The Archaeology Coursebook: an Introduction to Study Skills
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1111 2 The Archaeology 3 4 5 Coursebook 6 7 8 9 10 1 2111 3 4111 The Archaeology Coursebook is an unrivalled guide to students studying 5 archaeology for the first time. Comprehensive and user-friendly, it will interest 6 pre-university students and teachers as well as undergraduates and enthusiasts. 7 Written by experienced archaeologists and teachers it makes sense of the major 8 themes and issues in archaeology and also gives students the necessary skills to 9 prepare for their examinations in the subject. Chapters include: 20 1 • Presenting the past • Religion and ritual • Settlement • Material culture and 2 economics • Social archaeology • Project work • Examinations • Where next? 3 4 Specially designed to assist learning, The Archaeology Coursebook: 5 6 I introduces the most commonly examined archaeological methods, concepts and 7 themes, and provides the skills necessary to understand these step by step 8 I explains how to interpret the material students may meet in examinations and 9 how to succeed with different types of assignments and exam questions 30 1 I supports study with case studies, key sites, key terms, tasks and skills 2 development 3 I illustrates concepts and commentary with over 200 photographs and drawings 4 of excavation sites, methodology and processes, and tools and equipment 5 6 I links from its own site to other key websites in archaeology. 7 8 Jim Grant is a Principal Examiner in A level Archaeology and Head of 9 Humanities at Cirencester College. Sam Gorin is a Principal Examiner in A level 40 Archaeology and Head of the School of General Studies at Newark and Sherwood 1 College. Neil Fleming is a Chief Examiner in A level Archaeology and upper-sixth 2 House Master at Christ’s Hospital, Horsham. 3111 TheThe ArchaeologyArchaeology CoursebookCoursebook an introduction to study skills, topics and methods Jim Grant, Sam Gorin and Neil Fleming TL E D U G O E R • • T a p y u lo ro r G & Francis London and New York First published 2002 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2001. © 2002 Jim Grant, Sam Gorin and Neil Fleming All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Grant, Jim, 1958– The archaeology coursebook : an introduction to study skills, topics, and methods / Jim Grant, Sam Gorin, Neil Fleming. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index. 1. Archaeology—Study and teaching (Higher)2. Archaeology— Methodology.3. Archaeology—Examinations—Study Guides. I. Gorin, Sam, 1946-II. Fleming, Neil, 1955–III. Title. CC83 .G7 2001 930.1′0711—dc21 2001019758 ISBN 0–415–23638–X (hbk) ISBN 0–415–23639–8 (pbk) ISBN 0-203-19379-2 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-19382-2 (Glassbook Format) 1111 2 3 4 Brief Contents 5 6 7 8 9 101111 1 2 3111 Part I Understanding archaeological resources 1 4 1 Archaeological reconnaissance 3 5 6 2 Excavation 25 7 3 Post-excavation analysis 58 8 9 4 Understanding dating in archaeology 80 201111 5Archaeological interpretation 93 1 2 6 Managing the past 105 3 7 Presenting the past 120 4 5 6 Part II Studying themes in archaeology 135 7 8 Religion and ritual 137 8 9 9 The archaeology of settlement 165 30 10 Material culture and economics 196 1 2 11 Social archaeology 236 3 4 Part III Examination success and beyond 259 5 6 12 Doing an archaeological project 261 7 13 Preparing for your archaeology examination 283 8 9 14 Where to next? Studying archaeology in the UK 296 40 15Finding the best information 301 1 2 3111 1111 2 3 4 Contents 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3111 List of figures xix 4 Index of skills xxii 5 Acknowledgements xxiii 6 Illustration acknowledgements xxiv 7 8 INTRODUCTION xxv 9 201111 Key skill: what you have to learn to be successful xxvii 1 How to use this text xxvii 2 3 4 PART I UNDERSTANDING ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCES 1 5 6 1 ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE 3 7 Key skill: successful note-taking 4 8 9 Desktop study 6 30 Historical documents 6 1 Maps 8 2 Key task: sourcing information 9 3 4 Surface surveys 10 5 Recording standing buildings 10 6 Fieldwalking 10 7 Key study: Shapwick 15 8 Geochemical prospection 15 9 40 Geophysical surveys 15 1 Resistivity survey 16 2 Magnetometer surveying 16 3111 Key task: test your understanding of geophysics 18 viii I CONTENTS Other methods 18 Key skill: comparing methods 19 Aerial photography 19 Verticals and obliques 19 Shadow sites 20 Cropmarks 21 Soil marks 23 Remote sensing 23 Key skill: short questions test 24 2 EXCAVATION 25 Why excavate? 25 Types of excavation 26 Research excavations 26 Key site: Avebury 27 Key site: Castell Henllys 28 Rescue excavations 29 Key site: Empingham, Rutland, Part 1 30 Key site: The Channel Tunnel rail link 31 Salvage excavations 31 Key task: identifying the nature of an excavation 31 Key site: Empingham, Rutland, Part 2 32 Excavation strategies and the process of excavation 33 How to dig? 35 Key task: simulating quadrant excavation 38 Key task: testing the law of superposition 38 The process of excavation 38 Recovery of environmental material 41 What records do archaeologists create? 43 Context sheets 45 Plans 45 Section drawings 47 Photographs 47 Special cases 49 Recording standing buildings 49 Archaeology of standing buildings 49 CONTENTS I ix 1111 Wetland archaeology 51 2 Underwater archaeology 52 3 Urban archaeology 53 4 Key task: comparative study of survey and excavation methods 54 5 Key skill: tackling structured, source-based questions 55 6 7 After excavation 56 8 Key task: test your understanding of methods 56 9 10 3 POST-EXCAVATION ANALYSIS 58 1 Archaeometry 59 2 3 Is archaeology a science? 60 4 Visual examination 61 5 6 Scientific analysis of artefacts 62 7 Characterisation studies 62 8 Petrology 62 9 Spectrometry 63 201111 X-ray fluorescence 63 1 Neutron activation analysis 63 2 Chemical analysis 63 3 4 Analysis of particular inorganic materials 64 5 Ceramic analysis 64 6 Lithic analysis 65 7 Metallurgical analysis 66 8 Key skill: noting methods of analysis 67 9 30 Analysis of organic remains 67 1 Soil 67 2 Faunal remains 68 3 Human remains 69 4 Organic artefacts 73 5 Key site: Spitalfields Market 73 6 Plants 74 7 Plant macrofossils 74 8 Plant microfossils 76 9 Key study: the decline of the Maya 77 40 1 Invertebrates 77 2 After analysis 79 3111 Key skill: reinforcing class learning of methods 79 x I CONTENTS 4 UNDERSTANDING DATING IN ARCHAEOLOGY 80 Historical dating 80 Relative dating 81 Typology 81 Seriation 82 Geoarchaeological dating 84 Obsidian hydration 84 Chemical dating of bones 85 Absolute or chronometric dating 85 Dendrochronology 85 Radiocarbon dating 86 Thermoluminescence 87 Potassium–argon dating 88 Other absolute dating techniques 90 Key task: test your grasp of dating methods 92 5 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION 93 Transformation processes 95 Formation processes 95 Key task: understanding formation processes 95 Post-depositional factors 96 Key task: group activity on transformation processes 99 Recovery factors 99 Analysing spatial patterns 100 Making sense of the data 100 Historical accounts or documents of past societies 100 Key study: Iron Age Britain 101 Ethnography or anthropology 101 Actualistic studies 102 Why do archaeologists offer different interpretations of the past? 104 Key skill: applying your understanding to your course 104 6 MANAGING THE PAST 105 Threats to archaeological remains 105 Global threats to archaeology 106 Key study: the Monuments at Risk Survey of England (MARS), 1995107 CONTENTS I xi 1111 The protection of archaeological remains 109 2 Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 109 3 Other protective legislation for sites 110 4 Key task: group exercises assessing local monuments 110 5 International protection 110 6 7 Protection of artefacts 111 8 Protection through the planning process: PPG 16 111 9 The effects of PPG 16 113 10 The language of PPG 16 113 1 Other forms of protection 114 2 3 Who are the archaeologists? 114 4 Learned and excavation societies 115 5 Rescue archaeology 115 6 Archaeology today 116 7 Metal detecting 116 8 Key skill: starting to construct arguments 118 9 Archaeological employment 119 201111 1 2 7 PRESENTING THE PAST 120 3 Which past? 120 4 The political use of archaeology 120 5 Key study: Nazi archaeology 121 6 Archaeology and land rights 121 7 8 Archaeology and identity 121 9 Key studies: archaeology and Native Americans 122 30 Key skill: taking notes from contradictory sources 123 1 Key study: Seahenge 124 2 Key task: Seahenge role play 125 3 Communicating archaeological knowledge 125 4 5 Key studies: different modes of communication 126 6 Archaeological communication and new technology 127 7 Key skill: assessing modes of communication using the 4 As 128 8 Applying communication issues on your course 130 9 Key study: the ‘reconstructed’ Anglo-Saxon village of West Stow 131 40 Key task: outlining a presentation of a site or landscape 133 1 2 3111 xii I CONTENTS PART II STUDYING THEMES IN ARCHAEOLOGY 135 8 RELIGION AND RITUAL 137 What is religion? 138 What is the