ABSTRACT

Archaeology: The Science of the Human Past provides students with a thorough understanding of what archaeology is and how it operates and familiarizes them with fundamental archaeological concepts and methods.

This volume introduces the basic components of archaeology, including sites, artifacts, ecofacts, remote sensing, and excavation. It discusses how archaeologists obtain and classify information and how they analyze this information to formulate and test models of what happened in the past. Cultural resource management and the laws and regulations that deal with archaeology around the world are described. Archaeology is placed in the context of contemporary issues, from environmental problems to issues affecting Indigenous populations. The sixth edition has been updated and simplified to create a more streamlined volume to meet the needs of the students and teachers for whom it is designed, reflecting the latest developments in archaeological techniques and approaches.

Allowing students to understand the theoretical and scientific aspects of archaeology and how various archaeological perspectives and techniques help us understand how and what we know about the past, Archaeology: The Science of the Human Past is an ideal introduction to archaeology.

part I|80 pages

What is Archaeology?

chapter chapter 1|31 pages

The Science of Archaeology

chapter chapter 2|24 pages

Background of Archaeology

chapter chapter 3|25 pages

The Development of Contemporary Archaeology

part II|139 pages

Obtaining Information About the Past

chapter chapter 4|30 pages

The Archaeological Record

chapter chapter 5|27 pages

Conducting Fieldwork

chapter chapter 6|21 pages

Classification and Analysis of Artifacts

chapter chapter 7|22 pages

Determining Time

chapter chapter 8|39 pages

Bioarchaeology: Human Remains

part III|105 pages

Interpreting the Past

chapter chapter 9|23 pages

Environment and Adaptation

chapter chapter 10|27 pages

Understanding Past Settlement and Subsistence

chapter chapter 11|32 pages

Interpreting Past Cultural Systems

chapter chapter 12|23 pages

Understanding Change

part IV|39 pages

Public Archaeology

chapter chapter 13|24 pages

Cultural Resource Management

chapter chapter 14|15 pages

Archaeology in Today’s World