Archaeological Typology and Practical Reality PDF Download

Author: William Y. Adams
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521048672
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A study of the various ways in which field archaeologists set about making and using classifications to meet a variety of practical needs. The authors discuss how humans form concepts. They then describe and analyse in detail a specific example of an archaeological classification, and go on to consider the theoretical generalizations that can be derived from the study of actual in-use classifications.

Author: William Y. Adams
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521048675
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Classifications are central to archaeology. Yet the theoretical literature on the subject, both in archaeology and the philosophy of science, bears very little relationship to what actually occurs in practice. This problem has long interested William Adams, a field archaeologist, and Ernest Adams, a philosopher of science, who describe their book as an ethnography of archaeological classification. It is a study of the various ways in which field archaeologists set about making and using classifications to meet a variety of practical needs. The authors first discuss how humans form concepts. They then describe and analyse in detail a specific example of an archaeological classification, and go on to consider what theoretical generalizations can be derived from the study of actual in-use classifications. Throughout the book, they stress the importance of having a clearly defined purpose and practical procedures when developing and applying classifications.

Author: Dwight W Read
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1315433486
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description
Archaeologists have been developing artifact typologies to understand cultural categories for as long as the discipline has existed. Dwight Read examines these attempts to systematize the cultural domains in premodern societies through a historical study of pottery typologies. He then offers a methodology for producing classifications that are both salient to the cultural groups that produced them and relevant for establishing cultural categories and timelines for the archaeologist attempting to understand the relationship between material culture and ideational culture of ancient societies. This volume is valuable to upper level students and professional archaeologists across the discipline.

Author: Edward B. Banning
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030479927
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 410

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Book Description
This second edition of the classic textbook, The Archaeologist’s Laboratory, is a substantially revised work that offers updated information on the archaeological work that follows fieldwork, such as the processing and analysis of artifacts and other evidence. An overarching theme of this edition is the quality and validity of archaeological arguments and the data we use to support them. The book introduces many of the laboratory activities that archaeologists carry out and the ways we can present research results, including graphs and artifact illustrations. Part I introduces general topics concerning measurement error, data quality, research design, typology, probability and databases. It also includes data presentation, basic artifact conservation, and laboratory safety. Part II offers brief surveys of the analysis of lithics and ground stone, pottery, metal artifacts, bone and shell artifacts, animal and plant remains, and sediments, as well as dating by stratigraphy, seriation and chronometric methods. It concludes with a chapter on archaeological illustration and publication. A new feature of the book is illustration of concepts through case studies from around the world and from the Palaeolithic to historical archaeology.The text is appropriate for senior undergraduate students and will also serve as a useful reference for graduate students and professional archaeologists.

Author: Donald L. Hardesty
Publisher: EOLSS Publications
ISBN: 1848260024
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 518

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Book Description
Archaeology is a component of Encyclopedia of Social Sciences and Humanities in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. Archaeology is a road for traveling into the past that is independent of and complementary to documents and memory. The archaeological record provides historical perspectives on variability and change in human life support systems with the potential for use in planning for future sustainable development. The Theme is organized into four different topics which represent the main scientific areas of the theme: - Foundations of Archaeology; - The Archaeology of Life Support Systems; - World Cultural Heritage; - Preserving Archaeological Sites and Monuments which are then expanded into multiple subtopics, each as a chapter. The first topic deals with historical, methodological, and theoretical foundations of archaeology. The second topic explores the archaeological record of human life support systems and includes chapters on foraging, food production such as farming and nomadic lifestyles, civilizations, water-management systems, and sustainability. World cultural heritage is the third topic. Finally, the fourth topic covers the preservation of cultural memorials such as archaeological sites, landscapes, and monuments. These two volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College Students Educators, Professional Practitioners, Research Personnel and Policy Analysts, Managers, and Decision Makers, NGOs and GOs.

Author: E.B. Banning
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 0306476541
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
This text reviews the theory, concepts, and basic methods involved in archaeological analysis with the aim of familiarizing both students and professionals with its underlying principles. Topics covered include the nature and presentation of data; database and research design; sampling and quantification; analyzing lithics, pottery, faunal, and botanical remains; interpreting dates; and archaeological illustration. A glossary of key terms completes the book.

Author: Alice M. W. Hunt
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199681538
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 777

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Book Description
This volume draws together topics and methodologies essential for the socio-cultural, mineralogical, and geochemical analysis of archaeological ceramic, one of the most complex and ubiquitous archaeomaterials in the archaeological record. It provides an invaluable resource for archaeologists, anthropologists, and archaeological materials scientists.

Author: Benjamin W. Roberts
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1441969705
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 394

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Book Description
Defining "culture" is an important step in undertaking archaeological research. Any thorough study of a particular culture first has to determine what that culture contains-- what particular time period, geographic region, and group of people make up that culture. The study of archaeology has many accepted definitions of particular cultures, but recently these accepted definitions have come into question. As archaeologists struggle to define cultures, they also seek to define the components of culture. This volume brings together 21 international case studies to explore the meaning of "culture" for regions around the globe and periods from the Paleolithic to the Bronze Age and beyond. Taking lessons and overarching themes from these studies, the contributors draw important conclusions about cultural transmission, technology development, and cultural development. The result is a comprehensive model for approaching the study of culture, broken down into regions (Russia, Continental Europe, North America, Britain, and Africa), materials (Lithics, Ceramics, Metals) and time periods. This work will be valuable to all archaeologists and cultural anthropologists, particularly those studying material culture.

Author: Anna S Agbe-Davies
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315416670
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 311

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Book Description
Tobacco, Pipes, and Race in Colonial Virginia investigates the economic and social power that surrounded the production and use of tobacco pipes in colonial Virginia and the difficulty of correlating objects with cultural identities. A common artifact in colonial period sites, previous publications on this subject have focused on the decorations on the pipes or which ethnic group produced and used the pipes, “European,” “African,” or “Indian.” This book weaves together new interpretations, analytical techniques, classification schemes, historical background, and archaeological methods and theory. Special attention is paid to the subfield of African diaspora research to display the complexities of understanding this class of material culture. This fascinating study is accessible to the undergraduate reader, as well as to graduate students and scholars.

Author: Terry L. Hunt
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313000875
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
Although many believe that archaeological knowledge consists simply of empirical findings, this notion is false; data are generated with the guidance of theory, or some sense-making system acting in its place whether researchers recognize this or not. Failure to understand the relationship between theory and the empirical world has led to the many debates and frustrations of contemporary archaeology. Despite years of trying, the atheoretical, empiricist foundations of archaeology have left us little but a history of storytelling and unsatisfying generalizations about historical change and human diversity. The present work offers promising directions for building theoretically defensible results by providing well-designed case studies that can be used as guides or exemplars. Evolutionary theory, in at least some form, is the foundation for a scientific archaeology that will yield scientific explanations for historical change.