Discovering Our Past: A Brief Introduction to Archaeology

This brief, inexpensive introduction to the techniques, methods, and theoretical frameworks of contemporary archaeology follows the same organizing principle as the text Archaeology: Discovering Our Past but features less detail. Archaeological methods and theory are covered comprehensively--at a reasonable level of detail--in under 300 pages. Illustrative examples and case studies present a temporal and geographic balance of both Old and New World sites. Abundant student aids include maps of archaeological areas, extensive illustrations, chapter introductions and summaries, a guide to further reading at the end of each chapter, a glossary, a bibliography, and an index.

List of contents

Chapter 1. Introduction

Archaeologists and Archaeology

Archaeology as a Science

Archaeology and History

Archaeology and Anthropology

Archaeology as a Profession

Summary

For Further Reading

Virtual Explorations

Chapter 2. Archaeology's Past

The Origins of Archaeology

The Emergence of Modern Archaeology

Summary

For Further Reading

Virtual Explorations

Chapter 3. Contemporary Approaches to Archaeology

Culture History

Culture Process

Emmergent Approaches

Summary

For Further Reading

Virtual Explorations

Chapter 4. How Archaeology Works

Archaeological Data

Artifacts . Features . Ecofacts . Sites . Regions

Deposition and Transformation

Research Design

Data Sampling . Research Stages

Archaeological Research Projects

Summary

For Further Reading

Virtual Explorations

Chapter 5. Fieldwork

Archaeological Survey

Discovering Archaeological Sites . Methods of Discovery . Locating Archaeological Sites . Site Survey

Excavation

Stratigraphy .Excavation Methods . Provenience Control . Recording Archaeological Data

Data Processing

Classification

Summary

For Further Reading

Virtual Explorations

Chapter 6. Analyzing the Past

Artifacts

Lithic Artifacts . Ceramic Artifacts . Metal Artifacts . Organic Artifacts

Ecofacts

Floral Ecofacts . Faunal Ecofacts . Human Remains .

Features

Constructed Features . Cumulative Features

Summary

For Further Reading

Virtual Explorations

Chapter 7. Dating the Past

Seriation

Stylistic Seriation . Frequency Seriation

Sequence Comparison

Stratigraphy

Geochronology

Obsidian Hydration

Floral and Faunal Methods

Dendrochronology . Bone Chemistry

Radiometric Methods

Radiocarbon . Potassium-Argon . Argon-Argon . Uranium Series . Fission-Track

Archaeomagnetism

Limited and Experimental Methods

Summary

For Further Reading

Virtual Explorations

Chapter 8. Reconstructing the Past

Analogy

Abuse of Analogy . Specific and General Analogy . Sources of Analogs

Identifying Activities in Space

Technology . Social Systems . Ideological Systems

Summary

For Further Reading

Virtual Explorations

Chapter 9. Understanding the Past

Cultural History Interpretation

Processual Interpretation

Postprocessual and Emergent Interpretations

Understanding the Past from Multiple Approaches

Agriculture and Cultural History . Agriculture and Cultural Process . Agriculture and Postprocessualism . Combining Approaches

Summary

For Further Reading

Virtual Explorations

Chapter 10. Archaeology Today

Looting and Antiquities Collecting

Destruction in the Name of Progress

Cultural Resource Management

Effects of Nationalism, Colonialism, and War

Working with Descendant Communities

The Responsibilities of Archaeology

Summary

For Further Reading

Virtual Explorations

Glossary

Bibliography

Index

About the author

Wendy Ashmore is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Riverside. Her research centers on settlement patterns, household archaeology, gender, and ancient space and place in southeastern Mesoamerica. Publications include Settlement Archaeology at Quiriguï¿, Guatemala (University of Pennsylvania Museum, 2007), and edited volumes on Lowland Maya Settlement Patterns (New Mexico, 1981), Household and Community in the Mesoamerican Past (with R. R. Wilk, New Mexico, 1988), Archaeologies of Landscape: Contemporary Approaches (with A. B. Knapp, Blackwell, 1999), and Integrating the Diversity of 21st-Century Anthropology: The Life and Intellectual Legacies of Susan Kent (with M.-A. Dobres, S. M. Nelson, and A. Rosen, American Anthropological Association, 2006), together with numerous articles and book chapters on these and related topics.

Product details

• Authors: Wendy Ashmore, Ashmore Wendy, Robert J. Sharer
• Publisher: McGraw Hill LLC
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.08.2005
• EAN: 9780072978827
• ISBN: 978-0-07-297882-7
• No. of pages: 296
• Dimensions: 159 mm x 231 mm x 11 mm
• Weight: 445 g
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > History > Pre and early history