Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- PART I Perspectives
- PART II Foundations
- 3 Geo-archaeology I: basic principles
- 4 Geo-archaeology II: landscape context
- 5 Geo-archaeology III: stratigraphic context
- 6 Geo-archaeology IV: site formation
- 7 Geo-archaeology V: site modification and destruction
- 8 Geo-archaeology VI: human impact on the landscape
- 9 Archaeometry: prospecting, provenance, dating
- 10 Archaeobotany: vegetation and plant utilization
- 11 Zoo-archaeology: faunas and animal procurement
- PART III Synthesis
- References
- Index
9 - Archaeometry: prospecting, provenance, dating
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- PART I Perspectives
- PART II Foundations
- 3 Geo-archaeology I: basic principles
- 4 Geo-archaeology II: landscape context
- 5 Geo-archaeology III: stratigraphic context
- 6 Geo-archaeology IV: site formation
- 7 Geo-archaeology V: site modification and destruction
- 8 Geo-archaeology VI: human impact on the landscape
- 9 Archaeometry: prospecting, provenance, dating
- 10 Archaeobotany: vegetation and plant utilization
- 11 Zoo-archaeology: faunas and animal procurement
- PART III Synthesis
- References
- Index
Summary
Scope and purpose of archaeometry
The term archaeometry has been in common use since 1958, when the first volume of the journal Archaeometry was published by the Research Laboratory for Archaeology at Oxford. The contents of this journal were and have remained technical expositions of physical and chemical methods applicable to dating and materials identification in archaeology. Other periodicals publishing substantial contributions to archaeometry include the Journal of Archaeological Science (since 1974) and Revue d' Archéometrie (since 1977) (Beck, 1980). A broader array of relevant techniques and applications has been presented in the Brothwell and Higgs compendium Science in Archaeology (1970, first edition 1963) and by Brill (1971). Despite some overlap with geo-archaeological and bio-archaeological research, the input of physical and chemical methodologies to archaeology continues to be distinctive.' These efforts are here labeled as archaeometry, and three major applications are recognized: (a) subsoil prospecting, (b) materials identification and provenance, and (c) “absolute” or chronometric dating.
The great majority of archaeometric techniques require expensive equipment ranging in price from several thousand dollars to over a million dollars. The work tends to involve time-consuming procedures or highly repetitive manipulations that follow a well-defined routine and can be readily replicated. Many of the techniques can be learned and then applied, with reproducible results, in a comparatively short time.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Archaeology as Human EcologyMethod and Theory for a Contextual Approach, pp. 157 - 170Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1982