Soils in archaeology: Landscape evolution and human occupation. Vance T. Holliday (Editor), 1992, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington and London, xiii + 254 pp., $39.95 (hardbound)
✍ Scribed by J. Steven Kite
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1993
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 226 KB
- Volume
- 8
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0883-6353
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
This volume represents the proceedings of the First Annual Fryxell Symposium, held in 1988 at the Society for American Archaeology meeting in Phoenix. As a collection of eight articles, the volume is not a text or a reference book, nor does it cover many aspects of soils in archaeology, such as shallow geophysical techniques. However, the articles in the volume give excellent illustrations of state-of-the-art studies presented at the symposium. The volume should find a home on the shelves of all serious soil scientists and surficial geologists working on archaeological sites. The book is strongly recommended to archaeologists seeking to broaden their knowledge of pedology and stratigraphy.
The articles reveal eight perspectives from eight different authors, with backgrounds including physical geography, pedology, geology, and archaeology. Each article illustrates the importance of interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary approaches to the study of archaeological sites. While most examples are drawn from American sites between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River, sites from other regions in both the Old World and New World are represented. Moreover, the methodologies and concepts covered in these articles have worldwide applications.
The volume is not without fault. Like most edited volumes, there is a lack of consistency and continuity from article to article. Each author seems to have a slightly