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Practical and Theoretical Geoarchaeology

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ISBN: 978-0-632-06044-3

December 2005

Wiley-Blackwell

468 pages

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Description
Practical and Theoretical Geoarchaeology provides an invaluable overview of geoarchaeology and how it can be used effectively in the study of archaeological sites and contexts. Taking a pragmatic and functional approach, this book presents:

  • a fundamental, broad-based perspective of the essentials of modern geoarchaeology in order to demonstrate the breadth of the approaches and the depth of the problems that it can tackle.
  • the rapid advances made in the area in recent years, but also gives the reader a firm grasp of conventional approaches.
  • covers traditional topics with the emphasis on landscapes, as well as anthropogenic site formation processes and their investigation.
  • provides guidelines for the presentation of field and laboratory methods and the reporting of geoarchaeological results.
  • essential reading for archaeology undergraduate and graduate students, practicing archaeologists and geoscientists who need to understand and apply geoarchaeological methodologies.

Artwork from the book is available to instructors online at: www.blackwellpublishing.com/goldberg

“This is one of the best textbooks that I have read in years. I enjoyed reviewing it, and found it well-written and thorough in its coverage of the traditional earth science aspects of geoarchaeology. The non-traditional aspects were intriguing and equally thorough... I predict that this book will become the textbook of choice for geoarchaeology classes for several years.”


Geomorphology 101 (2008) 740–743

About the Author
Paul Goldberg is a geologist and Professor in the Department of Archaeology, Boston University. He has carried out geoarchaeological research ranging from Quaternary landscapes and associated archaeological sites in the Near East, California, and Texas, to cave sediments in China, South Africa, Europe, and the USA.


Richard I. Macphail is a Senior Research Fellow atUniversity College London, investigating archaeological sediments, soils, and occupation deposits across Europe and the USA. He was a researcher for English Heritage for 20 years, and is currently a Research Fellow at Boston University and was professor invité at Université de Tours.

Features

  • provides an invaluable overview of geoarchaeology and how it can be used effectively in the study of archaeological sites and contexts



  • encompasses new developments in geoarchaeology that are grounded upon conventional approaches



  • covers traditional topics with the emphasis on landscapes, and non-traditional geoarchaeological approaches such as anthropogenic site formation processes and their investigation



  • includes guidelines for the presentation of field and laboratory methods and the reporting of geoarchaeological results.