Digging up the past : an introduction to archaeological excavation / John Collis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Collis, John, 1944 May 19-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Archaeology--Fieldwork.

Archaeology.

Excavations (Archaeology).

Physical Description:

vi, 183 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Stroud : Sutton, 2001.

Summary:

This concise and well-illustrated introduction to methods of excavation describes a technique that is essential in archaeology. It is aimed at professional and amateur archaeologists, at students at all levels and at anyone who wants to know how archaeological evidence is discovered. It fills the current gap in archaeological literature, as it explains what a dig actually involves, and has been designed to give people the confidence to go out and get involved themselves. It also demonstrates just how important excavations are and what they can reveal about the world at large.

John Collis presents new ideas on excavation techniques and challenges traditional approaches to site organisation and recording. He uses his forty years of excavation experience to recommend practical solutions to procedural and interpretive problems, and also considers the impact of computerisation and other technical innovations. The history and development of archaeological excavation are also discussed, as they provide a background to the methods employed today.

He looks in detail at the selection and preparation of archaeological sites, and at the removal, storage and analysis of finds in their context. The best approaches to the excavation of wooden and stone buildings are described, and one chapter is devoted to the treatment of burials and skeletal remains. Diagrams illustrate the techniques involved and the book includes a fascinating selection of photographs showing excavations in progress in Britain and continental Europe.

This practical, common-sense guide should find a place on the bookshelf of everyone who practises archaeology on a professional or amateur basis, and it will be illuminating reading for anyone who wants to understand how archaeologists can recover the past by digging in the soil.

Contents:

1 Paradigms 1

2 Site Preparation 21

3 On Site 46

4 Finding Things 57

5 Contexts 64

6 Making the Record 78

7 Finds Processing 98

8 Stone Buildings 103

9 Wooden Buildings 114

10 Pits, Ditches and Banks 131

11 Burials 149

12 Sampling 158.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0750927372

OCLC:

46511260