Reading List: A Beginner’s Guide to Archaeology

Tags

archaeology, Beginners Guide, Britain, education, England, Leicester, Leicestershire, Loughborough, WEA

Whilst it is not essential to do any background reading before the course begins, you may find it useful to do so. The reading list below contains books that you can read. You don’t have to read all of these and we don’t specify any that you must read. Instead, these are readings you can use to gain a preliminary understanding of topics, as well as to study in more depth those parts of the course you are particularly interested in. You may also want to take a look at magazines such as British Archaeology, World Archaeology and Current Archaeology.

Further suggestions about ways you can extend your understanding of topics through books, television etc may also be posted as appropriate on this blog.

Aitken, M. 1990. Science-based Dating in Archaeology. Longman. (Introduces several different science-based dating techniques used by archaeologists)

Bahn, P. 2012. Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. (Latest edition of popular, concise introduction to archaeology)

Carver, M. 2009. Archaeological Investigation. Routledge. (General introduction to the process of fieldwork from discovery to publication).

Drewett, P. 2011. Field Archaeology: An Introduction. (2^nd edition). Routledge. (Leading text introducing principles of field archaeology)

Gamble, C. 2015. Archaeology: the basics (revised 3nd edition).Routledge. (A good general introduction to a lot of concepts)

Gater, J & Gaffney, C. 2003. Revealing the Buried Past: Geophysics for Archaeologists. The History Press Ltd. (A good introduction to archaeological geophysics by the Time Team ‘geofizz’ guys)

Greene, K. & Moore, T. 2010. Archaeology: An Introduction (5th edn). London: Routledge. (A good general introduction. You may also wish to check out the associated online resources: http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/greene/).

O’Connor, T. 2005. Environmental Archaeology: Principles and Methods (2^nd edn.) The History Press. (General introduction to environmental archaeology)

Mays, S. 2010. The Archaeology of Human Bones (2^nd edn). Routledge. (General introduction to the archaeological analysis of human remains)

Renfrew, C & Bahn, P (eds). 2004. Archaeology: The Key Concepts. Routledge Key Guides. (Collection of different chapters written by experts in their field)

Renfrew, C. & Bahn, P. 2016. Archaeology: Theories, Methods and Practice (7th edn). Thames and Hudson.  (Aimed at 1^st year undergraduates, but still very accessible to read and covers a lot of topics)

Advertisements

New course: Archaeology – Food and drink in the past — WEA Leicester

Tags

archaeology, education, food and drink, Leicester, Leicestershire, WEA

The course will examine the social, cultural and economic factors that have influenced consumption in the human past via a wide range of archaeological evidence from around the world. Dates: Monday 4 June – 2 July 2018 Times: 10.00 am – 12.00 pm Number of weeks: 5 Venue: Newarke Houses Museum, The Newarke, Leicester LE2 7BY Tutor: Stephanie Vann Price: £38.50 […]

via New course: Archaeology – Food and drink in the past — WEA Leicester

Beginner’s Guide to Archaeology: Absolute Dating

Tags

archaeology, Beginners Guide, education, Leicester, Leicestershire, WEA

Absolute dating, also sometimes called chronometric dating, is the process of determining an age on a specified chronology in archaeology and geology. Absolute dating provides a numerical age or range in contrast with relative dating which places events in order without any measure of the age between events.

Techniques include (amongst others): radiocarbon dating, potassium-argon dating, thermoluminescence dating, and amino acid racemization.

In The Future of the Past: Dating archaeology using radiocarbon and particle accelerators Tom Higham of the University of Oxford examines some of the projects the Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit has been involved with over the last few years; from dating the Neanderthal extinction, to identifying the bones of Richard III and Alfred the Great.

Whilst in Carbon Dating: The Science of When Things Happen he discusses the way in which scientists establish the age of ancient and prehistoric artefacts.

Beginner’s Guide to Archaeology: Relative Dating

Tags

archaeology, Beginners Guide, education, Leicester, Leicestershire, WEA

Relative dating is the science of determining the relative order of past events (i.e., the age of an object in comparison to another), without necessarily determining their absolute age.

Various approaches can be taken to do this including (amongst others) seriation,  typology, and the vole clock. This Time Team episode (season 7 episode 6) from Elveden in Suffolk includes an explanation of the latter.

Beginner’s Guide to Archaeology: Reading List

Tags

archaeology, Beginners Guide, education, Leicester, Leicestershire, WEA

Whilst it is not essential to do any background reading before the course begins, you may find it useful to do so. The reading list below contains books that you can read. You don’t have to read all of these and we don’t specify any that you must read. Instead, these are readings you can use to gain a preliminary understanding of topics, as well as to study in more depth those parts of the course you are particularly interested in. You may also want to take a look at magazines such as British Archaeology, World Archaeology and Current Archaeology.

Further suggestions about ways you can extend your understanding of topics through books, television etc may also be posted as appropriate here on the tutor’s personal blog.

Aitken, M. 1990. Science-based Dating in Archaeology. Longman. (Introduces several different science-based dating techniques used by archaeologists)

Bahn, P. 2012. Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. (Latest edition of popular, concise introduction to archaeology)

Drewett, P. 2011. Field Archaeology: An Introduction. (2^nd edition). London: Routledge. (Leading text introducing principles of field archaeology)

Gamble, C. 2015. Archaeology: the basics (revised 3nd edition). London: Routledge.(A good general introduction to a lot of concepts)

Gater, J & Gaffney, C. 2003. Revealing the Buried Past: Geophysics for Archaeologists. The History Press Ltd. (A good introduction to archaeological geophysics by the Time Team ‘geofizz’ guys)

Greene, K. & Moore, T. 2010. Archaeology: An Introduction (5th edn). London: Routledge. (A good general introduction. You may also wish to check out the associated online resources: http://cw.routledge.com/textbooks/greene/).

Renfrew, C & Bahn, P (eds). 2004. Archaeology: The Key Concepts. Routledge Key Guides. (Collection of different chapters written by experts in their field)

Renfrew, C. & Bahn, P. 2016. Archaeology: Theories, Methods and Practice (7th edn). London: Thames and Hudson.  (Aimed at 1^st year undergraduates, but still very accessible to read and covers a lot of topics)

 

 

 

 

New film reveals challenges behind lifting and conserving a Roman mosaic — ULAS News

Tags

archaeology, Leicester, Leicestershire, news, Roman, Roman Britain

A new film produced by the University of Leicester showcases how archaeologists successfully lifted and conserved a Roman mosaic found in Leicester. During the winter of 2016/17, archaeologists from University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) excavated a large site in Leicester, on the corner of Highcross Street and Vaughan Way next to the John Lewis car […]

via New film reveals challenges behind lifting and conserving a Roman mosaic — ULAS News

A Beginner’s Guide to Archaeology, Leicester

Tags

archaeology, education, Leicester, Leicestershire, WEA

Seen archaeological excavations in the news? Want to know more about how archaeology works? This course is for you. We will look at how archaeologists know where to dig, what methods they use, how they know how old something is, and more. Everyone welcome; no previous knowledge assumed. Dates: Monday 29 January – 19 March 2018 Times: […]

via New course: A Beginner’s Guide to Archaeology — WEA Leicester

ULAS archaeologists return to city park to explore historic monument linked with the Knights Hospitallers

Tags

archaeology, England, excavation, Leicester, Leicestershire, news

Dig will run from 2 – 27 September at Castle Hill Country Park In September, University of Leicester archaeologists working with Leicester City Council and members of the public, will return to Castle Hill Country Park at Beaumont Leys to continue exploring a large scheduled ancient monument, Castle Hill, believed to be the remains of […]

via ULAS archaeologists return to city park to explore historic monument linked with the Knights Hospitallers — ULAS News

Largest archaeological excavation in Leicester in over a decade to open to public

Tags

archaeology, England, excavation, Leicester, Leicestershire, news, Open Day, Places to Visit, Roman, Roman Britain

Excavation open to the public on Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 May. University of Leicester Archaeological Services are currently excavating the site of the former Stibbe factory, between Great Central Street and Highcross Street in central Leicester. The land is owned by Charles Street Buildings group, which has made the site available and financially supported […]

via Largest archaeological excavation in Leicester in over a decade to open to public — ULAS News

Secrets of the Stone Age — WEA Leicester Branch

Tags

archaeology, education, Leicester, Leicestershire, prehistory, WEA

The Neolithic, or New Stone Age, was a period of cultural change when hunter-gatherers turned to farming and when many famous prehistoric monuments were built. In this course we will examine sites such as Stonehenge, Skara Brae and Newgrange to investigate what they can tell us about the people who built them, and compare them […]

via Secrets of the Stone Age — WEA Leicester Branch