About the Book
Born from a workshop series entitled 'The Practical Impact of Science on Field Archaeology', this volume presents the ideas of students and researchers from North America, Europe and Israel on the growing impact of science on archaeology in the eastern Mediterranean. Its main focus is to promote interdisciplinary approaches to archaeology, with special attention to the sciences, and to demonstrate the wealth of knowledge that can be obtained when these ordinarily isolated subject areas are combined. Through these papers, the promise of future collaboration and the benefit to archaeology is clearly seen.
Table of Contents:
Contents Preface Section 1: Botanical Remains Julie Hansen, Department of Archaeology, Boston University, USA Sampling and recovery of non-woodplant remains Arlene Miller Rosen, Archaeological Division, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel Phytolith analysis in Near Eastern archaeology Uri Baruch, Division of Multidisciplinary Research, Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem, Israel The contribution of palynology and anthracology to archaeological research in the southern Levant Mordechai Kislev, Yoel Melamed, Orit Simchoni and Mina Mannorstein, Department of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel Computerized keys for archaeological grains: first steps Azriel Gorski, Research Fellow, W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, Weizmann Institute of Science Fellow, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel Microscopic analysis of ancient fibers: problems of identifying date palms Nili Liphschitz, The Botanical Laboratories, Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Ramat-Aviv, Israel Dendroarchaeological research in Israel Section 2: Osteological Remains Della Collins Cook, Department of Anthropology, Indiana University, USA Physical anthropology in the field recognizing cremation, defleshing, exposure and secondary burial Tamar Dayan, Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel Ecology, evolution and zooarchaeology: the analysis of mammalian remains from archaeological sites Walter E. Klippel, Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville TN, USA and Lynn M. Snyder, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, USA Harvest profiles, domestic ovicaprids, and Bronze Age Crete Liora Kolska Horwitz, Department of Evolution, Systematics and Ecology, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel The contribution of archaeozoology to the identification of ritual sites Patricia Smith, Gila Kahila, Marina Faerman, Dental Division of Anatomy, Hebrew University - Hadassah Faculty of Dental Medicine, Jerusalem, Israel; Dvora Filon, Ariella Oppenheim, Department of Hematology, Hebrew University - Hadassah Medical School and Hadassah University Hostpital, Jerusalem, Israel; and Emanuel Eisenburg, Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem, Israel The application of ancient DNA anlysis to archaeological problems: its role in studies of gender in past societies Section 3: Geological and other Material Studies George (Rip) Rapp, Jr., Archaeometry Laboratory, University of Minnesota, Duluth MN, USA Geoarchaeology: the geologic context Steve Weiner, Department of Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel; Paul Goldberg, Department of Archaeology, Boston University, Boston MA, USA; and Ofer Bar-Yosef, Department of Anthropology, Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge MA, USA Overview of ash studies in two prehistoric caves in lsrael: implications to field archaeology Arie Nissenbaum, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rebovot, Israel and Jacques Connan, Elf Aquitaine, Pau-cedex, France Application of organic geochemistry to the study of Dead Sea Asphalt in archaeological sites from Israel and Egypt Ervan G. Garrison, Departments of Geology and Anthropology, University of Georgia, USA ESR dating of archaeological flints - an unfulfilled prophecy Magen Broshi, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel The new radiocarbon dates of the Dead Sea Scrolls and their significance Alysia Fischer, Anthropology Department, University of Arizona, USA. 1996-1997 United States Information Agency Junior Research Fellow, Albright Institute, Jerusalem, Israel Strength-testing glass: the Hellenistic Early Roman corpus of Sepphoris, Israel Sarah J. Vaughan, Geoarchaeology Research Group, Department of Geology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom Contributions of petrography to the study of archaeological ceramics and man-made building materials in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean Naomi Porat, Geology Survey, 30 Malkhe Israel Street, Jerusalem, Israel and Ann E. Killebrew, Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel Petrographic analyses of late Antique and Islamic fine and coarse wares from Qasrin Yuval Goren, Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Israel and Peter Fischer, Institute of Classical Archaeology and Ancient History, Gothenburg University, Sweden Petrographic study of ceramic assemblages as a regional project: the Early and Late Bronze Ages in the central Jordan valley Joseph Yellin, Institute of Archaeology and Department of Physics, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel What we can learn from pottery of a sunken ship through chemical analysis Richard P. Evershed, Stephanie N. Dudd Organic Geochemistry Unit, School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol, United Kingdom Lipid biomarkers preserved in archaeological pottery - current status and future prospects
Review :
'...this book would be a particularly useful addition to the library of any archaeologist or archaeometrist working in the Aegean or the Near East...Congratulations to the editors on compiling a volume where all papers are well-written and well-produced.' Geoarchaeology
