Geoarchaeology is a sub-field of archaeology which uses the techniques and subject matter of the earth sciences to examine topics which inform archaeological knowledge and thought. Importance and applicability Archaeology is the study of human nature and attempts to illuminate the question of what it means to be human. ... Earth science (also known as geoscience or the geosciences), is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth. ...
Geoarchaeologists study the natural physical processes that affect archaeological sites such as geomorphology, the formation of sites through geological processes and the effects on buried sites and artefacts post-deposition. An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been investigated using the discipline of archaeology. ... Surface of the Earth Geomorphology is the study of landforms, including their origin and evolution, and the processes that shape them. ... An artifact (also artefact) is a term coined by Sir Julian Huxley meaning any object or process resulting from human activity. ...
External links:
The Laboratory of Geoarchaeology, Kazakhstan Information about Geoarchaeological work in Central Asia
Geoarchaeology provides the medium through which to address the myriad of physical problems faced by archaeologists in their search for a soundly contextualised understanding of past human behaviour – issues of palaeoenvironmental and landscape context and evolution, sources of natural resources, their extraction, modification and deposition, site construction, metamorphosis and preservation, and so on.
On the one hand, geoarchaeology is grounded in the earth sciences, and yet on the other, it is distinct and separate from them; to be effective geoarchaeology needs to be grounded within the archaeological domain, and yet it draws its vitality from conceptions of landscapes and landscape analysis which lie beyond the constructions of archaeology.
Returning to the issue of definition, the authors’ conclusion that "geoarchaeology may best be considered a meeting ground where the full range of earth sciences is applied to artefactual evidence to infer past processes and events" provides, for me, a partially satisfactory evaluation of the scope of the discipline.
Geoarchaeology, the application of geoscience techniques and concepts to archaeological studies, provides an earth-surface based context for the archaeological record — providing input as to why people were at a certain location, what they did there and what has happened to their record since they left.
Of all the geoscience disciplines covered in this Highlights issue, geoarchaeology may be the least traditional and is certainly one of the most interdisciplinary.
Another area of increasing interest is the application of geoarchaeology to historical and urban archaeology studies.
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