Archaeological Science

Michael Richards is an archaeological scientist who applies methods such as isotopic analysis to determine past human and animal diets and adaptations. He is a professor of Archaeology and Canada Research Chair in Archaeological Science at the Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He has published over 250 research papers, in the journals such as Nature, Science, and PNAS. Kate Britton is a Senior Lecturer in Archaeological Science at the University of Aberdeen and an Associate Research Scientist at the Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. An archaeological scientist, she studies the relationship between life-time behaviours, diets and movements, and the stable isotope chemistry of body tissues.

'This is an interesting and well-written text that will be of principal interest to advanced undergraduates and graduate students pursuing careers in archaeology and related fields.' D. A. Brass, Choice

• Part I. Introduction: 1. Introducing archaeological science Kate Britton and Michael P. Richards; Part II. Biomolecular Archaeology: 2. Ancient DNA Liisa Loog and Greger Larson; 3. Proteomics Jessica Hendy, Nienke van Doorn and Matthew Collins; 4. Residue analysis Oliver E. Craig, Hayley Saul and Cynthianne Spiteri; 5. Isotope analysis for mobility and climate studies Kate Britton; 6. Isotope analysis for diet studies Michael P. Richards; Part III. Bioarchaeology: 7. Human osteology Darlene A. Weston; 8. Dental histology Tanya M. Smith; 9. Geometric morphometrics Philip Gunz; Part IV. Environmental Archaeology: 10. Vertebrate zooarchaeology Keith Dobney and Beth Upex; 11. Invertebrate zooarchaeology Marcello Mannino; 12. Palaeoethnobotany A. Catherine D'Andrea; 13. Geoarchaeology Panagiotis Karkanas; Part V. Materials Analysis: 14. Ceramics Andrew J. Shortland and Peter Degryse; 15. Glass Andrew J. Shortland and Thilo Rehren; 16. Metals in archaeological science Thilo Rehren; 17. Lithics Shannon McPherron; Part VI. Absolute Dating Methods: 18. Radiocarbon dating Simon Blockley; 19. Luminescence dating Richard Bailey.