ABSTRACT

This chapter presents formation-process traces, and focuses on the presentation and application of analytical strategies. Some formation processes operate in a manner so regular that their effects are simple and uniform. For example, burning of bone in a trash pile leads to charred or calcined bone, depending on temperature and atmospheric conditions, and so burned bone is easily identified. However, when different processes have similar effects i.e. the "equifinality" problem-identification is rendered more difficult. The traces sensitive to formation processes are conveniently organized as follows: simple properties of artifacts, complex properties of artifacts, and other properties of deposits. A hypothetical example of a pueblo site from the American Southwest illustrates how one could identify formation processes in a best-case scenario. By identifying formation processes using the most sensitive lines of evidence, archaeologists can avoid accepting, often implicitly, unsatisfactory equivalence transformations, as did Lightfoot, K. G and G. M. Feinman.