Sediments in Archaeological Context

by Julie K Stein, William R. Farrand

Overview

Almost every artifact in archaeological analysis originates in or on the ground. While there are elaborate methods for extracting and analyzing artifacts, treatment of the matrix within which they are located is often unsophisticated and does not include systematic analysis.

Sediments in Archaeological Context concerns the analysis of this matrix and the potential use of sediments to answer archaeological questions. Describing sediments and sampling them in appropriate ways do not replace the study of artifacts, but they can provide additional, useful information regarding a site complex, its physical environment, and the relations of artifacts to each other.

Each chapter in the volume considers sediments within a specific context. Topics include sediments found in a variety of environments: cultural environments, rockshelter and cave environments, dryland alluvial environments, humid alluvial environments, lake environments, shoreline environments, and spring and wetland environments.

Sediments in Archaeological Context is intended for every archaeologist who investigates sites in depositional contexts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780874806915
Publisher:	University of Utah Press
Publication date:	11/27/2001
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

William R. Farrand is director emeritus of the Exhibit Museum of Natural History and professor emeritus of geological sciences at the University of Michigan.
Julie K. Stein is professor of anthropology and dean of computing, facilities, and research at the University of Washington.

 

Table of Contents

	List of Figures	vii
	List of Tables	x
	Introduction	xi
1.	Archaeological Sediments in Cultural Environments	1
2.	Archaeological Sediments in Rockshelters and Caves	29
3.	Archaeological Sediments in Dryland Alluvial Environments	67
4.	Archaeological Sediments in Humid Alluvial Environments	93
5.	Archaeological Sediments in Lake Margin Environments	127
6.	Archaeological Sediments in Coastal Environments	149
7.	Archaeological Sediments in Springs and Wetlands	183
	Contributors	211
	Index	213

Editorial Reviews

"No other book comes close to this in-depth look at the wide array of sedimentary contexts where we find archaeological sites."
—Vance Holliday, University of Wisconsin

"A significant contribution to geoarchaeology."
—Rolfe Mandel, University of Kansas

From the Publisher