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Despite their reputation, little work has been carried out on Chupícuaro ceramics, and the organization of pottery production and its role in the economy of these populations are still poorly known. The excavations of the Chupícuaro project did not identify any pottery production areas, but uncovered fired clay coils and plaques and hard stone artifacts in the site of Cuizillo de Don Fidel Salinas (TR. 6). The techno-morphological study of these artifacts and the use-wear analysis of a sample show that they were specialized potters' tools, designed to be adapted to the technical requirements of the composite shapes and used at specific stages of the chaîne opératoire. Moreover, contextual data show that pottery making was carried out in a domestic setting. This article places the tools at the core of the debate and shows that they can be an essential marker for identifying areas of ceramic production in Mesoamerica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Prospecting Boundaries project explores the Mazaro river corridor from a landscape archaeological perspective, using integrated prospection techniques to recover traces of past human activity and environmental contexts. One key research area is Guletta, a zone of dense multiperiod activity situated on the rocky plain above the river. In this paper, we detail results from recent work at Guletta, which has revealed numerous previously undocumented archaeological settlement features that appear to have been built in successive phases. Artifact analysis from corresponding surface survey indicates a mixture of locally produced and imported materials dating from the Middle Bronze to Archaic periods. Using these new results together with existing archaeological and environmental information, we present an initial interpretation of the occupation sequence of the settlement and explore the concept of Guletta as a connecting point between emerging indigenous, colonial, coastal, and interior interdependencies and interests in later pre- and protohistory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we present a flexible, quantitative methodology for refitting handmade ceramics. Rather than analyzing the physical joins between sherds, we assess the likelihood that non-adjoining sherds of similar appearance are from the same vessel. The customary disregard of non-adjoining sherds in refitting experiments prompts us to address this issue. Using the Neolithic ceramic assemblage from Thirlings (Northumberland, U.K.) as a case study, we test several scoring systems for assessing the probability of two sherds pertaining to the same vessel. The utility of this approach is supported by the comparison of a set of percentage scores statistically verified using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. We conclude with a discussion of the contribution of the new method to post-excavation ceramic analyses, and its applicability to other assemblages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The northern Pacific Coast is an important area for understanding human colonization of the Americas, but Late Pleistocene coastal sites are rare and interglacial sea level rise has inundated the continental shelf and the primary areas where Paleocoastal archaeological sites are likely to occur. Here we outline a terrestrial archaeological survey project designed to identify Paleocoastal sites on Santa Rosa Island, California. Using reconstructions of ancient shorelines and paleogeography, we predicted that sites might be found where lithic resources, freshwater springs, caves or rockshelters, and strategic vistas drew Paleocoastal peoples into the island interior. We identified nine new Paleocoastal sites, including four radiocarbon dated to >11,000 CAL B.P. that are among the oldest sites on North America's Pacific coast. Our targeted survey demonstrates an important technique for investigating island and coastal settings where sea level rise remains a significant challenge for locating early sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maps and mapping are fundamental to archaeology. Archaeologists sometimes fail to recognize that the maps we use and create are fraught, like material culture, with interpretive complexities. These complexities arise from the fact that maps are created with social meaning dependent on the context in which the map was created and used. Here, we relate our experience with maps and mapmaking at the pithouse settlement of Sxwáxwiymelh, in southwestern British Columbia. We review the mapping history of the site, highlighting the contexts in which the maps were constructed and how they influenced subsequent interpretations of the site. We describe our deconstruction of these earlier maps and how we combined them to create a more accurate and detailed map that presented a rendition of the site as it was prior to significant modern development. This process of map deconstruction and construction allowed us to see several previously unknown details about the ancient settlement (e.g., house form, relative house size, and feature spacing) of Sxwóxwiymelh. In general, this process provides conceptual and practical lessons for incorporating previously collected map data into archaeological research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the results of the longitudinal study of land-use conducted at Acconia in southern Italy between 1980 and 2007. This is the first of several articles planned on the landscape dynamics that took place there over a span of 27 years. Here we trace the sequence of the steps in the work of the Acconia Survey and the evolution in our thinking that led to the start of the longitudinal study, outline the fieldwork conducted at Acconia in 2007 and 2008, and present the changes in land-use that took place between the first mapping in 1980 and the fourth one in 2007. The final section considers some of the implications of what we have observed for the development of method and theory in survey archaeology. One of the main conclusions to emerge from the longitudinal study is that the work of the survey archaeologist should be seen as situated in time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a revision of Dean E. Arnold's (1985, 1993) Exploitable Threshold Model, which attempts to explain the selection of raw materials for pottery production. Arnold's model posits that potters' preferences for materials are largely determined by the linear distance to individual resources. We argue, however, that potters' choices are, at least in part, determined by spatial relationships among the necessary resources rather than the distances to them. This study of 14th century pottery production on Perry Mesa, Arizona demonstrates that potters selected materials based on the co-occurrence of readily available sources of temper, clay, and fuel. Lack of water and fuel sources on the mesa top compelled local residents to eschew the use of readily available basaltic sands to temper their plainware pottery. Instead, Perry Mesa potters selected granitic sands from the river valley nearly 300 vertical meters below their settlements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Seneca are an original member of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy and one of several Northern lroquoian societies that inhabited northeastern North America. This research explores their population history during the 16th and 17th centuries. Previous studies of Northern lroquoian populations identified population increase until contact with Europeans, no evidence of pre-contact diseases, and drastic depopulation resulting from interaction with European societies. Similar patterns were expected in this research. Combining archaeological settlement data collected with non- and minimally invasive survey techniques and ethnohistorical information, this article estimates the population trends of the Seneca. The results show a highly complex population history that includes pre-contact population losses, in- and out- migration episodes, significant losses from Old World diseases, and rapid population recovery. The field methods employed here may have wider applicability for the demographic archaeology of other similarly adapted cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a fabric study of the late Roman coarse wares (3rd century-6th century A.D.) from the Roman coastal town of Potentia (Porto Recanati, Marche, Italy). The petrographic analysis established the presence of several imported coarse ware classes, originating from the eastern Mediterranean to northern Africa. Of particular interest are the Adriatic common wares, which allow us to examine and define the extent, scale, and configuration of ancient trade within Adriatic Italy. While it is difficult to trace trade routes, items transported as a secondary commodity, like regional coarse wares, can help in reconstructing ancient economic interaction. The burnished coarse ware discussed here documents the ancient N-S trade routes from the Po region to the central Adriatic. Moreover, the identification of a northern Italian ware in central Adriatic Italy shows that this burnished coarse pottery had economic value and was part of a wider distribution network within the Adriatic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Classic Period lowland Maya urban centers often lack sharp boundaries due to progressive dispersal of residential settlement. This dispersal gives rise to questions about the concept of site and the notion of community affiliation. Research on settlement patterns at Chunchucmil, an urban center in NW Yucatan, Mexico, dating to the 5th and 6th centuries AD., explores the issue of site boundaries and the social and economic implications of such boundaries. Detailed mapping, test pitting, and reconnaissance reveal that Chunchucmil had three densely occupied, concentric, contemporaneous zones of settlement covering between 20 and 25 sq km and inhabited by a population of up to 42,500. Data from both within and beyond the density thresholds marking the edge of the city imply the existence of communities whose boundaries do not always follow those of the site. A portion of the hinterland settlement close to the edge of the city shows stronger economic and social connections with the city, for example. These connections enable the delineation of Greater Chunchucmil, extending 5 km from Chunchucmil's center The work at Chunchucmil also allows comparison with other large Maya cities that have been systematically documented. This comparison highlights considerable variability in Maya urban forms and in how these cities relate to their peripheries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We summarize the 3,000-year period of Prehispanic settlement in the Mixteca Alta of Oaxaca, Mexico, based on our regional surreys. We focus on episodic transitions to compare regional trajectories in the Mixteca Alta and elsewhere in Oaxaca. The regularities in settlement pattern changes over so large an area suggest a common causal chain. The project was a full-coverage survey that recorded over 1000 sites in a 10-valley macroregion. The project boundaries adjoined prior surveys, thereby offering the widest available scale of analysis. Mixteca Alta and Valley of Oaxaca survey blocks were conjoined into a single universe of sites. Significant results included the high regional population densities for the earliest settled villages; the eventual consolidation of some extended communities into urban and state societies; the timing and spread of urbanism into adjacent valleys; and the variation and interconnections among late Prehispanic settlements. We conclude that changing community patterns in the Mixteca Alta arose from the interplay of societies on both regional and macroregional scales. Our results underscore the need for still larger spatial perspectives on early civilizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Point of Pines region of Arizona was the subject of intense survey and excavation by the University of Arizona field schools from the 1940s to the 1960s, though most of these data remain unpublished. The site of W:10:50 has long been of interest to archaeologists concerned with interregional mobility because it contains a room block that appears to represent an intrusion from the Kayenta area. This paper examines changes in community organization in the area during the A4asonry period (A.C. 1000-1450) before, during, and after the occupation by the Kayenta migrants based on changes in community layout using concepts of space syntax analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is frequently assumed that assemblages of shell from archaeological sites suffer from various types of bias that might affect interpretations of the data. Such biases potentially include both pre- and post-depositional alteration of the shell; prehistoric practices that led to non-random collecting; sampling and recovery methods; and differing analytic capabilities. Species representation and metric data show that the effects of bias on three prehistoric freshwater mussel shell assemblages from the SE United States are minimal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manipulation of wetlands for agricultural purposes by the ancient Maya of southern Mexico and Central America has been a subject of much research and debate since the 1970s. Evidence for wetland cultivation systems, in the form of drained or channelized fields, and raised planting platforms, has been restricted primarily to the southern Maya Lowlands. New research in the Yalahau region of Quintana Roo, Mexico, has recorded evidence for wetland manipulation in the far northern lowlands, in the form of rock alignments that apparently functioned to control water movement and soil accumulation in seasonally inundated areas. Nearby ancient settlements date primarily to the Late Preclassic period (ca. 100 B.C. to A.C. 350), and this age is tentatively attributed to wetland management in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geophysical techniques have been developed and used in the investigation of archaeological sites predominantly in temperate climates in northern Europe and North America; relatively little geophysical work has been undertaken on sites in arid environments. This article presents a magnetometry survey of the Iron Age (ca. 1300-300 B.C.) site of Muweilah, United Arab Emirates and examines the problems specific to geophysical investigations in arid environments such as large mobile sand dunes. Initially, a background to the archaeology of the United Arab Emirates is provided with an emphasis on the significance of the site of Muweilah in the context of the Iron Age II (ca. 1100-600 B.C.) period in SE Arabia. This is followed by a discussion of the advantages of employing magnetometry on a site such as Muweilah. Having detailed the methods employed and the practical limitations experienced, the results of the magnetometry survey and subsequent test-excavations are provided. A number of positive and negative anomalies were recorded and investigated through excavation. The results indicate that Muweilah is a settlement of significant size. The methodological and archaeological implication of these results are discussed. In conclusion, we show how the results of the geophysical survey significantly augment the current understanding of the site of Muweilah and provide the foundations for future informed archaeological excavations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Palynological research at Bethsaida, Israel, was designed to test conventional wisdom regarding pollen preservation in Levantine archaeological deposits, and to demonstrate the potential of palynological data for interpretations of behavior. Control procedures that detected an error in the normal pollen-extraction process allowed us to fulfill the first objective. The latter objective was achieved by application of an interdisciplinary approach to pollen sample collection. This ‘strategic approach’ integrates evaluation of the ways cultural patterns may be expressed in palynological data with an appreciation of the sampling apportunities exposed as site excavation proceeds. It thus combines archaeological and palynological expertise. This study focuses on pollen samples dated by associated architecture to the late Roman Period occupation of biblical Bethsaida, (ca. 30 A.C.). Behavioral interpretations of the pollen record suggest commercial flax production was a significant aspect of a conscious religio- economic policy implemented by Philip in the tetrarchy he inherited from Herod the Great. We do not consider, however, its interpretations to be the significant contribution made by the study. We suggest it is significant because it demonstrates the value of including pollen studies as a regular tool for examining behavior at Near Eastern sites. A further implication is that failure to collect and curate pollen samples from such sites amounts to unethical destruction of a form of archaeological data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying animal remains is the most basic aspect of zooarchaeological research; the accuracy of all subsequent interpretations hinges on this process. Recently, the zooarchaeological community reiterated the need for researchers to be explicit in reporting their identification methodology. We review this problem and provide an example from our own research showing the interpretation problems that can arise when such methods are not described in detail and how unwarranted assumptions can affect research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses traditional archaeological field methods for discovering sites, the shovel probe and agricultural plow, and introduces the use of the firebreak plow as another method. A project in which the firebreak plow was used to discover archaeological sites is reviewed and a framework for evaluating the effectiveness of the plow is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of hunter-forager pottery from the Zeekoe Valley, Cape Province, Republic of South Africa, has necessitated intensive refitting of the excavated assemblages. During this work, a method for examining the 3-dimensional relationships between associated sherds was developed utilizing interactive PC-based graphics software. The ‘sherd dispersion surface’ generated by this technique offers a new perspective for examining both stratigraphy and the post-depositional formation processes that affect archaeological sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological Heritage Management in West Africa is hampered by lack of adequately trained personnel, lack of funds, and lack of appropriate equipment such as computers. It is suggested that organizations such as the World Bank should consider supporting training programs for Third World archaeologists, with internships at U.S. universities with appropriate expertise, and in areas where the World Bank has development projects, providing equipment which would be most efficient for archaeological survey and testing. Most particularly needed are intensive surveys in all African countries; one cannot ‘manage’ if one does not know what the resource base contains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an assessment of the effectiveness of manual auger testing as a tool to predict subsurface artifact density. Sherd counts obtained from auger tests are compared with 1 m × 1 m test excavations of the same grid square. At several residential locations in the Mexican state of Veracruz, the correlation between auger sherd counts and excavation sherd counts is unexpectedly low. Several potential factors are explored and analyses indicate that the ability of auger tests to predict subsurface sherd density is highly dependent on overall artifact density and spatial distribution of artifacts. Methodological factors such as small sample size, differential recording strategies between auger and excavation procedures and the fact that large sherds are commonly broken during soil extraction by the auger are also potential factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Survey is one of the primary methods of data collection in archaeology today. Survey data often constitute the sole conserved record of the prehistoric use of an area and are used as the foundation for culture historical, demographic, and economic reconstructions. Given the fundamental nature of survey data in relation to other archaeological pursuits, identification of biases inherent in this type of data are important and have been the subject of a number of stimulating studies. Analyses reported here focus on the accuracy of results produced through intensive survey. Using data from several siteless surveys in the American West, the effects of artifact obtrusiveness, especially size, and artifact density on the survey accuracy are investigated. Implications for interpreting a biased archaeological document are addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extensive local provenience study of common pottery from Roman Galilee and Golan was carried out, employing neutron activation analysis. This pottery was then examined by binocular microscopy, xeroradiography, and thin-section analysis and the results compared with the grouping by neutron activation analysis in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the former techniques for classifying these ceramic fabrics. It was found that xeroradiography alone would have led to the incorrect categorization of the pottery corpus, even at the level of major fabric groups. Thin-section analysis, on the other hand, was seen to be an effective means for sorting the collection into major fabric categories that comport with those defined by neutron activation analysis. In some cases, the description of micromorphological subgroups, comparable to the compositional subgroups distinguished by neutron activation analysis, was also possible. This discriminating classification by thin-section analysis was achieved by study of both the pottery matrix and its mineral composition. A description of this dual approach and its importance for pottery classification is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Portable proton magnetometers were employed at a number of sites dating to the Archaic and Late Prehistoric periods at several different localities in NW and west-central Texas in an attempt to locate subsurface prehistoric features for excavation. Eight magnetic surveys were performed, resulting in the identification and recovery of several fired features, clusters of ceramics, and numerous metal objects of historical age. The results demonstrate that thermoremanent magnetization of fired artifacts and features in this environment is often strong enough to allow their detection by magnetic prospection, and suggest that this technique is a valuable approach for maximizing data recovery during testing and mitigation of shallowly-buried alluvial sites in the region. Negative results, however, do not necessarily mean that features are absent; therefore, the method should be considered an adjunct to, rather than a substitute for, traditional testing procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution discusses the design and use of a mobile field laboratory with which aerial photography and chemical, geophysical, and sedimentological techniques can be employed to recover subsurface information prior to excavation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological investigations have been conducted for more than three decades at Old Oyo, the capital of the Oyo Yoruba kingdom of the 17th-19th centuries. Throughout this period, the emphasis has always been on this particular site, in spite ofa traditional Oyo claim that Old Oyo was just one of several such seats of the kingdom and that earlier ones lay further north, nearer the Niger River. This paper helps confirm this oral tradition. Two Oyo-related sites were identified: Koso, north of Old Oyo, and Ipapo lIe to its SE, which was fully surveyed by a systematic transect method based on a grid system that has been found useful at Old Oyo and Igboho. Koso could not be surveyed in this manner for lack of an adequate topographic map of the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information from intensive surface collections at the urban center of Sayil in the hill country of SW Yucatan, Mexico, has begun to elucidate the complex interaction of settlement, environment, and demography in a dry and demanding tropical lowland setting. Fine-grained surface collection techniques outlined in this report have produced a detailed picture of the distribution of artifacts within one portion of the site and provide the foundation for an in-depth study of the use of residential space at this Terminal Classic urban center. The article outlines previous settlement pattern studies in the Puuc hill country and the importance of the Puuc in Maya prehistory. In our analysis of Sayil we focus specifically on the minimal unit of settlement, linking the structure of debris-laden and debris-free space to variability in activity areas on and surrounding household residential platforms. Site structural analysis suggests how the domestic use of space could have been integrated with agricultural production at this densely populated ‘garden city’ of the ancient Maya. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent archaeological research on the SE Maya Periphery in northern Honduras, El Salvador, and southern Guatemala suggests that this zone, far from being peripheral to larger Mesoamerican developments, was involved in a complex web of interaction with cultures from Mexico to Costa Rica. One major route of cross-cultural communication has been named the Central Honduran Corridor, a chain of valleys connecting Middle America to lower Central America. Between 1985 and 1987, the author conducted a 10% stratified random survey of prehistoric remains in the 550-sq-km Comayagua Valley, the highland basin linking Pacific and Caribbean drainage systems along this corridor. This research project revealed a complex culture history spanning approximately 2500 years from the Early Preclassic Period (ca. 1000 B.C.) to the Spanish Conquest (A.C. 1537). Changes in prehistoric settlement patterns through time indicate that the inhabitants of this valley, belonging to the Lenca tribe historically, were constantly responding to the changing political and economic climate in much of southern Mesoamerica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Features are important deposits whose density and distribution pose acute sampling problems for archaeological investigations. Excavation is inherently a sampling process, but the ability of excavation samples to meet two important criteria—discovery of features and precise estimation of their frequency—rarely is assessed and often is doubtful. Combining archaeological data on feature density and distribution from Midwestern U.S. sites with appropriate statistical theory, this paper shows that conventional sample standards often are inadequate to meet the criteria. This failure has grave implications for the preservation and management of archaeological sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent changes in ethnohistorical theory and methods have necessitated new research strategies. Remote sensing technology has a great deal to offer in constructing new research methods and consequently can play an important role in this transition. It is important, however, that the researcher first attempt to ‘demystify‘ remote sensing. This can be accomplished by learning the intricacies of various sensors and noting previous applications within ethnohistory, archaeology, and related fields. It is also important that the scholar know that national and international archival sources of imagery and aerial photography exist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of the inability to evaluate the primary data, archaeologists are questioning the accuracy of the first archaeomagnetic dates obtained from the Hohokam area in southern Arizona. Since many important dates have been disregarded in recent chronological reconstructions, an attempt is made in this article to reevaluate these first reported dates to ascertain whether or not significant information might still exist. A method of reanalysis is devised, but the usefulness of the temporal information contained in the majority of the samples is severely limited by not knowing the sample paleopole location relative to the archaeomagnetic master curve. As a result, the temporal precision of the reanalyzed samples is decreased and inaccurate temporal interpretations are identified for a small but significant set of samples. While insufficient data exist for archaeomagnetic dating to contribute significantly to the pre-A. C. 700 segment of the chronology, this dating technique has been the focus of an intensive effort to revise and strengthen that portion of the Hohokam chronology between A.C. 700 and 1500. Support is provided for portions of the established chronology that postulates major cultural changes occurring ca. A. C. 900 and A. C. 1050–1150. Other implications of the temporal reinterpretations for Hobokam prehistory are discussed. The entire exercise serves to illustrate the importance of publishing complete archaeomagnetic information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A computer graphic technique, 3DPLOT, is presented. Its purpose is to identify occupational horizons in deep sites that have no visible stratification. The program treats the locations of subsuface artifacts in three-dimensional space as if they were in a clear matrix, rotating and tilting to any desired viewing angle. The benefits of this method are explained, and an example is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fish skeletons for a reference collection were prepared in the field while conducting archaeological research in the Tongan Islands in the South Pacific. The methods used (cooking and scrubbing, feeding to ants, and rotting down in a specially-constructed metal box) are described and compared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about the 25th International Symposium on Archaeometry held in Athens, Greece on May 19-23, 1986 is presented. Actual participants numbered to 257, including Greek archeologists and acheometrists. The proceedings were opened by a lecture of Manolis Andronikos on his excavation of the tombs at Vergina. N. H. Gale introduced on provenance studies with a review of lead isotope analysis.

The article discusses problems associated with Radiocarbon analysis on small charcoal samples relative to the development of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). It relates that dates derived from small charcoal could fall into a low level confidence if the potential problems on relationship are not properly addressed. Moreover, it adds that the emergence of AMS has led to changes in the approach of archaeologists in collecting samples for analysis, particularly on samples that are minute in size. Furthermore, the article discusses solutions to address the problems associated with establishing a chronology using small samples.

The article presents several publications aimed at helping the archaeologists find the right person or laboratory for a wide variety of scientific studies. One is the first directory of the European archaeometric laboratories, compiled by the European Study Group on Physical, Chemical, Biological and Mathematical Techniques Applied to Archaeology. Researchers in the field of faunal remains have united in the International Council for Archaeozoology (ICAZ) in publishing their activities in several "Clearinghouse" reports. There are also straightforward directories compiled for the explicit purpose of locating a specialist in archaeometry who can deal with a specific problem confronting the archaeologist.

Sugar reflotation of matrix containing archaeological material appears to be a relatively inexpensive, safe, and reliable method for the recovery of botanical remains. Using high concentrations of sugar to increase the specific gravity of water to make flotation viable for botanical recovery will, however, also saturate archaeological material (e.g., botanical, faunal, and some artifactual materials) with sugar that could damage the materials or attract pests that could damage the materials during curation. For this reason, samples processed using sugar reflotation should have the sugar removed bofore curation. This issue has not been previously addressed and will add to the time and expense involved in this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an introduction to the "Book Reviews" section of the "Journal of Field Archaeology." Twelve books are reviewed that cover the human past from the Paleolithic period to the present. They discuss topics ranging from the institutional history of archaeology through processual and post-processual approaches to the management of the historic heritage and the physical preservation of its remains. Some of the topics being featured include the emergence of prehistoric archaeology as an important academic discipline, mobility and frontier issues like the Great Wall of China and the Roman Limes.

Although Baker and Shaffer discuss potential disadvantages with the sugar reflotation method, we have not observed these problems in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section presents a response by the author to a review of his book "Einführung in die naturwissenschaftlichen Methoden der Archäologie," which appeared in the Journal of Field Archaeology, number 14, 1987.