Microarchaeology.pdf

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MICROARCHAEOLOGY

The archaeological record is a combination of what is seen by the eye and the

microscopic record revealed with the help of instrumentation. The information

embedded in the microscopic record can signiﬁcantly add to our understanding

of past human behavior, provided that this information has not been altered by

the passage of time. Microarchaeology seeks to understand themicroscopic record

in terms of the types of information embedded in this record, the materials

in which this information resides, and the conditions under which a reliable

signal can be extracted. This book highlights the concepts needed to extract

information from the microscopic record. Intended for all archaeologists and

archaeological scientists, it will be of particular interest to students who have

some background in the natural sciences and archaeology. This book

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emphasizes the nature of the materials in which information is embedded

and the problems associated with extracting a real signal,

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provides a comprehensive list of the types of information embedded in the

microscopic archaeological record, and

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offers an in-depth overviewof the use of infrared spectroscopy for analyzing

the microscopic record, the only one of its kind available.

Stephen Weiner is director of the Kimmel Center for Archaeological Science at

the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. He is the author, with Heinz A.

Lowenstam, of On Biomineralization and has published more than 250 scientiﬁc

journal articles.

Microarchaeology

BEYOND THE VISIBLE

ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD

Stephen Weiner

Weizmann Institute of Science