Archaeologists today need a wide range of scientific approaches
in order to delineate and interpret the ecology of their sites.
Dena Dincauze has written an authoritative and essential guide to a variety of archaeological methods,
ranging from techniques for measuring time with isotopes and magnetism
to the sciences of climate reconstruction, geomorphology, sedimentology, soil science, paleobotany and faunal paleoecology.
Professor Dincauze insists that borrowing concepts from other disciplines demands a critical understanding of their theoretical roots.
Moreover, the methods that are chosen must be appropriate to particular sets of data.
The applications of the methods needed for an holistic human-ecology approach in archaeology
are illustrated by examples ranging from the Paleolithic through classical civilizations, to recent urban archaeology.