In the Beginning

Brian Fagan is one of the world’s leading archaeological writers and an internationally recognized authority on human prehistory. He studied archaeology and anthropology at Pembroke College, Cambridge University, and then spent seven years in sub-Saharan Africa working in museums and in monuments conservation and excavating early farming sites in Zambia and East Africa. He was one of the pioneers of multidisciplinary African history in the 1960s. From 1967 to 2003, he was professor of anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he specialized in lecturing and writing about archaeology to wide audiences. He is now Emeritus Professor of Anthropology. Brian Fagan has written several best-selling textbooks and has published several scholarly monographs on African archaeology and numerous specialized articles in national and international journals. An expert on multimedia teaching, he has received the Society for American Archaeology’s first Public Education Award for his tireless efforts on behalf of archaeology and education Brian Fagan’s other interests include bicycling, sailing, kayaking, and good food. He is married and lives in Santa Barbara with his wife and daughter, three cats (who supervise his writing), and last but not least, a minimum of seven rabbits.   Nadia Durrani is an archaeologist and writer. For much of the past decade she was the editor of Britain’s best-selling archaeology magazine, Current World Archaeology, becoming an independent editor after the arrival of her son in 2010. She has authored and edited many hundreds of articles on archaeology from every corner of the globe, contributed to dozens of books, and written two. Throughout her career she has travelled widely --from Peru to Pakistan--to report on the latest archaeological discoveries; worked as a specialist lecturer on archaeological tours to countries including Yemen and Jordan; and contributed to a range of television documentaries. Her specialist area is Arabian archaeology and, following a degree in archaeology and anthropology from Cambridge University, she took a PhD in South West Arabian archaeology from University College, London (2001). Other research interests include the archaeology of the First World War and she is a founding member of the Great War Archaeology Group. A fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, she lives in London with her husband, Matthew, and son Jacob ‘Caractacus’ Hillier.  

In this section:

1. Brief Table of Content

2. Full Table of Contents

BRIEF TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

PART I: Background to Archaeology

Chapter 1: Introducing Archaeology

Chapter 2: The Beginnings of Scientific Archaeology: Sixth Century B.C. to the 1950s

Chapter 3: The Many-Voiced Past: Archaeological Thought from the 1950s to Now

 

PART II: The Basics  

Chapter 4: Matrix and Preservation  

Chapter 5: Doing Archaeological Research  

Chapter 6: Culture, Data, and Context

Chapter 7: How Old Is It?  

 

PART III: Recovering the Data

Chapter 8: They Sought It Here, They Sought It There: Finding the Past

Chapter 9: How to Excavate

 

PART IV: Analyzing the Past: Artifacts and Technology  

Chapter 10: Classifying Artifacts

Chapter 11: Technologies of the Ancients

 

PART V: Studying Environments and People  

Chapter 12: Ancient Environments

Chapter 13: What Did We Eat?

Chapter 14: The Living Past

Chapter 15: Landscape and Settlement

Chapter 16: Interactions: People of the Past

Chapter 17: Archaeology and the Intangible  

 

PART VI: Managing the Past  

Chapter 18: Cultural Resource Management and Public Archaeology

Chapter 19: Archaeology and Contemporary Society

 

PART VII: Careers and Resources

Chapter 20: So You Want to Become an Archaeologist?

 

 





FULL TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

PART I: Background to Archaeology

Chapter 1: Introducing Archaeology

The First Archaeologist

What is Archaeology Today?

Who are the Archaeologists?

Why Study Archaeology?

Who Owns the Past?

Is Archaeology in Crisis?

What are the Goals of Archaeology?

 

Chapter 2: The Beginnings of Scientific Archaeology: Sixth Century B.C. to the 1950s

Beginnings

Scriptures and Fossils

The Antiquity of Humankind

The Three-Age System

Human Progress

Historical Particularism

Culture History

Old World Archaeology

American Archaeology

The Americas: Chronology and Time Scales

Cultural Ecology

 

Chapter 3: The Many-Voiced Past: Archaeological Thought from the 1950s to Now

Culture History

The “New” Archaeology

Processual Archaeology

Postprocessual Archaeology

Some Schools of Archaeological Theory

Where is Archaeological Theory Headed?

 

PART II: The Basics  

Chapter 4: Matrix and Preservation  

Archaeological Data

Site-Formation Processes

Discovery: Eruption at Akrotiri, Greece, c. 1688 B.C.

The Matrix: Preservation and Human Activity

Preservation Conditions: Inorganic and Organic Materials

Organic Materials and the Archaeological Record

 

Chapter 5: Doing Archaeological Research  

The Archaeologist’s Skills

Archaeology and Science

The Process of Archaeological Research   

 

Chapter 6: Culture, Data, and Context

The Concept of Culture

The Nature of Culture

Models of Culture

The Archaeological Record

Matrix and Provenance

Archaeological Context

Artifacts, Subassemblages, and Assemblages

Archaeological Sites

Cultures, Areas, Regions, and Settlement Patterns

 

Chapter 7: How Old Is It?  

Cyclical and Linear Time

Relative Chronology

Absolute Chronology

 

PART III: Recovering the Data

Chapter 8: They Sought It Here, They Sought It There: Finding the Past

 Finding Archaeological Sites

Approaches to Archaeological Survey

Remote Sensing

Recording Archaeological Sites

Subsurface Detection

 

Chapter 9: How to Excavate

Directors, Teams, and Staffs

Permits

Planning an Excavation

Tools of the Trade

The Process of Archaeological Excavation

Special Excavation Issues

 

PART IV: Analyzing the Past: Artifacts and Technology  

Chapter 10: Classifying Artifacts

Classification

Processes of Archaeological Classification

Assemblages and Patterns

What Do Assemblages and Patterns Mean?

 

Chapter 11: Technologies of the Ancients

Stone

Clay (Ceramics)

Metals and Metallurgy

Bone

Wood

Basketry and Textiles

 

PART V: Studying Environments and People  

Chapter 12: Ancient Environments

Long-Term and Short-Term Climatic Change

Geoarchaeology

Long-Term Climatic Change: The Great Ice Age

Holocene Environmental Reconstruction

Reconstructing Humanly-Caused Environmental Change

 

Chapter 13: What Did We Eat?

Studying Subsistence

 nimal Bones (Zooarchaeology)

Plant Remains

Birds, Fish, and Mollusks

 Subsistence Data from Rock Art

 Ancient Diet   

 

Chapter 14: The Living Past

Early Comparisons

Analogy

Middle-Range Theory

Ethnoarchaeology

Experimental Archaeology

 

Chapter 15: Landscape and Settlement

Settlement Archaeology and Settlement Patterns

Households

Communities

Studying Large Communities

Studying Distributions of Communities

Case Studies of Settlement Distribution

The Archaeology of Landscape

 

Chapter 16: Interactions: People of the Past

An Individual: Ötzi the Ice Man

Bioarchaeology: What Human Bones Tell Us

Genetics and DNA

Groups: Ancient Social Organization

Gender: (Beyond) Men and Women

Engendered Research

Ethnicity and Inequality

Exchange and Trade

 

Chapter 17: Archaeology and the Intangible  

A Framework of Common Belief

Cognitive Archaeology

Ethnographic Analogy and Rock Art

The Archaeology of Death

Artifacts: The Importance of Context

Artifacts and Art Styles

Sacred Places

Astroarchaeology and Stonehenge

Southwestern Astronomy and Chaco Canyon

 

PART VI: Managing the Past  

Chapter 18: Cultural Resource Management and Public Archaeology

Legislating the Past

What Is Protected?

Phases of Site Management

Management versus Research

Strategies of CRM Research

Management Challenges

Public Involvement and Public Archaeology

Native Americans and CRM

Cultural Resource Management around the World

 

Chapter 19: Archaeology and Contemporary Society

Archaeology and Human Diversity

Archaeology and Human History

Archaeological Tourism

Archaeology and Subsistence Agriculture

Garbology

Archaeology and the Environment

Heritage and Stewardship

 

PART VII: Careers and Resources

Chapter 20: So You Want to Become an Archaeologist?

Archaeology as a Profession

Academic Qualifications: Graduate School

Thoughts on Not Becoming a Professional Archaeologist

Our Responsibilities to the Past