Archaeology: Theories, Methods and Practice

The leading educational textbook for archaeology students, explaining what archaeologists do and how they do it

New to this Edition

• Updated treatment of postcolonial approaches and indigenous archaeology, with coverage of the ontological turn in archaeology, and new examples of community archaeology in southern Africa and Australia.
• New discoveries and research across the globe, such as archaeological evidence of social hierarchies at the ancient city of Liangzhu, China, and recent evidence of Neanderthal art in France and Spain.
• A more inclusive picture of archaeology, raising the profile of women in the discipline’s history, and describing the development of archaeology in China and Japan.
• In Chapter Five, updated treatment of social organization, with critical evaluations of Service’s model, and new coverage of heterarchies.
• New box features include: forensic archaeology; change in the Amazon; ancient microbes; paleoproteomics; Must Farm; evidence of feasting at Stonehenge; Neanderthal art; and ceramic styles and learning.
• New book design, including, for each chapter, distinct introductions that offer a general overview of each topic covered.

Since its first edition, Renfrew and Bahn’s Archaeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice has been the leading educational source on what archaeologists do and how they do it. The text is organized around the key questions that archaeologists ask about the past and details the practical and theoretical ways in which answers to those questions are sought.