The goal of The Archaeologist's Laboratory is to introduce students to basic laboratory and analytical techniques. The intended audience is upper level undergraduates who have taken at least an introductory archaeology course. A basic knowledge of statistics is also recommended. The text consists of sixteen chapters focusing on basic research methods and the analysis of different material types. In addition to the text, Banning has labs on his web site that correspond to many of the topics in each chapter (http: //www.chass.utoronto.ca/Ο³banning/Labs/mainlab.htm). I use this text in my upper level introductory lab course. Hence, my review is from an instructor's perspective. Although no text is perfect, The Archaeologist's Laboratory provides the breadth and detail that allows instructors to pick and choose what they want to use. The strength of the text lies in the first six chapters that focus on research methods. My review focuses on these chapters. I also elaborate on those chapters that may be of interest to geoarchaeologists.
In Chapter 1, Banning explains how he has structured the text to make the necessary, but often overlooked, links between method and theory. In Chapter 2, "What Are Data?," Banning does an excellent job of presenting basic statistical concepts such as scales of measurement and error, as well as descriptive statistics like measures of central tendency and dispersion. The second half of the chapter focuses on the mechanics of graphical representation of data and explains when each graph type can be used. The book is worth purchasing for this chapter alone, because very few texts explain to students that data are more than just numbers. Understanding the concepts in this chapter is important for students to make them better consumers of any type of scientific analysis.
The first half of Chapter 3 focuses on how archaeologists organize and classify archaeological material. This topic is not often covered in laboratory manuals. Banning briefly introduces most of the classification methods used by archaeologists, including Robert Dunnell's distinction between groups and classes, and many multivariate statistical methods. He discusses the strengths and weaknesses of these different methods and the reasons archaeologists give for choosing them. The latter half of Chapter 3 discusses database design. Now that you have decided how you are going to order your archaeological material, how are you going to record it? This section focuses mainly on digital recording of information. This may be a difficult chapter for novice students to fully comprehend since the methods discussed are best understood through use. However, if students continue in archaeology and begin their own research the chapter will be a valuable resource.
Chapter 4 presents research design and sampling strategies. The bulk of the chapter focuses on sampling, which is unfortunate since an elaboration of research design would have been a great opportunity to illustrate how method and theory are connected. The section could have been enhanced by specific archaeological examples illustrating how problem orientation determines the kind of data that will be generated. The discussion of sampling is standard, including the different sampling strategies, population versus sample, the sampling paradox, and so on. But it also delves into more complex issues such as problems of cluster sampling. Particularly useful at the end of the chapter is the checklist of questions that should be considered when designing a sampling strategy.
Chapter 5 examines quantification of archaeological material from abundance to ubiquity and diversity. The chapter emphasizes that measurements are created, a concept that is often not recognized by students because they view data as real entities waiting to be discovered. Banning's discussions of the various measures show how these are derived, each used to quantify a particular aspect of the archaeological record. Thus, each measure has limitations.