Product Description

The Archaeology Coursebook is an unrivalled guide to students studying archaeology for the first time. Comprehensive and user-friendly, it will interest pre-university students and teachers as well as undergraduates and enthusiasts. Specially designed to assist learning it: * introduces the most commonly examined archaeological methods, concepts and themes and provides the skills necessary to understand these step by step * explains how to interpret the material students may meet in examinations and how to succeed with different types of assignments and exam questions * supports study with case studies, key sites, key reading, tasks and skills development * illustrates concepts and commentary with over 200 photographs and drawings of excavation sites, methodology and processes, tools and equipment

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #180474 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Review
"Every archaeology prof I have ever met has complained about how few really useful introductory archaeological texts there are. These academics complain that they cannot find a text that discusses not just field and lab methods, but the reasons for the methods, how those methods intertwine to make a coherent whole, and how to make inferences from them. This is, no doubt about it, a lot to ask from a book. "The Archaeology Coursebook, substitled "An Introduction to Study Skills, Topics, and Methods," is an valiant effort from Routledge.Liberally assisted with additional resources for investigation--both Internet and standard text--the "Archaeology Coursebook is a welcome addition to available teaching guides. If you don't use it as a text, you will use it as a resource for teaching.."
-K. Kris Hirst, About.com

Customer Reviews

Marvellously wonderful resource
I love history, and books about history, but sometimes you just really get the urge for hands on work with it. There is something amazing about finding an artifact, touching the distance past - well there is nothing like it. But you need basics. History needs handling with respect.

Most archaeology books are geared to those familiar with all the techniques and terms, they are too complex or boring to the layman, but this book is exactly the opposite. A thorough work (if they sold it by weight alone, it would be a steal!!). There is little this book does not cover, such as different type of surveys, excavating, how to analyse these steps, making sense of the data. They cover threats to historical sites today, how to use the space and set up of on a dig, the art, the dwellings, what the people lived on...well, I could go on and on; if you need to know it, it's here.

It's presented in a crisp, logical fashion with oodles of diagrams and photographs, and in easy to follow language. I just cannot recommend this highly enough for true history buffs that want to leave that armchair and get involved in our heritage. The books is written primarily for England, but these teaching will apply for any country.

Excellence resource for writers as well!

Easy to follow and useful for GCSE and AS level courses
Very easy to use book.Just follow chapter by chapter and do the exercises and you will learn enough to pass GCSE and AS level courses.The layout is simple and clear.My only criticism is that some of the exercises are at a too simplistic level.

Textbook exactly matched to AS and A level requirements
By the examiners for AS and A level archaeology, this book is an exact match (or we have to assume so) for the detailed requirements of the exam.

These requirements are in places a little difficult to fathom, and this book shows how to approach the exams thematic basis, especially the A level section.

It is well illustrated with cases and site details from across the world.

My only criticism is that some sections are quite long, involving text based descriptions of topics, which can be difficult to digest. A better laid out bullet point approach could have made some of the material easier to understand.

As the only specific textbook for these exams it very usefully fills a gap and should be bought by all students of this syllabus.