Books

Books : reviews

Charles French.
Geoarchaeology in Action: studies in soil micromorphology and landscape evolution.
Routledge. 2003

Geoarchaeology in Action provides much-needed ‘hands on’ methodologies to assist anyone conducting or studying geoarchaeological investigations on sites and in landscapes, irrespective of date, place and environment.

The first part of the book sets out the essential features of geoarchaeological practice and geomorphological processes, and is deliberately aimed at the archaeologist as practitioner in the field. It explains the basics – what can be expected, what approaches may be taken, and what outcomes might be forthcoming – and asks what we can reasonably expect a micromorphological approach to archaeological contexts, data and problems to tell us.

The twelve case studies that follow are taken from Britain, Europe and the Near East; they illustrate how past landscape change can be discovered and deciphered whether you are primarily a digger, environmentalist or soil micromorphologist.