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Books > Humanities > Archaeology > Archaeological methodology & techniques
Session VIII-1 of UISPP 2018 in Paris 'Mapping the Past' brought
together several contributions reflecting on the need to develop
sustainable and reliable approaches to mapping our landscape
heritage. The session was guided by the crucial concept termed the
'archaeological continuum'. This concept can be defined as a
proactive approach to landscape survey based on the summative
evidence detected (or detectable) within the area under
examination, reducing spatial and chronological gaps as far as
possible through the intensive and extensive application of a wide
variety of exploratory methods and analytical techniques. Research
work across Europe as well as contributions presented in this
session have demonstrated that it is now possible to explore the
whole landscape of carefully chosen areas and study them as an
archaeological continuum. Archaeological interpretations derived
from this kind of approach can be expected to reveal different
layers of information belonging to a variety of chronological
horizons, each displaying mutual physical (stratigraphic) and
conceptual relationships within that horizon. The raising of new
archaeological questions and also the development of alternative
conservation strategies directly stimulated by the radical ideas
inherent in the concept of the 'archaeological continuum' are among
the major outcomes of the session.
The aim of the atlas is to provide images of taphonomic
modifications, making it as comprehensive as possible with evidence
presently available. This volume is intended both as a field guide
for identifying taphonomic modifications in the field, and for use
in the laboratory when collections of fossils are being analyzed.
Images in the book are a combination of scanning electron
micrographs, regular photographs, cross-sections of bones and line
drawings and graphs. By providing good quality illustrations of
taphonomic modifications, with links between similar types of
modification, the atlas provides a reference source for identifying
the agents responsible for the modifications, the processes by
which they were formed, and the potential bias introduced by the
processes. The authors also aim to emphasize on the directions they
consider taphonomic studies should be headed. Firstly, we should
seek to quantify the degree of bias introduced into a fossil fauna
and to take account of this bias before interpreting the
palaeoecology of the fossil site. Secondly, we should recognize
that taphonomic modifications increase the information encoded in
fossils by identifying perimortem and postmortem contexts. This
provides a more dynamic and realistic view of the past.
Human skeletons are widely studied in archaeological,
anthropological and forensic settings to learn about the deceased.
Methods used to identify individuals in forensic contexts and to
determine age and sex in archaeological settings are normally
tested on identified skeletal collections: collections of skeletons
with known age-at-death, sex, often occupation and cause of death.
These collections often represent individuals dying within the last
century, but this is variable and often depends on the purpose for
creating the collection. Many were developed in attempts to
understand local population biology whereas those collected
recently are for forensic purposes: to improve identification in
legal contexts. Some of these collections were developed from body
donation programmes, while others have come from cemeteries:
cemeteries which were either no longer viable or needed clearing.
All these factors impact on who curates these collections:
archaeology or anthropology departments and museums. However,
unlike many other skeletons curated in these locations, these are
individuals with names. All this raises ethical questions about
their creation, curation and their use for research. This book
focusses on identified skeletal collections in the UK, Portugal,
South Africa, USA and Canada. The chapters discuss how and why
collections were amassed including the local legislation governing
them. Alongside this run the ethical issues associated with their
collection, curation and access to them. The demographics of the
collections: who is included and why, along with such biases and
how they can impact on research are also discussed, as are
limitations in the documentary data associated with these
individuals. The importance of these collections is also focussed
on: particularly their role in developing and testing methods for
age determination in adults. This shows why these collections are
so vital to improve methods and interpretations for archaeological
and forensic research. The importance of communicating this to the
wider public is also addressed.
This book is for students and practitioners of not only knapping,
lithic technology and archaeology, but also of fractography and
fracture mechanics. At conferences on fractography of glasses and
ceramics, the author has often been asked to demonstrate knapping
as well as provide overviews of fractography learned from it. The
first part of the book is intended to stimulate such interests
further, in order to solicit contributions from a largely untapped
pool of experts. Such contributions can advance significantly our
understandings of knapping as well as fractography. In Part II of
the book, fracture markings as the tools of fractography are
introduced, with their formation, meaning and utility explained.
Observations on the presence or absence of the markings in knapping
are considered in Part III, along with a number of interpretations
of fracture features. The basic principles and concepts of fracture
mechanics and fractography apply to fractures produced in any
cultural context. This volume therefore addresses most questions on
fracture in a generic sense, independent of cultural contexts. In
general, understanding of fractures provides a sounder basis for
lithic analysis, and use of more recent scientific tools opens new
avenues for lithic studies.
Butrint has been one of the largest archaeological projects in the
Mediterranean over the last two decades. Major excavations and a
multi-volume series of accompanying scientific publications have
made this a key site for our developing understanding of the Roman
and Medieval Mediterranean. Through this set of interwoven
reflections about the archaeology and cultural heritage history of
his twenty-year odyssey in south-west Albania, Richard Hodges
considers how the Butrint Foundation protected and enhanced
Butrint's spirit of place for future generations. Hodges reviews
Virgil's long influence on Butrint and how its topographic
archaeology has now helped to invent a new narrative and identity.
He then describes the struggle of placemaking in Albania during the
early post-communist era, and finally asks, in the light of the
Butrint Foundation's experience, who matters in the shaping of a
place - international regulations, the nation, the archaeologist,
the visitor, the local community or some combination of all of
these stakeholders? With appropriate maps and photographs, this
book aims to offer an unusual but important new direction for
archaeology in the Mediterranean. It should be essential reading
for archaeologists, classical historians, medievalists, cultural
heritage specialists, tourism specialists as well as those
interested in the Mediterranean's past and future.
This Handbook provides a transnational reference point for critical
engagements with the legacies of, and futures for, global
archaeological collections. It challenges the common misconception
that museum archaeology is simply a set of procedures for managing
and exhibiting assemblages. Instead, this volume advances museum
archaeology as an area of reflexive research and practice
addressing the critical issues of what gets prioritized by and
researched in museums, by whom, how, and why. Through twenty-eight
chapters, authors problematize and suggest new ways of thinking
about historic, contemporary, and future relationships between
archaeological fieldwork and museums, as well as the array of
institutional and cultural paradigms through which archaeological
enquiries are mediated. Case studies embrace not just
archaeological finds, but also archival field notes, photographic
media, archaeological samples, and replicas. Throughout, museum
activities are put into dialogue with other aspects of
archaeological practice, with the aim of situating museum work
within a more holistic archaeology that does not privilege
excavation or field survey above other aspects of disciplinary
engagement. These concerns will be grounded in the realities of
museums internationally, including Latin America, Africa, Asia,
Oceania, North America, and Europe. In so doing, the common
heritage sector refrain 'best practice' is not assumed to solely
emanate from developed countries or European philosophies, but
instead is considered as emerging from and accommodated within
local concerns and diverse museum cultures.
At the end of the 19th century W.M.F. Petrie excavated a series of
assemblages at the New Kingdom Fayum site of Gurob. These deposits,
known in the Egyptological literature as 'Burnt Groups', were
composed by several and varied materials (mainly Egyptian and
imported pottery, faience, stone and wood vessels, jewellery), all
deliberately burnt and buried in the harem palace area of the
settlement. Since their discovery these deposits have been
considered peculiar and unparalleled. Many scholars were challenged
by them and different theories were formulated to explain these
enigmatic 'Burnt Groups'. The materials excavated from these
assemblages are now curated at several Museum collections across
England: Ashmolean Museum, British Museum, Manchester Museum, and
Petrie Museum. For the first time since their discovery, this book
presents these materials all together. Gasperini has studied and
visually analysed all the items. This research sheds new light on
the chronology of deposition of these assemblages, additionally a
new interpretation of their nature, primary deposition, and
function is presented in the conclusive chapter. The current study
also gives new information on the abandonment of the Gurob
settlement and adds new social perspective on a crucial phase of
the ancient Egyptian history: the transition between the late New
Kingdom and the early Third Intermediate Period. Beside the
traditional archaeological sources, literary evidence ('The Great
Tomb Robberies Papyri') is taken into account to formulate a new
theory on the deposition of these assemblages.
The Cumans, a people that inhabited the steppe zone in the medieval
period and actively shaped the fate of the region from the Black
Sea to the Carpathian Basin, have been primarily known to history
as nomadic, mounted warriors. Some of them arrived in the Hungarian
Kingdom in the midthirteenth century as a group of refugees fleeing
the invading Mongol army and asked for asylum. In the course of
three centuries they settled down in the kingdom, converted to
Christianity, and were integrated into medieval Hungarian society.
This study collects all available information, historical,
ethnographic and archaeological alike, on the animal husbandry
aspect of the complex development of the Cuman population in
medieval Hungary. Although this medieval minority has been in the
focus of scholarly interest in the past decades, no attempt has
been made so far to study their herds using interdisciplinary
methods. The research of faunal assemblages through
archaeozoological methods has the potential to reveal direct, and
by other means, unavailable information on animal keeping
practices, although this source of evidence often escapes scholarly
attention in Central and Eastern Europe. This book combines a
primary scientific dataset with historical information and
interprets them within the framework of settlement history in order
to investigate the manifold integration process of a medieval
community.
This work presents a comprehensive classification of the morphology
of early metal age axe-heads, chisels and stakes from southern
Britain. It is illustrated by a type series of 120 representative
examples. Despite their relative simplicity, flat and early flanged
axes from Britain and Ireland show considerable diversity in form.
The main variation lies in outline shapes and the classification
scheme arrived at therefore depends on careful evaluation of
condition, followed by rigorous analysis of shape using metrical
ratios. This ensures objectivity in both the formulation of the
scheme and future object attributions, for which guidelines are
given. Comparative material in northern Britain and Ireland is
systematically referred to and a few crucial Continental parallels
noted. Hoards and other associated finds, essential in underpinning
the chronology, are cited throughout. The style sequence outlined
spans nine centuries of evolution, a regional trajectory which was
nevertheless inextricably tied to axe developments in northern
Britain, Ireland and, to a lesser extent, the near Continent. While
technological advance is apparent at the broad scale, this was not
the sole driver of the style changes taking place. The study will
be indispensable for those researching early metalwork, those
concerned with European Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age cultures
and those interested in patterns of style-cum-technological
development.
This volume is a product of the International Conference of
Archaeological Prospection 2017 which was hosted by the School of
Archaeological and Forensic Sciences at the University of Bradford.
This event marked a return to the location of the inaugural
conference of archaeological prospection which was held in Bradford
in 1995. The conference is held every two years under the banner of
the International Society for Archaeological Prospection. The
Proceedings of 12th International Conference of Archaeological
Prospection draws together over 100 papers addressing
archaeological prospection techniques, methodologies and case
studies from around the world. Including studies from over 30
countries distributed across Africa, North America, South America,
Asia and Europe; the collection of articles covers a diverse range
of research backgrounds and situations. At this particular ICAP
meeting, specific consideration has been given to emerging
techniques and technologies in the fields of inter-tidal and marine
archaeological prospection, and low altitude archaeological
prospection. The papers within this volume represent the conference
themes of: Techniques and new technological developments;
Applications and reconstructing landscapes and urban environments;
Integration of techniques and inter-disciplinary studies, with
focus on visualisation and interpretation; Marine, inter-tidal and
wetland prospection techniques and applications; Low altitude
prospection techniques and applications; Commercial archaeological
prospection in the contemporary world.
This volume brings together new lines of research across a range of
disciplines from participants in a workshop held at Wolfson
College, Oxford, on 23rd May 2017. In light of rapid technological
developments in digital imaging, the aim in gathering these
contributions together is to inform specialist and general readers
about some of the ways in which imaging technologies are
transforming the study and presentation of archaeological and
cultural artefacts. The periods, materials, geography, and research
questions under discussion therefore are varied, but the
contributions are united in shared interests surrounding the aims
of these techniques for imaging objects: what advantages do they
offer, whether in research or museum contexts, what limitations are
still faced, and how can technological development encourage new
types of research and public engagement?
The second of three volumes of John Neal's collected works.
"Ancient metrology - once the playground of Newton, but now largely
ignored even by archaeologists - ought to cease to be a pariah
subject and regain its place at the centre of the study of
antiquity. In the past, the widely attested variations in ancient
linear measurements have been put down to sloppiness on the part of
our ancestors. But Neal is able to show that such variations belong
to a logical, elegant and cohesive system partially based on
divisions of the Earth's surface at different points on the
longitudinal meridian." Professor Michael Vickers, University of
Oxford, review of Neal's work in Nature: International Weekly
Journal of Science. 2001.
This volume is a product of the 13th International Conference on
Archaeological Prospection 2019, which was hosted by the Department
of Environmental Science in the Faculty of Science at the Institute
of Technology Sligo. The conference is held every two years under
the banner of the International Society for Archaeological
Prospection and this was the first time that the conference was
held in Ireland. New Global Perspectives on Archaeological
Prospection draws together over 90 papers addressing archaeological
prospection techniques, methodologies and case studies from 33
countries across Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe and North
America, reflecting current and global trends in archaeological
prospection. At this particular ICAP meeting, specific
consideration was given to the development and use of
archaeological prospection in Ireland, archaeological feedback for
the prospector, applications of prospection technology in the urban
environment and the use of legacy data. Papers include novel
research areas such as magnetometry near the equator, drone-mounted
radar, microgravity assessment of tombs, marine electrical
resistivity tomography, convolutional neural networks, data
processing, automated interpretive workflows and modelling as well
as recent improvements in remote sensing, multispectral imaging and
visualisation.
The book derives from the experiences of the authors as lecturers
and tutors at different international summer schools on
reality-based surveying and 3D modelling in the field of
archaeology and cultural heritage. The book is organized in three
main sections. The first part aims to introduce and discuss the
contribution of geomatic techniques in archaeology and more
generally in cultural heritage with particular attentions to the 3D
domain. The second part is focused on the main areas involved in
the implementation of 3D surveys (aerial and terrestrial LiDAR,
photogrammetry, remote sensing), 3D documentations, GIS and 3D
interpretations (virtual and cyber archaeology). The last section
collects some relevant case studies showing the extraordinary
contribution that geomatic techniques can give to archaeological
research and cultural heritage at different scales of detail:
object, site, landscape.
How much was archaeology founded on prejudice? "The Archaeology of
Race" explores the application of racial theory to interpret the
past in Britain during the late Victorian and Edwardian period. It
investigates how material culture from ancient Egypt and Greece was
used to validate the construction of racial hierarchies.
Specifically focusing on Francis Galton's ideas around inheritance
and race, it explores how the Egyptologist Flinders Petrie applied
these in his work in Egypt and in his political beliefs. It
examines the professional networks formed by societies, such as the
Anthropological Institute, and their widespread use of eugenic
ideas in analysing society."Archaeology of Race" draws on archives
and objects from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology and the
Galton collection at UCL. These collections are used to explore
anti-Semitism, skull collecting, New Race theory and physiognomy.
These collections give insight into the relationship between Galton
and Petrie and place their ideas in historical context.
This volume presents papers exploring the archaeological
applications of remote sensing techniques, including the study of
images made from the air and from space, but also the results of
geophysical techniques like magnetometry, Ground Penetrating Radar
and Electrical Resistivity Tomography.
Zooarchaeology, the study of ancient animals, is a frequently
side-lined subject in archaeology. This 'important and provocative'
volume, now available in paperback, provides a crucial reversal of
this bizarre situation - 'bizarre' because the archaeological
record is composed largely of debris from human-animal
relationships (be they in the form of animal bones, individual
artifacts or entire landscapes) and many disciplines, including
anthropology, sociology, and geography, recognise human-animal
interactions as a key source of information for understanding
cultural ideology. By integrating knowledge from archaeological
remains with evidence from texts, iconography, social anthropology
and cultural geography, Beastly Questions: Animal Answers to
Archaeological Issues seeks to encourage archaeological students,
researchers and those working in the commercial sector to offer
more engaging interpretations of the evidence at their disposal.
Going beyond the simple confines of 'what people ate', this
accessible but in-depth study covers a variety of high-profile
topics in European archaeology and provides novel interpretations
of mainstream archaeological questions. This includes cultural
responses to wild animals, the domestication of animals and its
implications on human daily practice, experience and ideology, the
transportation of species and the value of incorporating animals
into landscape research, the importance of the study of foodways
for understanding past societies and how animal studies can help us
to comprehend issues of human identity and ideology: past, present
and future.
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.
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