Systematic Comparative Approaches to the Archaeological Record

Approaches to Comparative Analysis in Archaeology

Archaeology is inherently comparative. Comparison is necessary to understand the material record, for one cannot identify or understand an object never before seen without comparing it to a known object. Comparison is also necessary to understand variation over time and space, for one cannot identify or investigate variation unless one has examples spanning a range of variation, nor can one exa...

A systematic review of natural processes in creating pierced shells: implications for the archaeological record

Neandertal Demise: An Archaeological Analysis of the Modern Human Superiority Complex

Neandertals are the best-studied of all extinct hominins, with a rich fossil record sampling hundreds of individuals, roughly dating from between 350,000 and 40,000 years ago. Their distinct fossil remains have been retrieved from Portugal in the west to the Altai area in central Asia in the east and from below the waters of the North Sea in the north to a series of caves in Israel in the south...

A Tale of Two Countries: Contrasting Archaeological Culture History in British and French Archaeology

The definition of an archaeological culture and its subsequent application throughout Europe during the first half of the twentieth century tends to be presented as a straightforward process. Scholars in each country simply adopted ideas advocated by Gustaf Kossinna (e.g. Kossinna 1911) and V. Gordon Childe (e.g. Childe 1925) to create a mosaic of archaeological cultures which continue to struc...

Are We There Yet? A Review and Assessment of Archaeological Passive Airborne Optical Imaging Approaches in the Light of Landscape Archaeology

Archaeologists often rely on passive airborne optical remote sensing to deliver some of the core data for (European) landscape archaeology projects. Despite the many technological and theoretical evolutions that have characterised this field of archaeology, the dominant aerial photographic surveys, but also less common approaches to archaeological airborne reconnaissance, still suffer from many...