Download Free Artifact Classification Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online Artifact Classification and write the review.

Archaeologists have been developing artifact typologies to understand cultural categories for as long as the discipline has existed. Dwight Read examines these attempts to systematize the cultural domains in premodern societies through a historical study of pottery typologies. He then offers a methodology for producing classifications that are both salient to the cultural groups that produced them and relevant for establishing cultural categories and timelines for the archaeologist attempting to understand the relationship between material culture and ideational culture of ancient societies. This volume is valuable to upper level students and professional archaeologists across the discipline.
Archaeologists have been developing artifact typologies to understand cultural categories for as long as the discipline has existed. Dwight Read examines these attempts to systematize the cultural domains in premodern societies through a historical study of pottery typologies. He then offers a methodology for producing classifications that are both salient to the cultural groups that produced them and relevant for establishing cultural categories and timelines for the archaeologist attempting to understand the relationship between material culture and ideational culture of ancient societies. This volume is valuable to upper level students and professional archaeologists across the discipline.
A study of the various ways in which field archaeologists set about making and using classifications to meet a variety of practical needs. The authors discuss how humans form concepts. They then describe and analyse in detail a specific example of an archaeological classification, and go on to consider the theoretical generalizations that can be derived from the study of actual in-use classifications.
Americanist Culture History reprints thirty-nine classic works of Americanist archaeological literature published between 1907 and 1971. The articles, in which the key concepts and analytical techniques of culture history were first defined and discussed, are reprinted, with original pagination and references, to enhance the use of this collection as a research and teaching resource. The editors also include an introduction that summarizes the rise and fall of the culture history paradigm, making this volume an excellent introduction to the field's primary literature.
It is difficult for today's students of archaeology to imagine an era when chronometric dating methods were unavailable. However, even a casual perusal of the large body of literature that arose during the first half of the twentieth century reveals a battery of clever methods used to determine the relative ages of archaeological phenomena, often with considerable precision. Stratigraphic excavation is perhaps the best known of the various relative-dating methods used by prehistorians. Although there are several techniques of using artifacts from superposed strata to measure time, these are rarely if ever differentiated. Rather, common practice is to categorize them under the heading `stratigraphic excavation'. This text distinguishes among the several techniques and argues that stratigraphic excavation tends to result in discontinuous measures of time - a point little appreciated by modern archaeologists. Although not as well known as stratigraphic excavation, two other methods of relative dating have figured important in Americanist archaeology: seriation and the use of index fossils. The latter (like stratigraphic excavation) measures time discontinuously, while the former - in various guises - measures time continuously. Perhaps no other method used in archaeology is as misunderstood as seriation, and the authors provide detailed descriptions and examples of each of its three different techniques. Each method and technique of relative dating is placed in historical perspective, with particular focus on developments in North America, an approach that allows a more complete understanding of the methods described, both in terms of analytical technique and disciplinary history. This text will appeal to all archaeologists, from graduate students to seasoned professionals, who want to learn more about the backbone of archaeological dating.
Containing close to 3,000 words and definitions, Dictionary ofArtifacts is an indispensable reference for anyone workingwithin the field of archaeology. Entries detail artifact’s classification and typology;raw materials; methods and techniques of creation; principles andtechniques of examination and identification; and instructions forthe care and preservation of specimens. Along with a headword and definition, pronunciations, synonyms,cross-references, and the category/categories also accompany eachentry Drawings, photographs, and extensive annnotated bibliographyare included for more complete comprehension
The 7th IEEE/ACIS Conference and the 2nd IEEE/ACIS Workshop on e-Activity (IWEA 2008) featured researchers from around the world. The conference organizers selected 23 outstanding papers for this volume of Springer’s Studies in Computational Intelligence.
Combining historical research with a lucid explication of archaeological methodology and reasoning, Measuring Time with Artifacts examines the origins and changing use of fundamental chronometric techniques and procedures and analyzes the different ways American archaeologists have studied changes in artifacts, sites, and peoples over time. In highlighting the underpinning ontology and epistemology of artifact-based chronometers?cultural transmission and how to measure it archaeologically?this volume covers issues such as why archaeologists used the cultural evolutionism of L. H. Morgan, E. B. Tylor, L. A. White, and others instead of biological evolutionism; why artifact classification played a critical role in the adoption of stratigraphic excavation; how the direct historical approach accomplished three analytical tasks at once; why cultural traits were important analytical units; why paleontological and archaeological methods sometimes mirror one another; how artifact classification influences chronometric method; and how graphs illustrate change in artifacts over time. An understanding of the history of artifact-based chronometers enables us to understand how we know what we think we know about the past, ensures against modern misapplication of the methods, and sheds light on the reasoning behind archaeologists' actions during the first half of the twentieth century.
This second edition of the classic textbook, The Archaeologist’s Laboratory, is a substantially revised work that offers updated information on the archaeological work that follows fieldwork, such as the processing and analysis of artifacts and other evidence. An overarching theme of this edition is the quality and validity of archaeological arguments and the data we use to support them. The book introduces many of the laboratory activities that archaeologists carry out and the ways we can present research results, including graphs and artifact illustrations. Part I introduces general topics concerning measurement error, data quality, research design, typology, probability and databases. It also includes data presentation, basic artifact conservation, and laboratory safety. Part II offers brief surveys of the analysis of lithics and ground stone, pottery, metal artifacts, bone and shell artifacts, animal and plant remains, and sediments, as well as dating by stratigraphy, seriation and chronometric methods. It concludes with a chapter on archaeological illustration and publication. A new feature of the book is illustration of concepts through case studies from around the world and from the Palaeolithic to historical archaeology.The text is appropriate for senior undergraduate students and will also serve as a useful reference for graduate students and professional archaeologists.
An investigation into the functional and symbolic uses of shells during the pre-conquest era in the Occidente region of Mexico. The author first provides a classification list of known examples, then proceeds to interpret those examples, giving information on provenance, find context, date and function. He concludes that the presence of shell artefacts in the region is the result of a deliberate selection of that material - since the species represented were of relatively little food value - for functional/symbolic purposes.