The Archaeology Coursebook: An Introduction to Themes, Sites, Methods and Skills

477 Pages·2008·34.79 MB·English

by  Jim Grant

The Archaeology
Coursebook
Third Edition
Fully updated and restructured, this third edition of the best-selling title The
Archaeology Coursebook is a comprehensive guide for students studying archaeology
for the first time. Including new methods and case studies, it provides pre-university
students and teachers, as well as undergraduates and enthusiasts, with the skills
and technical concepts necessary to grasp the subject.
This fully revised edition now includes:
■ introductions to the most commonly examined archaeological methods, concepts
and themes, and provides the necessary skills to understand them
■ explanations on how to interpret the material students may meet in examinations
and how to succeed with different types of assignments and exam questions
■ supporting case studies, key sites, key terms, tasks and skills development
■ illustrated concepts, interpretations and commentary with over 400 photographs
and drawings of excavation sites, methodology and processes, tools and equipment
■ an improved companion website with new interactive study skill activities and
links to other key websites in archaeology at a similar level: www.routledge.com/
textbooks/9780415462860
■ new material on ‘Issues in Modern Archaeology’, ‘Sites and People in the
Landscape’ and ‘People and Society in the Past’; new case studies chosen to
illustrate key debates and the development of vocabulary; new methods, examples,
boxes, photographs and diagrams.
Jim Grant is a Chief Examiner in A Level Archaeology and Assistant Principal at
Cirencester College. He has experience in field archaeology. Sam Gorin is Chief
Moderator for A Level Archaeology and was formerly a Curriculum Director at
Newark and Sherwood College. He has been widely involved in field archaeology
in the East Midlands. Neil Flemingis a Chief Examiner in ALevel Archaeology and
Upper-Sixth House Master at Christ’s Hospital, Horsham. He is a highly experienced
teacher of archaeology who also has field archaeology experience.

The Archaeology
The Archaeology
Coursebook
Coursebook
Third Edition
An introduction to themes, sites,
methods and skills
Jim Grant, Sam Gorin and Neil Fleming
First edition published 2001
Second edition published 2005
This third edition first published 2008
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USAand Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 2001, 2005, 2008 Jim Grant, Sam Gorin and Neil Fleming
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Acatalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Grant, Jim, 1958–
The archaeology coursebook: an introduction to themes, sites, methods,
and skils/Jim Grant, Sam Gorin, and Neil Flemming. –3rd ed.
p. cm
1. Archaeology – Study and teaching (Higher) 2. Archaeology – Methodology.
3. Archaeology – Examinations – Study guides. I. Gorin, Sam, 1946–
II. Flemming, Neil, 1955– III. Title
CC83.G7 2008
930.1076 – dc22 2008017818
ISBN 0-203-92748-6 (cid:10)Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 10: 0–415–46286–X
ISBN 13: 978–0415–46286–0
Brief Contents
Part I Understanding archaeological resources 1
1 Archaeological reconnaissance 3
2 Excavation 25
3 Post-excavation analysis 62
4 Understanding dating in archaeology 95
5 Archaeological interpretation 110
Part II Studying themes in archaeology 131
6 Religion and ritual 133
7 The archaeology of settlement 197
8 Material culture and economics 233
9 People and society in the past 291
Part III Issues in world archeology 339
10 Managing the past 341
11 Presenting the past 363
Part IV Examination success and beyond 377
12 Studying for success in archaeology exams 379
13 Doing an archaeological project 400
14 Additional resources 423
Appendix Answers and mark schemes 429
Glossary of terms and abbreviations 430
Bibliography 439
Index 444

Contents
List of figures xvii
Acknowledgements xxiii
Illustration acknowledgements xxiv
INTRODUCTION xxvi
How to use this text xxviii
PART I UNDERSTANDING ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCES 1
1 ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE 3
Desktop study 4
Historical documents 4
Maps 7
Surface surveys 8
Recording standing buildings 9
Fieldwalking 11
Geochemical prospection 14
Geophysical surveys 15
Resistivity survey 15
Magnetometer surveying 16
Caesium vapour (CV) magnetometers 18
Other methods 18
Aerial photography 19
Verticals and obliques 20
Shadow sites 20
Cropmarks 20
Soil marks 23
Remote sensing 24
viii CONTENTS
2 EXCAVATION 25
Why excavate? 25
Key study:Chester Amphitheatre project 27
Types of excavation 29
Research excavations 29
Rescue excavations 30
Excavation strategies and the process of excavation 32
How to dig? 34
Planum excavation 39
Key site:Boxgrove 40
The process of excavation 42
Recovery of environmental material 42
What records do archaeologists create? 44
Context sheets 44
Plans 46
Section drawings 46
Photographs 49
Special cases 49
Archaeology of standing buildings 50
Wetland archaeology 51
Key study:Star Carr revisited 53
Underwater archaeology 55
Urban archaeology 56
Forensic archaeology 59
After excavation 59
3 POST-EXCAVATION ANALYSIS 62
Initial processing and conservation 63
Visual examination and recording 64
Ceramics 65
Analysis of particular inorganic materials 68
Lithics 68
Petrology 69
Metallurgical analysis 69
Analysis of organic remains 72
Soil 72
Faunal remains 72
Human remains 75
Key site:The ‘Amesbury Archer’ 79
Organic artefacts 80
Plants 80
CONTENTS ix
Plant macrofossils 80
Plant microfossils 84
Invertebrates 86
Key study:The decline of the Maya 87
Archaeometry 89
Characterisation studies 89
Spectrometry 89
X-ray fluorescence 90
Neutron activation analysis (NAA) 90
Atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) 91
Isotopic analysis 91
Organic residue analysis 91
Is archaeology a science? 92
Key study:Ötzi the Iceman 93
After analysis 94
4 UNDERSTANDING DATING IN ARCHAEOLOGY 95
Periods in archaeology 95
Historical dating 96
Relative dating 97
Typology 97
Seriation 98
Geoarchaeological dating 99
Obsidian hydration 100
Chemical dating of bones 101
Absolute or chronometric dating 101
Dendrochronology (tree ring dating) 101
Radiocarbon dating 102
A second dating revolution? The application of Bayesian
statistical analysis 105
Thermoluminescence (TL) 107
Potassium–argon dating 107
Other absolute dating techniques 107
5 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION 110
Transformation processes 112
Formation processes 112
How does archaeology get buried? 113
Post-depositional factors 114