Practical And Theoretical Geoarchaeology

• a fundamental, broad-based perspective of the essentials of modern geoarchaeology in order to demonstrate the breadth of the approaches and the depth of the problems that it can tackle.
  
• the rapid advances made in the area in recent years, but also gives the reader a firm grasp of conventional approaches.
  
• covers traditional topics with the emphasis on landscapes, as well as anthropogenic site formation processes and their investigation.
  
• provides guidelines for the presentation of field and laboratory methods and the reporting of geoarchaeological results.
  
• essential reading for archaeology undergraduate and graduate students, practicing archaeologists and geoscientists who need to understand and apply geoarchaeological methodologies.

Artwork from the book is available to instructors online at: www.blackwellpublishing.com/goldberg

“This is one of the best textbooks that I have read in years. I enjoyed reviewing it, and found it well-written and thorough in its coverage of the traditional earth science aspects of geoarchaeology. The non-traditional aspects were intriguing and equally thorough... I predict that this book will become the textbook of choice for geoarchaeology classes for several years.”

Geomorphology 101 (2008) 740–743

Richard I. Macphail is a Senior Research Fellow atUniversity College London, investigating archaeological sediments, soils, and occupation deposits across Europe and the USA. He was a researcher for English Heritage for 20 years, and is currently a Research Fellow at Boston University and was professor invité at Université de Tours.

Acknowledgments.

Introduction.

Part I Traditional Geoarchaeology.

1. Sediments.

2. Stratigraphy.

3. Soils.

4. Hydrological Systems I: Slopes and Slope Deposits.

5. Hydrological Systems II: rivers, Lakes, and Wetland.

6. Aeolian settings and Geoarchaeological Environments.

7. Coasts.

8. Caves and Rockshelters.

Part II Nontraditional Geoarchaeological Approaches.

9. Human Impact on Landscape: Forest Clearance, Soil Modifications, and Cultivation.

10. Occupation Deposits I: Concepts and Aspects of Cultural Deposits.

11. Occupation Deposits II: Examples from the Near East, North America, and Europe.

12. Experimental Archaeology.

13. Human Materials.

14. Applications of Geoarchaeology to Forensic Science.

Part III Field and Laboratory Methods, Data, and Reporting.

15. Field-based Methods.

16. Laboratory Techniques.

17. Reporting and Publishing.

18. Concluding Remarks and the Geoarchaeological Future.

Appendices.

References.

Index