Formation Processes of the Archaeological Record

Book by Schiffer, Michael B.

Formation Processes of the Archaeological Record synthesizes the most important principles of cultural and environmental formation processes. It is intended as both introduction and guide in method and theory, fieldwork and analysis. Practicing archaeologists will find it a valuable checklist for sources of variability when observations on the archaeological record are used to justify inferences. Formation Processes embodies a vision that the cultural past is knowable, but only when the nature of the evidence is thoroughly understood. It shows how one can make the past accessible in practice by identifying the variability introduced by the diverse processes of people and nature that form the archaeological record.