[...]... the process before any attempt could be made to decipher the inscriptions Whether he was deliberately sabotaged (an English interpretation) or was unlucky in the choice of scrolls submitted for the experiment will never be known However, the incident serves as a great object lesson for teaching scientists proper humility in approaching archaeological problems 3 4 GEOLOGICAL METHODS FOR ARCHAEOLOGY Archaeologists... proposed for any detailed archaeological work should be geomorphic-surficial geology It can be carried out in three distinct phases:2 1 Geomorphic mapping affords meaningful descriptions of the landforms, drainage patterns, surficial deposits, tectonic features, and any active geomorphological processes 17 18 GEOLOGICAL METHODS FOR ARCHAEOLOGY 2 The erosional processes that carved the landforms—including... principally the result of the decomposition of organic matter The prin- 12 GEOLOGICAL METHODS FOR ARCHAEOLOGY Figure 1.2 Top: Iron Age house (redrawn from Harding, 1970); right: Magnetic survey results, Oxfordshire, Great Britain, of Bronze Age circular ditch-and-barrow features and Saxon sunken houses cipal sources of this material are human and animal excreta, refuse, and decayed human and animal bodies... ENVIRONMENT This page intentionally left blank 2 Geomorphology in Archaeology G eomorphology is the study of the evolution of landforms Analysis of surficial deposits provides much of the evidence for changes in landforms over time These deposits may be residual materials, formed in place by weathering of underlying formations, or may have been formed elsewhere and then transported by wind, water, or humans... 1863, after a visit to Abbeville, he published Geological Evidence of the Antiquity of Man, in which he used a geological context to document the known remains and artifacts of early humans This book united geology and ar- 6 GEOLOGICAL METHODS FOR ARCHAEOLOGY chaeology as kindred disciplines and established the important role that geology could play in archaeology Starting in the early 19th century,... from access to the Black Sea.9 Shorelines have always been prime real estate property for both play and settlement However, the littoral is a dynamic environment, with changes in landforms brought about by erosion and deposition by the sea itself or more radical changes caused by storms and 8 GEOLOGICAL METHODS FOR ARCHAEOLOGY Figure 1.1 Radiocarbon dating of sediment accumulation from the Danube River... radioactive decay Radiation damage is produced in crystalline or other materials by (a) the emission of radioactive particles from disintegrating atomic nuclei and (b) the flight of heavier nuclei from fissioning atoms The flight of these particles, especially of the heavy nuclei, will produce measurable damage in the material By measuring the extent of the radiation damage in an 10 GEOLOGICAL METHODS FOR ARCHAEOLOGY. .. and environment dependent Unfortunately, precise knowledge of the temperature history and other environmental conditions that prevailed during burial are required for a reliable age determination Greater precision can be obtained only if the dates determined for some artifacts can be calibrated against other methods, such as radiocarbon Then a calibration curve can be set up for use on artifacts and remains... Archaeometry, 1958 Expedition, 1958 Geoarchaeology, 1986 Journal of Archaeological Science, 1973 Journal of Field Archaeology, 1973 MASCA Journal (Museum Applied Science Center for Archaeology, University of Pennsylvania), 1978 Quaternary Research, 1963 Revue d'Archeometrie, annual, GMPA (Groupe des Methodes Physiques et Chimiques de l'Archeometrie), 1976 SAS Bulletin (Society for Archaeological Sciences),... control Figure 1.2 (continued) 14 GEOLOGICAL METHODS FOR ARCHAEOLOGY To determine the provenance of artifacts, each potential source area must be "fingerprinted" and a database built up of sources The distinctive fingerprints can be based on petrographic, magnetic, geochemical, or any other distinguishing physical characteristics of the material Artifacts can then be analyzed for the same properties and . w0 h0" alt="" GEOLOGICAL METHODS FOR ARCHAEOLOGY This page intentionally left blank GEOLOGICAL METHODS FOR ARCHAEOLOGY Norman Herz Ervan G. Garrison New York Oxford • Oxford University . accept the fact that any ap- plications of geology to archaeology can be a useful enterprise. GEOLOGICAL METHODS FOR ARCHAEOLOGY This page intentionally left blank 1 The Scope . united geology and ar- 6 GEOLOGICAL METHODS FOR ARCHAEOLOGY chaeology as kindred disciplines and established the important role that geology could play in archaeology. Starting in