.

This edited collection presents a group of images of the past, termed in the book construction sites. At these sites, full scale, three-dimensional images for the past have been created for a variety of reasons including archaeological experimentation, tourism and education. The various case studies explore the relationship between the sites' aims and discuss their constant friction. Contributions frankly discuss the problems and mistakes experienced with reconstruction, encourage the need for on-going experimentation and examine the various uses of the sites; political, economical and educational. The book affords a detailed and extensive discussion of such sites and should provide a valuable reference tool for archaeologists and professionals in heritage management.

Series Information:
One World Archaeology

Using language to date the origin and spread of food production, Archaeology and Language II represents groundbreaking work in synthesizing two disciplines that are now seen as interlinked: linguistics and archaeology. This volume is the second part of a three-part survey of innovative results emerging from their combination. Archaeology and historical linguistics have largely pursued separate tracks until recently, although their goals can be very similar. While there is a new awareness that these disciplines can be used to complement one another, both rigorous methodological awareness and detailed case-studies are still lacking in the literature. This three-part survey is the first study to address this. Archaeology and Language II examines in some detail how archaeological data can be interpreted through linguistic hypotheses. This collection demonstrates the possibility that, where archaeological sequences are reasonably well-known, they might be tied into evidence of language diversification and thus produce absolute chronologies. Where there is evidence for migrations and expansions these can be explored through both disciplines to produce a richer interpretation of prehistory. An important part of this is the origin and spread of food production which can be modelled through the spread of both plants and words for them. Archaeology and Language II will be of interest to researchers in linguistics, archaeologists and anthropologists.

This volume brings together a series of papers which define the relevance of archaeology to the study of long term change and to the understanding of our contemporary world. It re-evaluates the premises and epistemologies which underlie the study of archaeology and looks at the ways discoveries about the past have a direct bearing oncontemporary beliefs and actions. The major theoretical ideologies which have influenced archaeology since the mid-1970s are considered: functionalism, determinism, structural Marxism, world systems theory, postmodernism and postprocessual archaeology. The papers in this volume, however, concentrate on the study of structures as far as the archaeological record brings new or different insight to their functioning in the long term. The volume also remains committed to the possibility of an historical reconstruction of social realities. The text is a compilation of papers in theoretical archaeology and should appeal to academics and postgraduates in archaeology, anthropology and history.

This book provides a short, readable introduction to historical archaeology, which focuses on modern history in all its fascinating regional, cultural, and ethnic diversity. Accessibly covering key methods and concepts, including fundamental theories and principles, the history of the field, and basic definitions, Historical Archaeology also includes a practical look at career prospects for interested readers. Orser discusses central topics of archaeological research such as time and space, survey and excavation methods, and analytical techniques, encouraging readers to consider the possible meanings of artifacts. Drawing on the author's extensive experience as an historical archaeologist, the book's perspective ranges from the local to the global in order to demonstrate the real importance of this subject to our understanding of the world in which we live today. The third edition of this popular textbook has been significantly revised and expanded to reflect recent developments and discoveries in this exciting area of study. Each chapter includes updated case studies which demonstrate the research conducted by professional historical archaeologists. With its engaging approach to the subject, Historical Archaeology continues to be an ideal resource for readers who wish to be introduced to this rapidly expanding global field.

This Reader in Archaeological Theory presents sixteen articles of key theoretical significance, in a format which makes this notoriously complex area easier for students to understand.
This volume:
* provides an intellectual history of different approaches to archaeology which contextualizes the complex traditions of cognitive archaeology and postprocessualism on which it focuses
* organizes theories of archaeology, the meanings of things, the prehistoric mind and cognition, gender, ideology and social theory and archaeology's relationship to today's society and politics
* includes lucid section introductions to each section which provide context, explain why the papers are so significant and summarize their key points
* emphasizes research from the 'New World', making archaeological theory especially relevant and accessible to students in North America.

The question of ethnicity is highly controversial in contemporary archaeology. Indigenous and nationalist claims to territory, often rely on reconstructions of the past based on the traditional identification of 'cultures' from archaeological remains. However, many argue that such associations of remains with past ethnic groups is hopelessly inadequate. This study calls into question how such evidence is used and what conclusions can legitimately be drawn from it.
Sian Jones responds to the need for a reassessment of the ways in which social groups are identified in the archaeological record, with a comprehensive and critical synthesis of recent theories of ethnicity in the human sciences. In doing so, she argues for a fundamentally different view of ethnicity, as a complex dynamic form of identification, requiring radical changes in archaeological analysis and interpretation.

eBook available with sample pages: PB:0415141583 EB:0203438736