Archaeology in Practice

Chapter Abstracts xvii Preface and Acknowledgments xxi Notes on Contributors xxv List of Tables xxix List of Figures xxx 1 Collaborating with Stakeholders 1 Larry J. Zimmerman and Kelly M. Branam Introduction 1 What and Who Is an Archaeological Stakeholder? 2 Collaboration Comes in Many Forms 4 Learning to Work with Stakeholders: A Discipline's Journey 7 Differing Ways of Knowing the Past 11 True or valid? 11 How can there be different versions of the same past? 12 General Thoughts about How to Consult with Stakeholders 13 Building trust takes time 14 Use ethnography 15 Specific Issues and Concerns 15 Differential power levels 15 Competing claims 15 Informed consent 17 When pasts conflict 18 What do you do if things go wrong? 18 Owning the Past 19 Where to from Here? 19 Acknowledgments 20 Further Reading 20 References 21 2 Stratigraphy 26 Jane Balme and Alistair Paterson Introduction 26 What Is Stratigraphy? 27 Why Do Archaeologists Study Stratification? 27 How Do Different Layers Occur in Archaeological Sites? 27 Principles (or Laws) of Stratigraphy 29 Sources of disturbance 30 Excavation and Stratigraphy 32 Recording Stratifi cation 33 The Harris Matrix: Interpreting the spatial record 34 Creating Analytical Units 37 Case Study 2.1: Sos Höyük 38 Conclusions 44 Acknowledgments 44 Further Reading 44 Excavation 44 Stratigraphy and formation processes 44 References 44 3 Sediments 47 Anthony Barham and Gary Huckleberry Introduction 47 Why Study Soils and Sediments? 48 Sediments and Soils - Defi ning Concepts and Terms 50 Field Description and Sampling 51 Broad principles which should be applied during sediment sampling and description 53 Laboratory Techniques 54 Granulometry 55 pH (acidity/alkalinity) 60 Color 62 Organic matter 63 Phosphorus 65 Case Study 3.1: Prehistoric Canals in the American Southwest 67 Case Study 3.2: Kennewick Man, Washington State, United States 72 Conclusions 76 Further Reading 77 References 77 4 Absolute Dating 85 Simon Holdaway Introduction 85 Chronometry 86 Radiocarbon 86 Dendrochronology 90 Isotopic methods 91 Radiogenic methods 92 Chemical and biological methods 94 Geomorphic methods 95 Limits on Chronometric Techniques 96 Maximum limits 96 Minimum limits 98 Limits on radiogenic techniques 100 Precision 101 From Age Measurement to Chronology 101 Temporal Resolution and Behavioral Variation 103 Fidelity and resolution 104 Bayesian analysis 105 Time averaging 106 Case Study 4.1: Bone Cave 108 Time perspectivism 110 Conclusion 110 Acknowledgments 111 Further Reading 111 References 111 5 Rock Art 118 Jo McDonald Introduction 118 What Is Rock Art? 118 How is Rock Art Made? 119 Classification 120 How Is Rock Art Recorded? 122 Photography 123 Drawing and sketching 124 Tracing 124 Counting 127 How and Why Is Rock Art Analyzed? 128 Informed Methods 129 Formal (or Structural) Methods 129 Statistical techniques 130 Spatial distribution analysis 130 Information exchange and stylistic heterogeneity 131 Diachronic change 131 Dating Rock Art 132 Relative dating 132 Scientific techniques 135 Gender and Rock Art 135 Case Study 5.1: The Depiction of Species in Macropod Track Engravings 136 Concluding Remarks 142 Resources 142 Key associations and journals 143 Further Reading 143 References 143 6 An Introduction to Stone Artifact Analysis 151 Chris Clarkson and Sue O'Connor Introduction 151 An overview 151 Analyzing Stone Artifacts 167 Research design 167 Classifying an assemblage of stone artifacts 168 Choosing attributes to record and measure 173 Managing data 176 Measuring extent of reduction 177 Dealing with diffi cult assemblages 187 Archaeometry 191 Determining the type and fl aking properties of stone 192 Sourcing stone artifacts 192 Is 3D the future of lithic analysis? 193 Conclusion 194 Acknowledgments 195 Further Reading 195 References 195 7 Ceramics 207 Linda Ellis Introduction 207 What Is a "Ceramic?" 209 How Is Pottery Made? 210 Clay preparation 210 Object formation 211 Prefire decoration 211 Firing 212 Postfire treatment 212 Handling of Ceramics during and after Excavation 213 Careful excavating 213 Cleaning ceramics 214 Marking ceramics 214 Repairing ceramics 215 Initiating an Analytical Program for Ceramics 215 Prefatory issues before undertaking an analytical program 216 Quantitative analysis of ceramics 216 Sampling for laboratory analysis 219 How to begin analysis and select an appropriate analytical method 220 Areas of Ceramics Research and Their Analytical Approaches 221 Technology studies 224 Identifying the people producing and using ceramics 225 Dating of ceramics 226 Sourcing of ceramics 227 Usewear and use-life studies of ceramics 228 Conclusion 229 Resources 229 References 229 8 Residues and Usewear 232 Richard Fullagar Introduction 232 Functional Analysis 233 Methodology, Experiments, and Procedures 234 Microscopes 238 Artifact Cleaning 239 Plant Residues Found on Artifacts 241 Starch 241 Raphides 242 Phytoliths 242 Resin, gums, waxes, and other exudates 243 Animal Residues Found on Artifacts 243 Hair and feathers 243 Blood 243 Bone 245 Shell 245 Usewear 245 Scarring or edge fracturing 246 Striations 246 Polish 249 Edge rounding 249 Beveling 249 Postdepositional damage 250 Hafting traces 250 Residues on Grinding Stones and Potsherds 250 Case Study 8.1: Starch Grains Analysis of Residues on Grinding Stones 251 Case Study 8.2: Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) Analysis of Archaeological Residues (by Elyse Beck and Peter Grave) 252 Discussion and Conclusion 253 Acknowledgments 255 Further Reading 255 References 255 9 Animal Bones 264 Terry O'Connor and James Barrett Introduction 264 Look Before You Dig 265 Sampling and Recovery 269 Bagging and Tagging 277 Working Facilities 279 Making the Record 282 Identification: Whose Bone Is This? 283 What Has Happened to These Bones? 285 Who Was This Animal? 286 Preparing for the Research Phase 291 And Finally 293 References 294 10 Human Remains 300 Charlotte Roberts Introduction: Why Study Human Remains and How It Has Developed 300 Ethics and Human Remains 304 Taphonomy, funerary context, and excavation and their effect on analysis and interpretation 306 Care of human remains during and after excavation 307 Detection 308 Excavation 308 Cleaning the remains once excavated 310 Curation of human remains 311 The starting point: basic analysis and interpretation 312 Sex and age at death 313 Paleodemography 316 Normal and Abnormal Variation 317 Normal variation 317 Abnormal variation 320 Methods 322 Studies of the Health of Populations 323 Specific Studies of Disease 324 Macroscopic 324 Biomolecular 324 Using Multiple Methods to Answer Questions on Past Health 326 Conclusion 328 Resources 328 References 329 11 Plant Remains 336 Wendy Beck and Emilie Dotte-Sarout Introduction: A Scene (by Wendy Beck) 336 Macroscopic Plant Remains 337 What Can Plant Remains Contribute to Archaeology? 338 The relationship between people and plants 338 Plants and technology 339 Plants and regional subsistence 339 Archaeological theories and plants 340 What Are the Problems (and Solutions) for Identifying and Interpreting Macroscopic Plant Remains? 341 Technical problems in analyzing macroplants and their solutions 341 Archaeological sources 341 Ethnobotanical and ethnoarchaeological sources 341 What Kinds of Methods Can Be Effectively Used to Retrieve and Analyze Plant Remains? 342 Basic plant classification 344 Archaeological retrieval and identification of seeds, nuts, and fruits (carpology) 346 Wood and charcoal (anthracology) 346 More problems in the analysis of plant remains 346 Case Study 11.1: Plant Remains from Kawambarai Cave, Near Coonabarabran, Eastern Australia (by Wendy Beck and Dee Murphy) 349 Conclusion 354 Further Reading 355 References 355 12 Shell Middens and Mollusks 361 Sandra Bowdler Introduction 361 Background 363 The Creation of Middens 363 The Identification of Middens 364 Field Procedures 366 Dating Middens 370 Laboratory Procedures 370 Hand Sorting into Components 371 Shellfish Analysis 372 Identification of Shellfish and Other Species 373 Further Analysis 378 Shell Artifacts 379 Fish Remains 379 Interpretation 379 Acknowledgments 380 Resources 380 References 381 13 Artifacts of the Modern World 385 Susan Lawrence Introduction 385 Cataloging Artifacts 387 Domestic Ceramics 388 Clay Tobacco Pipes 392 Bottle Glass 394 Glass tools 398 Beads and Buttons 398 Metal Containers 399 Firearms 400 Building Materials 400 Cemeteries and Gravestones 403 Artifact Analysis 403 Case Study 13.1: Kelly and Lucas' Whaling Station, Adventure Bay, Tasmania 407 Conclusion 409 Resources 409 Further Reading 409 References 410 14 Historical Sources 415 Barbara J. Little Introduction 415 Archaeology and Historical Sources 417 Preparing for research 417 Identifying sources 419 Verify, evaluate, and discriminate 422 Case Study 14.1: Scales of History and Historical Archaeology 423 What Are the Relationships between Documents and Archaeological Evidence? 427 Identification 427 Complement 428 Hypothesis formation and testing 429 Contradiction 429 Confronting myths 429 Creating context 430 Making an archaeological contribution to history 431 Acknowledgments 432 Resources 432 Archives 432 General 432 Oral history 433 Published resources 433 References 433 15 Writing the Past 436 Peter White Introduction 436 First Decisions 436 What do I want to write about? 437 Who is my audience? 437 Structure 438 Aims 438 Background 438 Methods 439 Results 439 Conclusions 439 An abstract summarizes the text 439 References 440 Acknowledgments 440 Writing 440 Language 442 Writing for Publication 444 Audience 444 Start afresh 444 Follow instructions 444 Think about illustrations and tables 444 Reference efficiently 446 Read your proofs carefully 447 Conclusion 447 Acknowledgments 447 Further Reading 447 References 448 Appendix: Getting Things Right 449 SI units 449 Radiocarbon dates 449 Referencing 449 Proofing symbols 450 Index 451