Space, Time, and Archaeological Landscapes

The last 20 years have witnessed a proliferation of new approaches in archaeolog ical data recovery, analysis, and theory building that incorporate both new forms of information and new methods for investigating them. The growing importance of survey has meant an expansion of the spatial realm of traditional archaeological data recovery and analysis from its traditional focus on specific locations on the landscape-archaeological sites-to the incorporation of data both on-site and off-site from across extensive regions. Evolving survey methods have led to experiments with nonsite and distributional data recovery as well as the critical evaluation of the definition and role of archaeological sites in data recovery and analysis. In both survey and excavation, the geomorphological analysis of land scapes has become increasingly important in the analysis of archaeological ma terials. Ethnoarchaeology-the use of ethnography to sharpen archaeological understanding of cultural and natural formation processes-has concentrated study on the formation processes underlying the content and structure of archae ological deposits. These actualistic studies consider patterns of deposition at the site level and the material results of human organization at the regional scale. Ethnoarchaeological approaches have also affected research in theoretical ways by expanding investigation into the nature and organization of systems of land use per se, thus providing direction for further study of the material results of those systems.

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This unique work explores and assesses a number of approaches to the archaeological record, particularly the `landscape approach,' in an effort to structure research which will build scientific theory within the context of a processual approach.

Contenu
I. Introduction.- 1 · Concepts, Methods, and Theory Building: A Landscape Approach.- II. Concepts and a Scientific Archaeology.- 2 · The Notion Site.- 3 · Seeing the Present and Interpreting the Pastand Keeping Things Straight.- III. The Spatial Dimension of Archaeological Landscapes.- 4 · Archaeological Landscapes: The Ethnoarchaeology of Pastoral Land Use in the Grevena Province of Northern Greece.- 5 · Recognizing Persistent Places in Anasazi Settlement Systems.- 6 · Artifact Reuse and Recycling in Continuous Surface Distributions and Ímplications for Interpreting Land Use Patterns.- 7 · Landscape Scale: Geoenvironmental Approaches to Prehistoric Settlement Strategies.- IV. The Temporal Dimension of Archaeological Landscapes.- 8 · Chronological Resolution in Distributional Archaeology.- 9 · Archaeological Landscapes, Lithic Scatters, and Human Behavior.- 10 · Remnant Settlement Patterns.- 11 · The Spatial Dimension of Time.- V. Postscript and Prospectus.- 12 · Archaeological Landscape Studies.