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.
Preface
Introduction
James Muhly
Botanical remains
Sampling and recovery of non-wood plant remains
Julie Hansen
Phytolith analysis in Near Eastern archaeology
Arlene Miller Rosen
The contribution of palynology and anthracology to archaeological research in the southern Levant
Uri Baruch
Computerized keys for archaeological grains: first steps
Mordechai Kislev, Yoel Melamed, Orit Simchoni and Mina Marmorstein
Microscopic analysis of ancient fibers: problems of identifying date palms
Azriel Gorski
Dendroarchaeological research in Israel
Nili Liphschitz
Osteological remains
Physical anthropology in the field: recognizing cremation, defleshing, exposure and secondary burial
Della Collins Cook
Ecology, evolution and zooarchaeology: the analysis of mammalian remains from archaeological sites
Tamar Dayan
Harvest profiles, domestic ovicaprids, and Bronze Age Crete
Walter E. Klippel and Lynn M. Snyder
The contribution of archaeozoology to the identification of ritual sites
Liora Kolska Horwitz
The application of ancient DNA anlysis to archaeological problems: its role in studies of gender in past societies
Patricia Smith, Gila Kahila, Marina Faerman, Dvora Filon and Emanuel Eisenburg
Geological and other material studies
Geoarchaeology: the geologic context
George (Rip) Rapp, Jr.
Overview of ash studies in two prehistoric caves in lsrael: implications to field archaeology
Steve Weiner, Paul Goldberg and Ofer Bar-Yosef
Application of organic geochemistry to the study of Dead Sea asphalt in archaeological sites from Israel and Egypt
Arie Nissenbaum and Jacques Connan
ESR dating of archaeological flints - an unfulfilled prophecy
Ervan G. Garrison
The new radiocarbon dates of the Dead Sea Scrolls and their significance
Magen Broshi
Strength-testing glass: the Hellenistic/Early Roman corpus of Sepphoris, Israel
Alysia Fischer
Contributions of petrography to the study of archaeological ceramics and man-made building materials in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean
Sarah J. Vaughan
Petrographic analyses of late Antique and Islamic fine and coarse wares from Qasrin
Naomi Porat and Ann E. Killebrew
Petrographic study of ceramic assemblages as a regional project: the Early and Late Bronze Ages in the central Jordan valley
Yuval Goren and Peter Fischer
What we can learn from pottery of a sunken ship through chemical analysis
Joseph Yellin
Lipid biomarkers preserved in archaeological pottery - current status and future prospects
Richard P. Evershed and Stephanie N. Dudd
...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.
Society for Archaeological Sciences Bulletin 24(3/4) (Winter 2001) 27-30
