Reconstructing Archaeological Sites: Understanding the Geoarchaeological Matrix

A guide to the systematic understanding of the geoarchaeological matrix

Reconstructing Archaeological Sites offers an important text that puts the focus on basic theoretical and practical aspects of depositional processes in an archaeological site. It contains an in-depth discussion on the role of stratigraphy that helps determine how deposits are organised in time and space. The authors — two experts in the field — include the information needed to help recognise depositional systems, processes and stratigraphic units that aid in the interpreting the stratigraphy and deposits of a site in the field.

The book is filled with practical tools, numerous illustrative examples, drawings and photos as well as compelling descriptions that help visualise depositional processes and clarify how these build the stratigraphy of a site. Based on the authors’ years of experience, the book offers a holistic approach to the study of archaeological deposits that spans the broad fundamental aspects to the smallest details. This important guide:

• Offers information and principles for interpreting natural and anthropogenic sediments and physical processes in sites
• Provides a framework for reconstructing the history of a deposit and the site
• Outlines the fundamental principles of site formation processes
• Explores common misconceptions about what constitutes a deposit
• Presents a different approach for investigating archaeological stratigraphy based on sedimentary principles

Written for archaeologists and geoarchaeologists at all levels of expertise as well as senior level researchers, Reconstructing Archaeological Sites offers a guide to the theory and practice of how stratigraphy is produced and how deposits can be organised in time and space.

Keywords: Reconstructing archaeological sites; understanding the geoarchaeological matrix; archaeological stratigraphy; archaeological deposits; anthropogenic depositional processes; archaeological sites; behavioral system; geomorphology; geogenic processes; naturally deposited sediments; post-depositional processes; soil-forming processes; sedimentary structures; soil forming processes; post-depositional processes; diagenesis; mass movement; water flow; aeolian processes; biological processes; anthropogenic sediments; burnt remains; biological constructions; stabling; floors; construction materials; maintenance activities; discard; archaeological stratigraphy; stratigraphic principles; facies; contacts; Harris Matrix; hunter gatherer sites; hearths; fire; diagenesis; caves; open-air sites; burials; palimpsests, Archaeology Special Topics, Sedimentology & Stratigraphy, Archaeology Special Topics, Sedimentology & Stratigraphy