The Archaeologist's Laboratory

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xlvii

   PDF

2. Part I

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-3

      PDF

   2. What Are Data? Measurements and Errors

      • Edward B. Banning

      Pages 5-16

   3. Summarizing Data: Descriptive Statistics

      • Edward B. Banning

      Pages 17-21

   4. Systematics: Classification and Grouping

      • Edward B. Banning

      Pages 23-41

   5. Compilations: Designing and Using Archaeological Databases

      • Edward B. Banning

      Pages 43-58

   6. Visualizing Archaeological Data

      • Edward B. Banning

      Pages 59-84

   7. Research Design and Sampling

      • Edward B. Banning

      Pages 85-104

   8. Counting Things: Abundance and Other Quantitative Measures

      • Edward B. Banning

      Pages 105-128

   9. Probability, Modelling, and Statistical Inference

      • Edward B. Banning

      Pages 129-140

   10. Basic Artifact Conservation and Lab Management

       • Edward B. Banning

       Pages 141-150

   11. Laboratory Health and Safety

       • Edward B. Banning

       Pages 151-155

3. Part II

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 157-158

      PDF

   2. Stone Artifacts

      • Edward B. Banning

      Pages 159-183

   3. Ceramic Artifacts

      • Edward B. Banning

      Pages 185-210

   4. Metal Artifacts

      • Edward B. Banning

      Pages 211-229

   5. Bone and Shell Tools

      • Edward B. Banning

      Pages 231-240

   6. Archaeological Animal Remains

      • Edward B. Banning

      Pages 241-266

   7. Archaeological Plant Remains

      • Edward B. Banning

      Pages 267-291

   8. Soils, Sediments, and Geoarchaeology

      • Edward B. Banning

      Pages 293-308

This second edition of the classic textbook, The Archaeologist’s Laboratory, is a substantially revised work that offers updated information on the archaeological work that follows fieldwork, such as the processing and analysis of artifacts and other evidence. An overarching theme of this edition is the quality and validity of archaeological arguments and the data we use to support them. The book introduces many of the laboratory activities that archaeologists carry out and the ways we can present research results, including graphs and artifact illustrations.

Part I introduces general topics concerning measurement error, data quality, research design, typology, probability and databases. It also includes data presentation, basic artifact conservation, and laboratory safety. Part II offers brief surveys of the analysis of lithics and ground stone, pottery, metal artifacts, bone and shell artifacts, animal and plant remains, and sediments, as well as dating by stratigraphy, seriation and chronometric methods. It concludes with a chapter on archaeological illustration and publication.

A new feature of the book is illustration of concepts through case studies from around the world and from the Palaeolithic to historical archaeology.The text is appropriate for senior undergraduate students and will also serve as a useful reference for graduate students and professional archaeologists.

          

• Descriptive Statistics in Archaeology
• Archaeological analysis
• Laboratory methods in archaeology
• Quality assurance in archaeological research
• Archaeology Research design
• Measurements and Errors in Archaeology
• Classification and Grouping in archaeology
• Designing and Using Archaeological Databases
• Visualizing Archaeological Data
• archaeology and research design and sampling
• Probability, Modelling, and Statistical Inference
• Basic Artifact Conservation and Lab Management
• Stone Artifacts
• Laboratory health and safety
• Bone and Shell Tools
• archaeological animal remains
• archaeology and Seriation
• Chronometric Dating
• Archaeological Illustration and Publication

“I expect this new edition to become a key textbook for my archaeological lab sciences courses, and I recommend it to others who are teaching similar classes. … this book should age better than others and remain a valuable teaching resource for many years to come.” (Ellery Frahm, American Antiquity, February 23, 2021)

• Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

  Edward B. Banning

Ted Banning is a Canadian archaeologist and professor of Anthropology at University of Toronto. His research focuses on the Neolithic of the Near East, but his other interests include the theory and methods of archaeological survey and landscape archaeology, the spatial organization of ancient built environments, and the spatial and statistical analysis of microrefuse —tiny fragments of lithics, pottery, ground stone, shell, bone, and other materials in archaeological sediments. For more than three decades, he has directed field projects in northern Jordan, and previously served on the staff of excavations at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic site of ‘Ain Ghazal, Jordan, at Tell al-Maskhuta, Egypt, and on surveys in southern Jordan and northeastern Egypt. He also has side interests in historical archaeology and numismatics, and especially the early history of numismatists and antiquarians in Canada. He is author of Archaeological Survey (Springer 2002), a member of the Society of American Archaeology and American Institute of Archaeology, and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.



         

 

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