E. Garrison – Techniques in Archaeological Geology (2016)

Автор: E. Garrison
Название книги: Techniques in Archaeological Geology (2016)
Формат: PDF
Жанр: Геология
Страницы: 364
Качество: Изначально компьютерное, E-book

The archaeological geology of the Quaternary or the geological epoch during which humankind evolved is a scientific endeavor with much to offer in the fields of archaeology and palaeoanthropology. Earth science techniques offer diverse ways of characterizing the elements of past landscapes and archaeological facies. This book is a survey of techniques used in archaeological geology for the study of soils, sediments, rocks and minerals. The techniques presented represent those most commonly used today. They are discussed in detail and examples are provided, in many cases, to demonstrate their usefulness to archaeologists.

This book is a survey of techniques used in
archaeological geology or as it is more widely
known, today—geoarchaeology. It is less a discussion
of theory or methodology with regard to
the various geological techniques that are
presented. It is not an exhaustive presentation of
the diversity of earth science methods that can be
utilized in the service of archaeology. Earth science
can be used in many ways in archaeology.
Certainly there are other ways to approach the
multiplicity of archaeological questions that confront
the student of the past, and this book does not
presume to suggest that the techniques presented
herein are the only ones appropriate for addressing
the many facets of archaeological inquiry.
The Penrose Conference, in 1987, sponsored
by the Geological Society of America (GSA),
archaeological geology was a rapidly growing
interdisciplinary field in which archaeologists
and geologists attempt to use the tenets of both
their sciences to solve problems of mutual interest.
This involves the application of the
principles of geomorphology, sedimentation, isotope
geochemistry, and petrology in the solution
of problems of interest to both. As examples, the
following may be cited: the effect of climate on
sites and site selection; the extent to which
archaeological sites may subsequently be
modified by erosion, sedimentation, and tectonic
activity; the application of geophysics in the
search for and dating of sites; the application of
dating techniques especially as related to the
Pleistocene and Holocene; the interrelation of
diet, culture, and environment; and the relation
of artifact raw material to site selection, trade
route development, and ancient technology.
The acceptance of earth science techniques
into archaeological study has been gradual but
has grown to a point that we now have
university-level programs in archaeological science,
geoarchaeology, and/or archaeological
geology. As Norman Herz, in Geological
Methods for Archaeology (1998), stressed, it is
less what one calls the use of earth science
techniques in archaeology than what one realizes
from their application. The practice of modern
archaeology demands an understanding of earth
science. One does not have to look any further
than that of the importance of, first, Sir John
Evans and Joseph Prestwich’s and then Sir
Charles Lyell’s 1859 visits to the gravel beds of
the Somme River. In the Somme gravels,
Boucher de Cre`ve Coeur de Perthes, in 1837,
and, later, Je`roˆme Rigollot had painstakingly
demonstrated the contemporaneity of ancient
stone artifacts and extinct paleontology. Their
visits brought the newly developed insights of
the science of geology to the interpretation of
the Somme deposits by which greater scientific
validity was a result. This interplay of archaeology
and geology has resulted in similar advances
in our understanding of our human past.