Archaeology: The Basics

Front Cover
Psychology Press, 2004 - 239 pages

From archaeological jargon to interpretation, Archaeology: The Basics provides an invaluable overview of a fascinating subject and probes the depths of this increasingly popular discipline, presenting critical approaches to the understanding of our past.

Lively and engaging, Archaeology: The Basics fires the archaeological imagination whilst tackling such questions as:

  • What are the basic concepts of archaeology?
  • How and what do we know about people and objects from the past?
  • What makes a good explanation in archaeology?
  • Why dig here?

This ultimate guide for all new and would-be archaeologists, whether they are students or interested amateurs, will prove an invaluable introduction to this wonderfully infectious discipline.

 

Contents

What is archaeology?
1
Three political contexts
2
How has archaeology changed?
6
Two basic concepts
7
a case study
11
The archaeological cafeteria is that really archaeology?
15
How many archaeologies are there?
21
Culture history
22
Interpreting artefacts
102
Dualisms
105
Style
107
The biography of objects
115
Summary
120
Time and space
123
Contexts and entities
124
Time
132

Anthropological archaeology
24
Summary
42
Basic concepts
45
Starting out with a research design
46
The representative sample
48
Survey and excavation
50
Recovery
51
Archaeological entities
52
Two principles
59
The archaeological record
67
Summary
71
People
73
Who do we want to know?
74
What can we know?
83
How do we know?
92
Summary
97
Objects
99
Material culture
100
Mental templates
101
Space
139
Pattern recognition
141
Analytical approaches to space
144
Summary
152
Change and stasis
155
Questions about change
156
Mechanisms and models
178
What makes a good explanation in archaeology
181
Summary
188
Identity and power
189
Two identities
190
What we mean by power
191
The identity within
196
The identity from
208
archaeology the future
217
References
219
Index
235
Copyright

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