Skip to main content

Books in Archaeology

    • Encyclopedia of Archaeology

      • 2nd Edition
      • November 10, 2023
      • Efthymia Nikita + 1 more
      • English
      • Hardback
        9 7 8 0 3 2 3 9 0 7 9 9 6
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 3 2 3 9 1 8 5 6 5
      Encyclopedia of Archaeology, Second Edition, Four Volume Set covers the standing of archaeology as a scientific discipline, how archaeology is practiced, both in the field and in the lab, provides an archaeological geographical overview encompassing all continents and time periods, and covers the role of archaeology in the modern world. This clearly structured thematic manner ensures a well-balanced presentation of the discipline across the world by the people who perform and experience archaeology as native scholars. Led by a brand new international editorial team, this book contains 299 articles.From using home kits to analyze our DNA and find our ancestors’ origin, to walking among ancient monuments embedded in modern cityscapes, visiting museums and archaeological sites, watching adventure movies, or playing video games about mummies coming to life, archaeology touches on many aspects of our everyday life.
    • Ortner's Identification of Pathological Conditions in Human Skeletal Remains

      • 3rd Edition
      • January 29, 2019
      • Jane E. Buikstra
      • English
      • Hardback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 0 9 7 3 8 0
      • Hardback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 3 9 7 3 1 1 5
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 0 9 9 0 1 8
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 1 2 3 9 7 3 3 2 0
      Ortner's Identification of Pathological Conditions in Human Skeletal Remains, Third Edition, provides an integrated and comprehensive treatment of the pathological conditions that affect the human skeleton. As ancient skeletal remains can reveal a treasure trove of information to the modern orthopedist, pathologist, forensic anthropologist, and radiologist, this book presents a timely resource. Beautifully illustrated with over 1,100 photographs and drawings, it provides an essential text and material on bone pathology, thus helping improve the diagnostic ability of those interested in human dry bone pathology.
    • Made in Africa

      • 1st Edition
      • May 7, 2018
      • Steve Webb
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 4 7 9 8 6
      • eBook
        9 7 8 0 1 2 8 1 4 7 9 9 3
      Made in Africa: Hominin Explorations and the Australian Skeletal Evidence describes and documents the largest collection of modern human remains in the world from its time period. These Australian fossils, which represent modern humans at the end of their great 20,000 km journey from Africa, may be reburied in the next two years at the request of the Aboriginal community. Part one of the book provides an overview of modern humans, their ancestors, and their journeys, explores the construct of human evolution over the last two and half million years, and defines the background to the first hominins and later modern humans to leave Africa, cross the world and meet other archaic peoples who had also travelled and undergone similar evolutionary pathways. Part two focuses on Australia and the evidence for its earliest people. The Willandra Lakes fossils represent the earliest arrivals and are the largest and most diverse late Pleistocene collection from this part of the world. Although twenty to twenty-five thousand years younger than the oldest archaeological site in Australia, they exemplify the migrating end-point of the human story that reflect a diversity and culture not recorded elsewhere in the world. Part three records the Willandra Lake Collection itself from a photographic and descriptive perspective. Evolutionary biologists and geneticists will find this book to be a valuable documentation of the 20,000 km hominid migration from Africa to the most distant parts of the world, and of the challenges and findings of the Willandra Lake Collection.
    • Quantifying Archaeology

      • 1st Edition
      • May 19, 2014
      • Stephen Shennan
      • English
      • eBook
        9 7 8 1 4 8 3 2 9 5 9 4 7
      This book introduces archaeologists to the most important quantitative methods, from the initial description of archaeological data to techniques of multivariate analysis. These are presented in the context of familiar problems in archaeological practice, an approach designed to illustrate their relevance and to overcome the fear of mathematics from which archaeologists often suffer.
    • Practices of Archaeological Stratigraphy

      • 1st Edition
      • June 28, 2014
      • Edward C. Harris
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 1 4 9 3 3 0 8 3 8 5
      • eBook
        9 7 8 1 4 8 3 2 9 5 8 2 4
      Practices of Archaeological Stratigraphy brings together a number of examples which illustrate the development and use of the Harris Matrix in describing and interpreting archaeological sites. This matrix, the theory of which is described in two editions of the previous book by Harris, Principles of Archaeological Stratigaphy, made possible for the first time a simple diagramatic representation of the strategraphic sequence of a site, no matter how complex. The Harris Matrix, by showing in one diagram all three linear dimensions, plus time, represents a quantum leap over the older methods which relied on sample sections only.In this book 17 essays present a sample of new work demonstrating the strengths and uses of the Harris Matrix, the first ever published collection of papers devoted solely to stratigraphy in archaeology. The crucial relationships between the Harris methods, open-area excavation techniques, the interpretation of interfaces, and the use of single-context plans and recording sheets, is clarified by reference to specific sites. These sites range from medieval Europe, through Mayan civilizations to Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. This book will be of great value to all those involved in excavating and recording archaeological sites and should help to ensure that the maximum amount of stratigraphic information can be gathered from future investigations.
    • Principles of Archaeological Stratigraphy

      • 2nd Edition
      • June 28, 2014
      • Edward C. Harris
      • English
      • eBook
        9 7 8 1 4 8 3 2 9 5 8 5 5
      This book is the only text devoted entirely to archaeological stratigraphy, a subject of fundamental importance to most studies in archaeology. The first edition appeared in 1979 as a result of the invention, by the author, of the Harris Matrix--a method for analyzing and presenting the stratigraphic sequences of archaeological sites. The method is now widely used in archaeology all over the world.The opening chapters of this edition discuss the historical development of the ideas of archaeological stratigraphy. The central chapters examine the laws and basic concepts of the subject, and the last few chapters look at methods of recording stratification, constructing stratigraphic sequences, and the analysis of stratification and artifacts.The final chapter, which is followed by a glossary of stratigraphic terms, gives an outline of a modern system for recording stratification on archaeological sites. This book is written in a simple style suitable for the student or amateur. The radical ideas set out should also give the professional archaeologist food for thought.
    • Prehistory of the Nile Valley

      • 1st Edition
      • May 10, 2014
      • Fred Wendorf + 1 more
      • Stuart Struever
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 1 4 8 3 2 4 8 3 3 2
      • eBook
        9 7 8 1 4 8 3 2 7 4 8 3 6
      Studies in Archeology: Prehistory of the Nile Valley provides information pertinent to the prehistoric settlements along the Nile Valley. This book presents brief descriptions and the characteristics of the primary archeological taxonomic entities defined in the post-Nubia work. Organized into two parts encompassing 13 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the physiography of the Nile Valley and the Nile River, which gives fertility to the desert and attracts people to live beside its banks. This text then describes the geology of the El-Kilh area that lies on the west bank of the Nile about 15 km north of Idfu. Other chapters consider the series of lake aggradations and recessions during the Holocene in the Fayum Depression. This book discusses as well the development of the landscape at Dishna. The final chapter deals with the abundant geological and archeological data in Nubia. This book is a valuable resource for anthropologists.
    • Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory

      • 1st Edition
      • Volume 7
      • June 28, 2014
      • English
      • eBook
        9 7 8 1 4 8 3 2 9 4 3 0 8
      Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, Volume 7 is a collection of papers that deals with the study of gender, discovering new sites, and using remote sensing. Some papers describe the prestate societies in the Americas, intrasite archaeological records organization, and geomagnetic dating methods. One paper explains that an explicit framework for the archaeological study of gender should be formulated alongside the existing explicit theory of human social action. Organization of gender behaviors is connected to task differentiation, material culture, cultural solidarity, integration, extradomestic trade. Another paper notes that the extent of social differentiation seems to depend less on the number of people in a society than on its organizational divisions. It emphasizes that the total population and maximal community-size can also determine the number of administrative levels. One paper discusses the approaches and techniques in dealing with the problems of discovering unseen sites, name, their visibility and obtrusiveness. The individual archaeologists can apply remote sensing applications to pursue a cultural resource management or in a certain explanatory archaeological situation. Another paper explains how to obtain accuracy in dating objects and cultural events using geomagnetic methods. The collection is suitable for professional or amateur archaeologists, sociologists, anthropologist, and scientist involved in the analysis of artifacts.
    • Exchange Systems in Prehistory

      • 1st Edition
      • June 28, 2014
      • T. Earle + 1 more
      • English
      • eBook
        9 7 8 1 4 8 3 2 9 4 9 6 4
      Exchange Systems in Prehistory provides an accurate description of prehistoric exchange and a more thorough investigation of the significance of exchange in prehistory. This book discusses the four aspects of archaeological research on prehistoric exchange, including systemic modeling, chemical characterization, descriptive modeling and application of ethnographic and ethnohistorical research. Organized into five parts encompassing 14 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the basic procedures in chemical characterization of any raw material. This text then describes the many steps required in the sampling and resolution of turquoise sources and artifacts from Mesoamerica and the American Southwest. Other chapters consider the measures of transportation cost for raw materials, including estimates of work along probable transport routes, social distances, and intermediary populations. This book discusses as well how anomalies may be used to identify central places or general hierarchical structure in settlement. This book is a valuable resource for archeologists and sociologists.
    • Cannon's Point Plantation, 1794 - 1860

      • 1st Edition
      • June 28, 2014
      • John Solomon Otto
      • English
      • Paperback
        9 7 8 1 4 9 3 3 0 8 3 1 6
      • eBook
        9 7 8 1 4 8 3 2 9 7 7 3 6
      Cannon's Point Plantation, 1794 – 1860: Living Conditions and Status Patterns in the Old South presents the results of historical archaeological investigations at Cannon's Point, an antebellum sea-island cotton plantation off the Georgia coast. This book compares investigations of archaeological remains at sites once occupied by slaves, overseers, and planters—people who differed in racial, social, and economic status. This text not only examines the material living conditions of the Old South, but also observes a substantial example of status patterning in the archaeological record. This publication is valuable to archaeologists and historians concerned with the treatment and daily lives of slaves in the Old South.