Environmental Archaeology : Principles and Methods

by Evans, John G.; O'Connor, Terry

• ISBN13: 9780750917797
• ISBN10: 0750917792
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-10-01
• Publisher: Sutton Pub Ltd

Summary

This book presents a comprehensive and concise survey of the scientific techniques which are used in archaeology to analyze ancient human environments and to give a fascinating insight into the context of the distant past.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	vii
List of Tables	x
Preface	xi
Acknowledgements	xiii
Introduction	1	(16)
Chronology of developments in archaeology and envrionmental studies	2	(9)
PART I: LIFE
Human Environments
Lithosphere	11	(1)
Atmosphere	12	(1)
Topography	13	(1)
Biosphere	13	(2)
People	15	(2)
Ecology and Environment	17	(28)
The Biosphere	17	(1)
Species	17	(1)
Species' ranges	17	(1)
Within-range variation	18	(3)
Across-species variation	21	(1)
Mobility and aggregation	21	(2)
Niches	23	(1)
Abundance	23	(3)
Multiple-species communities	26	(2)
Classification of the biosphere	28	(1)
Soil Processes	29	(1)
Soil formation	29	(3)
Soil processes and soil horizons	32	(1)
Soil profiles and soil types	32	(1)
Environmental groupings	33	(2)
Other groupings	35	(1)
Complications	36	(1)
Summary of groupings	37	(1)
Sedimentation	37	(1)
General properties	37	(1)
Characteristics of sedimentation	38	(1)
Classification of sedimentation processes	39	(2)
The onset, continuation and cessation of sedimentation	41	(1)
Sediment classification and terminology	41	(1)
Sediment units	41	(2)
Spatial distribution and sequences	43	(1)
A word of warning	44	(1)
r- and K-strategists	20	(4)
Temporo-spatial variations in seabirds and waterfowl	24	(3)
What do we mean by `niche'?	27	(3)
Soil horizons and soil types	30	(15)
Ecosystems	45	(15)
Definition and Characteristics of Ecosystems	45	(1)
Space	46	(1)
Time	46	(1)
Gradients	47	(4)
Succession	51	(2)
Humans	53	(1)
A Classification of Ecosystems	54	(1)
Changing Fundamentals	54	(6)
Ecosystem changes in the Holocene	55	(5)
PART II: FROM DEATH TO BURIAL
A Crannog and its Environment	60	(7)
Different Categories of Materials	60	(1)
Different Scales of Space	60	(2)
The site	62	(2)
The locality	64	(1)
The region	64	(1)
The wider environment	64	(1)
Relevance of the Spatial Integrity of the Data	65	(1)
The Special Nature of the Site	65	(1)
The Site Catchment	66	(1)
Death Assemblage Formation	67	(11)
Death of Organisms	67	(1)
Attritional death	68	(1)
Death-traps or locationally biased death	68	(1)
The effects of predators and scavengers	69	(1)
Catastrophic death	69	(1)
Hominid- and human-originated death	69	(3)
Modelling Death Assemblages	72	(1)
Community Death	72	(4)
Ecosystem Abandonment	76	(1)
Ecosystem Death	76	(2)
Burial
Modelling pollen assemblages	70	(4)
Modelling bone death assemblages	74	(4)
Deposition and Post-Deposition	78	(16)
The Nature of the Archaeology	78	(3)
Physico-Chemical Conditions	81	(1)
Environmental Landblocks	82	(1)
Movement and Change	82	(1)
Lateral movement	82	(4)
Minimal or no lateral movement	86	(3)
Post-Deposition Transformation of Land and Archeology	89	(2)
Zones of Destruction and Preservation	91	(1)
Representativeness of Preservation	92	(2)
Physico-chemical conditions of preservation	80	(14)
PART III: PROCEDURES AND METHODS
Research Designs and Sampling Strategies	94	(12)
The Global View	94	(1)
Spatial Areas of Research	94	(1)
How not to define areas of research	95	(1)
Defining areas of research	96	(5)
Intra-Areal Sampling	101	(1)
The physical environment	101	(1)
Questions	102	(1)
Why?	103	(1)
Small-Scale Strategies	103	(1)
Methods	104	(2)
South Nesting, Shetland: scales of sampling	98	(8)
Methods of Examining Archaeological Distributions	106	(12)
Recording Systems	106	(1)
Modern Maps	106	(3)
Aerial Photography	109	(1)
Historical Documents and Toponymy	109	(1)
Maps	110	(1)
Documents	110	(1)
Toponymy	111	(1)
Ground-Level Survey	112	(1)
Above-ground survey	112	(2)
Fieldwalking	114	(1)
Phosphate and Magnetic Susceptibility Measurement	115	(1)
Geophysics	115	(1)
Biogeography	116	(1)
Conclusions	117	(1)
Analysis and Use of Soils and Sediments	118	(14)
Mapping	118	(2)
Field Description	120	(1)
Bulk Laboratory Analysis	121	(1)
Micromorphology	122	(5)
Soils and Sediments in Archaeology	127	(1)
Taphonomy	127	(1)
Soils and past land-use	128	(1)
Soil and sediment histories	129	(3)
Distinctions between soils and sediments	119	(7)
The prediction of site distributions	126	(6)
Biological Indicators	132	(16)
General Issues	132	(2)
Plant Microfossils	134	(1)
Pollen	134	(1)
Phytoliths	135	(1)
Diatoms	136	(1)
Cereal bran	136	(1)
Plant Macrofossils	137	(2)
Wood	139	(1)
Invertebrates	140	(1)
Beetles	140	(1)
Molluscs	141	(3)
Other invertebrates	144	(1)
Vertebrates	145	(3)
Stellmoor, Germany: integrating freshwater molluscs and ostracods	142	(6)
Contexts	148	(23)
Molecules, Isotopes and Increments	148	(1)
Archaeological Features and Sites	149	(1)
Buried soils	149	(2)
Ditches, pits and wells	151	(1)
Occupation layers	151	(1)
Tells	152	(1)
Hillforts	153	(1)
Big Areas	154	(1)
Uplands	154	(6)
River valleys	160	(5)
Coasts and estuaries	165	(6)
PART IV: INTERPRETATION
Data Analysis	171	(10)
Grouping Data Internally	172	(1)
Nearest neighbour analysis	172	(1)
Spatial associations	172	(1)
Diversity and equitability	172	(3)
Methods of assemblage comparison	175	(2)
Methods which use Individual Species' Ecology	177	(1)
Ecological groupings	177	(1)
Phytosociology	178	(1)
Mutual climatic range method (MCRM)	179	(2)
Possibilistic Studies	181	(15)
Human-Life Studies	182	(3)
Ethnoarchaeology	185	(1)
Experiment	185	(3)
Ethnoarchaeology, Experiment and Taphonomy	188	(1)
Site Exploitation Territorial Analysis	189	(5)
Thiessen Polygons	194	(1)
Mathematical Modelling and Computer Simulation	194	(2)
Howmore, South Uist: ethnoarchaeology case study 1	186	(1)
The Dassenetch: ethnoarchaeology case study 2	187	(3)
SETA in the Upper Palaeolithic of northern Spain	190	(2)
A GIS case study	192	(4)
Case Studies	196	(19)
Northern England: The Roman Impact	196	(5)
The Earlier Neolithic of the English Chalk	201	(1)
Procedural stages of molluscan interpretation	202	(3)
The environmental sequence	205	(2)
What else should we be doing?	207	(1)
The absence of Neolithic erosion	208	(1)
Later erosion	209	(1)
Conclusions	209	(1)
Soils and Human Land-Use	209	(1)
Terrace agriculture in semi-arid mountainous localities	209	(1)
Soil/human relationships on a Mediterranean karst island	210	(1)
The macro-regional view	211	(4)
The Human Niche: A Basic Unit of Study for Archaeology	215	(4)
References	219	(18)
Index	237