Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory
Volume 9
- 1st Edition - June 30, 2014
- Editor: Michael B Schiffer
- Language: English
- eBook ISBN:9 7 8 - 1 - 4 8 3 2 - 1 4 8 4 - 9
Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, Volume 9 is a collection of papers that describes protohuman culture, pastoralism, artifact classification, and the use of materials… Read more
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Request a sales quoteAdvances in Archaeological Method and Theory, Volume 9 is a collection of papers that describes protohuman culture, pastoralism, artifact classification, and the use of materials science techniques to study the construction of pottery. Some papers discuss contingency tables, geophysical methods of archaeological site surveying, and predictive models for archaeological resource location. One paper reviews the methodological and theoretical advances in the archaeological studies of human origins, particularly covering the Plio-Pleistocene period. Another paper explains the historic and prehistoric development of pastoralism through archaeological investigation. One paper traces the three phases of artifact classification, each being a representation of a different attitude and approach. Another paper evaluates pottery artifacts using a number of basic materials-science concepts and analytic approaches, toward the study of their mechanical strength; and also reviews their use in archaeological studies of pottery production and organization. To investigate archaeological intrasites, the archaeologist can use different specialized methods such as seismic, electromagnetic, resistivity, magnetometry, and radar. Another paper describes various empiric correlative models for locational prediction developed in both contexts of cultural resource management and academic research. Sociologists, anthropologist, ethnographers, museum curators, professional or amateur archaeologists will find the collection immensely valuable.
Contributors
1 The First Million Years: The Archaeology of Protohuman Culture
Introduction
Chronology
Terminology and Classification
The Evolutionary Record
The Earliest Archaeological Sites
Studies of Early Technology
Site-Formation Processes: Comparative Models
The Formation of Early Archaeological Sites: Untangling the Web?
Studies of Spatial Configurations
Environmental Reconstruction and Land-Use Patterns
Diet
Social Behavior
Cognition and Intelligence
Conclusion
References
2 Beyond Bones: Toward an Archaeology of Pastoralism
Introduction and Definitions
Old World Domestication
Uses and Limitations of Faunal Analysis
Pastoral Sites and Survey
Excavations of Pastoral Sites
Experimental Archaeology in Pastoral Studies
Ethnoarchaeological Approaches to Pastoralism
Conclusions and Recommendations
References
3 Methodological Issues in Americanist Artifact Classification
Introduction
Kinds of Units
A Brief History of American Artifact Classification
Conclusions
References
4 The Use of Materials Science Techniques in the Study of Pottery Construction and Use
Introduction
Ceramic and Clay Studies from the Potter's Perspective: Clay Plasticity and Workability
Sampling in Studies of Archaeological Clays
Ceramic and Clay Studies from the Consumer's Perspective: Durability
Materials Testing: Statistical and Instrumentation Problems
Linking the Laboratory and the Field
An Archaeological Caveat
Conclusions
References
5 The Analysis of Contingency Tables in Archaeology
Introduction
Table Design
Exploratory Pattern Searching
Confirmatory Analyses of Tables
Discrete Data Analysis: Notes on Computing and Future Prospects
References
6 Geophysical Methods of Archaeological Site Surveying
Introduction
A Guide to the Literature
Overview of Geophysical Methods
Seismic Methods
Electromagnetic Methods
Electrical Resistivity Surveying
Magnetic Surveying
Radar Surveying
Summary and Conclusions
References
7 Predictive Models for Archaeological Resource Location
Introduction
Empiric Correlative Models of Location
Deductive Models of Location
Concluding Remarks
Postscript
References
Index
Contents of Previous Volumes
- No. of pages: 478
- Language: English
- Edition: 1
- Published: June 30, 2014
- Imprint: Academic Press
- eBook ISBN: 9781483214849
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