Understanding the Archaeological Record

Understanding the Archaeological Record

Author: Gavin Lucas

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2012-02-06

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1107010268

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This book explores the diverse understandings of the archaeological record in both historical and contemporary perspective, while also serving as a guide to reassessing current views. Gavin Lucas argues that archaeological theory has become both too fragmented and disconnected from the particular nature of archaeological evidence. The book examines three ways of understanding the archaeological record - as historical sources, through formation theory, and as material culture - then reveals ways to connect these three domains through a reconsideration of archaeological entities and archaeological practice. Ultimately, Lucas calls for a rethinking of the nature of the archaeological record and the kind of history and narratives written from it.


Site Formation Processes of Submerged Shipwrecks

Site Formation Processes of Submerged Shipwrecks

Author: Matthew E. Keith

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780813061627

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Many factors influence the formation of shipwreck sites: the materials from which the ship was built, the underwater environment, and subsequent events such as human activity, storms, and chemical reactions. In this first volume to comprehensively catalogue the physical and cultural processes affecting submerged ships, Matthew Keith brings together experts in diverse fields such as geology, soil and wood chemistry, micro- and marine biology, and sediment dynamics. The case studies identify and examine the natural and anthropogenic processes--corrosion and degradation on one hand, fishing and trawling on the other--that contribute to the present condition of shipwreck sites. The contributors also discuss how these varied and often overlapping events influence the archaeological record. Offering an in-depth analysis of emerging technologies and methods-acoustic positioning, computer modeling, and site reconstruction--this is an essential study for the research and preservation of submerged heritage sites.


Divine Consumption

Divine Consumption

Author: Stephen A. Dueppen

Publisher: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press

Published: 2022-12-31

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 195044631X

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Kirikongo is an archaeological site composed of thirteen remarkably well-preserved discrete mounds occupied continually from the early first to the mid second millennium AD. It spans a dynamic era that saw the growth of large settlement communities and regional socio-political formations, development of economic specializations, intensification in interregional commercial networks, and the effects of the Black Death pandemic. The extraordinary preservation of architectural units, activity areas and industrial zones provides a unique opportunity to discern the cultural practices that created stratified mounds (tells) in this part of West Africa. Building from a new detailed zooarchaeological analysis and refinements in stratigraphic precision, this book argues that repeated ritual activity was a significant factor in the accumulation of stratified archaeological deposits. The book details consistencies in form and content of discrete loci containing animal bones, food remains, and broken and unbroken objects and suggests that these are the remnants of sequential ancestor shrines created when domestic spaces were converted to tombs or dedicated mortuary monuments were constructed. Continuities and transformations in ancestral rituals at Kirikongo inform on earlier West African ritual practices from the second millennium BC as well as political and social transformations at the site. More broadly, this case study provides new insights on anthropogenic mound (tell) formation processes, social zooarchaeology, material culture theory, historical ontology, and the analysis of ritual and religion in the archaeological record.


Hopi Oral Tradition and the Archaeology of Identity

Hopi Oral Tradition and the Archaeology of Identity

Author: Wesley Bernardini

Publisher: University of Arizona Press

Published: 2005-01-01

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 9780816524266

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"Using Anderson Mesa and Homol'ovi as case studies, Bernardini presents architectural and demographic data suggesting that the fourteenth century occupation of these regions was characterized by population flux and diversity consistent with the serial migration model." "Bernardini's work clearly demonstrates that studies of cultural affiliation must take into account the fluid nature of population movements and identity in the prehistoric landscape. It takes a decisive step toward better understanding the major demographic change that occurred on the Colorado Plateau from 1275 to 1400 and presents a strategy for improving the reconstruction of cultural identity in the past."--BOOK JACKET.


Behavioral Archaeology

Behavioral Archaeology

Author: Michael B. Schiffer

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-04-08

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 1134903650

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Behavioral archaeology offers a way of examining the past by highlighting human engagement with the material culture of the time. 'Behavioral Archaeology: Principles and Practice' offers a broad overview of the methods and theories used in this approach to archaeology. Opening with an overview of the history and key concepts, the book goes on to systematically cover both principles and practice: the philosophy of science and the scientific method; artifacts and human behavior; archaeological inference; formation processes of the archaeological record; technological change; behavioral change; and ritual and religion. Detailed case studies show the relevance of behavioral method and theory to the wider field of archaeological studies. The book will be invaluable to students of archaeology and anthropology.


Microarchaeology

Microarchaeology

Author: Stephen Weiner

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2010-02-15

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 1139487310

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The archaeological record is a combination of what is seen by eye, as well as the microscopic record revealed with the help of instrumentation. The information embedded in the microscopic record can significantly add to our understanding of past human behaviour, provided this information has not been altered by the passage of time. Microarchaeology seeks to understand the microscopic record in terms of the type of information embedded in this record, the materials in which this information resides, and the conditions under which a reliable signal can be extracted. This book highlights the concepts needed to extract information from the microscopic record. Intended for all archaeologists and archaeological scientists, it will be of particular interest to students who have some background in the natural sciences as well as archaeology.


Method and Theory in Paleoethnobotany

Method and Theory in Paleoethnobotany

Author: John M. Marston

Publisher: University Press of Colorado

Published: 2015-02-15

Total Pages: 573

ISBN-13: 1607323168

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Paleoethnobotany, the study of archaeological plant remains, is poised at the intersection of the study of the past and concerns of the present, including agricultural decision making, biodiversity, and global environmental change, and has much to offer to archaeology, anthropology, and the interdisciplinary study of human relationships with the natural world. Method and Theory in Paleoethnobotany demonstrates those connections and highlights the increasing relevance of the study of past human-plant interactions for understanding the present and future. A diverse and highly regarded group of scholars reference a broad array of literature from around the world as they cover their areas of expertise in the practice and theory of paleoethnobotany—starch grain analysis, stable isotope analysis, ancient DNA, digital data management, and ecological and postprocessual theory. The only comprehensive edited volume focusing on method and theory to appear in the last twenty-five years, Method and Theory in Paleoethnobotany addresses the new areas of inquiry that have become central to contemporary archaeological debates, as well as the current state of theoretical, methodological, and empirical work in paleoethnobotany.


The Quality of the Archaeological Record

The Quality of the Archaeological Record

Author: Charles Perreault

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2019-09-16

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 022663101X

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Paleobiology struggled for decades to influence our understanding of evolution and the history of life because it was stymied by a focus on microevolution and an incredibly patchy fossil record. But in the 1970s, the field took a radical turn, as paleobiologists began to investigate processes that could only be recognized in the fossil record across larger scales of time and space. That turn led to a new wave of macroevolutionary investigations, novel insights into the evolution of species, and a growing prominence for the field among the biological sciences. In The Quality of the Archaeological Record, Charles Perreault shows that archaeology not only faces a parallel problem, but may also find a model in the rise of paleobiology for a shift in the science and theory of the field. To get there, he proposes a more macroscale approach to making sense of the archaeological record, an approach that reveals patterns and processes not visible within the span of a human lifetime, but rather across an observation window thousands of years long and thousands of kilometers wide. Just as with the fossil record, the archaeological record has the scope necessary to detect macroscale cultural phenomena because it can provide samples that are large enough to cancel out the noise generated by micro-scale events. By recalibrating their research to the quality of the archaeological record and developing a true macroarchaeology program, Perreault argues, archaeologists can finally unleash the full contributive value of their discipline.