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Paperback
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ISBN-13:
9780195331172

Copyright Year:
2008

Imprint: OUP US

Linking to the Past

A Brief Introduction to Archaeology, Second Edition

Kenneth L. Feder

Linking to the Past: A Brief Introduction to Archaeology, Second Edition, offers an engaging introduction to the methods archaeologists use to reveal the human past. Employing an accessible and conversational writing style, Feder uses his students' field study of a three-thousand-year-old North American village site as the backdrop to illustrate how archaeologists find, recover, study, and interpret the material culture left behind by earlier peoples.

Readership : Undergraduate students at the university level taking courses in Introduction to Archaeology.

Reviews

"Archaeologists are, or ought to be, storytellers, and Ken Feder is an accomplished raconteur. Linking to the Past is great fun to read because of the many engaging stories and anecdotes of the author's own fieldwork, laboratory research, classroom experiences, and other incidents it includes. This book is more likely to actually be read by students."

--Eric Johnson, University of Massachusetts

Prologue: The Past in the Present
Archaeology: The Study of the Human Past
The Context of Antiquity
Shadow of the Past
1. How I Spent My Summer Vacation: Finding, Excavating, and Interpreting the Wood Lily Site in North-Central Connecticut
A Biography of Archaeology
political movement. It describes fe
minism's significant contributions to redressi
ng gender inequality, gives credit for its enorm
ous accomplishments in the last 40 years, docume
nts ongoing political activism, and points to where
feminism is heading in its postmodern and third-wave phases. The Th
ird Edition includes a student-accessible review of thirteen type
s of feminism organized into three ty
pologies, with two excerpts from primary sources for each,
as well as checklists forsources of gender inequality, politics, and contributions t
o social change for each perspective. It co
ntinues the main perspectives of
the first two editi
ons-setting forth the sources and
the politics for gender
inequality, as seen by a variety of fe
minisms: gender reform fem
inisms (liberal, Marxist, socialist, post-colonial)-
who want to purge the gendered social order of pract
ices that discriminate against women; g
ender resistance femi
nisms (radical, lesbian, psychoanalytic,ri
a "Fresche brine"b. Aria "Onde belle"
What Kinds of Research Goals Do Archaeologists Have?
What Is It That Archaeologists Want to Find Out?
Is Garbage Really All That Informative on the Subject of Human Behavior?
4. Doing Archaeology: Practical Considerations
What Determines Where an Archaeologist Investigates in the First Place?
How Is Archaeological Research Funded, and Why?
What Laws Regulate Where Archaeologists Can Dig?
What Are the Ethical Obligations of Archaeologists?
Who Gets to Dig at an Archaeological Dig Site?
Is Archaeology Really a Dangerous Pursuit?
5. A Community's Shadow: The Archaeological Site
What Is an Archaeological Site and How Do You Know When You've Found One?
What Kinds of Stuff Do Archaeologists Find at Sites?
How Are Archaeological Sites Made?
Site Formation
Why Do Archaeologists Need to Dig; Why Are Most Sites Buried?
How Are Archaeological Sites Altered Once Buried?
Linked slide show
6. Searching for the Past: Archaeological Site Survey
How Do Archaeologists Know Where to Look for Sites?
How Can GIS Help Identify Places Where Sites Are Likely to Be Found?
What Are the Mechanics of Looking for and Finding Sites?
What Forms the Basis of an Archaeological Sampling Strategy?
How Can You Find Archaeological Sites Just by Walking Around?
How Deep Do You Have to Dig to Find Archaeological Material?
How Can Archaeologists Probe the Subsurface Without Digging Holes?
Linked slide show
7. Revealing the Past: The Archaeological Excavation
How Is Archaeological Research Like Detective Work?
How Do You Measure and Record the Precise Location of a Site?
How Are Achaeological Sites Named?
How Do Archaeologists Excavate Sites?
Why Are Archaeologists So Painstaking and Slow in Excavation?
What Tools Do Archaeologists Use to Expose and Recover Artifacts?
What Is an Excavation Unit and How Is It Labeled?
How Do Archaeologists Keep Track of Where Stuff is Found at Sites?
Why Do Archaeologists Save All the Tiny Scraps of Stone, Bone, and Other Stuff?
How Can You Determine the Size of an Ancient Habitation?
What Preliminary Work Goes into an Archaeology Laboratory?
Linked slide show
8. Interpreting the Past: Gauging the Age of an Archaeological Site
How Old Does Something Have to Be in Order to Be Considered Archaeological in the First Place?
How Do Archaeologists Know How Old Artifacts and Sites Are?
What Are Relative Dating Techniques?
How Can You Date Sites by Stratigraphic Analysis?
How Can You Determine a Relative Date for a Site by Reference to Artifact Style?
What Are Chronometric or Absolute Dating Methods?
How Does Dendrochronology Work?
o What Are the Most Commonly Used Radiometric Dating Methods Relied on by Archaeologists?
How Can the Shifting Location Of Magnetic North Be Used to Date Sites?
How Can You Determine an Absolute Date for a Site by Reference to Style?
Linked slide show
9. Interpreting the Past: The Environmental Contexts of Antiquity
Why Do Archaeologists Want to Know About Ancient Environments?
Does the Environment Cause Certain Adaptations?
How Do Archaeologists Reconstruct the Environment?
How Can Little Creatures Called Foraminifera Tell Us About Climate Change?
What's Pollen Good For, Besides Making Us Sneeze?
What Is a Pollen Profile?
How Can You Identify Tree Species from Bits of Burned Wood?
Linked slide show
10. Technology: How People Made Things
How Do Archaeologists Figure Out How Ancient People Made Things?
How Did Ancient People Make Stone Tools?
What Are the Characteristics That Make a Rock Type Attractive to Stone Tool Makers?
Why Is Pottery of Such Great Importance to Archaeologists?
How Do You Make A Pot?
How Can You Determine the Source of a Raw Material Used by Ancient People?
How Do Archaeologists Figure Out the Function of an Ancient Tool?
How Do Archaeologists Investigate the Technology of Monumental Construction?
Linked slide show
11. Putting Food on the Table: Reconstructing Ancient Diets
Why Do Archaeologists Want to Know What Foods Were Eaten by Ancient People?
How Do Archaeologists Know What Foods Ancient People Ate?
How Do Archaeologists Identify the Source of Fragmentary Organic Remains Found at Archaeological Sites?
How Can You Tell What Kind of Animal Was Killed or Butchered with an Ancient Stone Tool?
How Can You Tell What Kinds of Plants WereCollected or Processed with an Ancient Stone Tool?
How Can You Determine the Importance of an Animal Species in a People's Diet?
Can Human Waste Be Used to Help Reconstruct Diet?
How Does Skeletal Chemistry Help Us Reconstruct an Ancient Diet?
How Can the Season of a Settlement's Occupation Be Determined?
12. Families, Neighbors, and Strangers: Reconstructing Ancient Social Systems
Can Archaeologists Figure Out the Social Relationships of Past People?
Can Archaeologists Figure Out the Roles of Males and Females in Ancient Societies?
How Does an Archaeologist Approach Issues of Economic, Social, and Political Inequality in an Ancient Society?
How Is Ethnicity Reflected In the Archaeological Record?
Can Archaeologists Reconstruct Ancient Religious Practices?
How Are Rituals Preserved in the Archaeological Record?
How Do Archaeologists Trace the Movement of Ideas?
How Can Archaeologists Reveal Ways of Life of People Whose Reality Was So Different from Our Own?
13. Conversing with the Dead: Bioarchaeology
Why Are Archaeologists Interested in Human Bones?
Why is the Excavation of Human Skeletons a Contentious Issue?
How Can You Determine the Sex of a Person from His or Her Skeleton?
How Can You Determine the Age of a Person from His or Her Skeleton?
How Can You Determine the Health of a Person from His or Her Skeleton
How Can You Determine the Ethnic Identity of a Person from His or Her Skeleton?
How Can You Determine the Geographic Location of Where Someone Was Born and Grew Up?
14. Wool Lily: Archaeological Portrait of a Life
The Environment of Wood Lily
The Wood Lily Larder: Food for Thought
Making Tools at Wood Lily
Wood Lily Lives
Epilogue
Glossary
Bibliography
Index

Instructor's Manual
Test Bank on CD
Student CD with Interactive Exercises

Kenneth L. Feder is a Professor of Anthropology at Central Connecticut State University.

Making Sense in the Social Sciences - Margot Northey, Lorne Tepperman and Patrizia Albanese

Special Features
Uses the framework of a personal narrative to walk students through all the concepts and processes involved in archaeological methodology.
Questioning approach uses subheadings and paragraph content to address common questions, providing insight into the ways in which archaeologists approach specific topics or issues.
Asks students to actively engage in archaeology through interactive exercises from the included CD, allowing them to apply the analytical processes discussed in the text.
Informal, conversational style incorporates personal discussion and examples from student's lives creates a fun and engaging read.
Includes further reading and an extensive glossary of more than 200 terms and concepts.
Each text is packaged with an accompanying CD that features interactive exercises, and slideshows reflective of chapter content.
New to this Edition
Reorganized to follow the way archaeology is taught in the classroom, Feder uses a straightforward, linear approach to ensure a clear learning path for students.
Extensively updated to include critical technology and theory, including expanded discussions of transformation processes, GIS, Total Station, glacial dating, and aerial photography.
Expanded discussions of science and the scientific method, the history and development of the field, theory and the different