The Relativity Of Measurement Is One Of The Paradoxes Of Science. Even As We Seek Evidence To Explain The World Around Us, The Nature Of That Knowledge Depends On Our Tools. The Apparent Inconsistency Between What We Know And How And What We Measure Points To The Importance Of Scientific Method As A Bridge Between Ideas And Entities. This Volume Emphasizes One Aspect Of Scientific Method: Units Of Measure And Their Construction As Applied To Archaeology. Attributes, Artifact Classes, Locational Designations, Temporal Periods, Sampling Universes, Culture Stages, And Geographic Regions Are All Examples Of Constructed Units. Unit Issues In Archaeology Discusses How Units Are Defined, Described, And Evaluated Within Specified Research Contexts. Topics Include Projectile Points As Chronological Markers, The Pecos Classification, Obsidian And Ceramic Sourcing, Ceramic Typology, The Folsom Problem, And Landscape-scale Units. Throughout The Volume, Emphasis Is Placed On The Relationship Between Research Goal And Measurement. Because Research Drives The Selection And Construction Of Units, Units Are Not Treated As Unvarying Sets Of Absolutes. Units As Tools Of Measurement / Ann F. Ramenofsky And Anastasia Steffen -- Projectile Point Types As Valid Chronological Units / Charlotte Beck -- Testing The Pecos Classification / Heidi E. Reed And John R. Stein -- The 'folsom Problem' / Philippe D. Letourneau -- The Illusion Of Time / Ann F. Ramenofsky -- Regional Scale Processes And Archaeological Landscape Units / Luann Wandsnider -- On Reliability, Validity, And Scale In Obsidian Sourcing Research / Richard E. Hughes -- Units In Chemistry-based Ceramic Provenance Investigations / Hector Neff -- A View To The Core: Technological Units And Debitage Analysis / Anastasia Steffen, Elizabeth J. Skinner, Peter W. Ainsworth -- Ceramic Wares And Types Assessing: H.s. Colton's Ceramic Concepts / Ruth E. Lambert -- Theory, Measurement, And Explanation: Variable Shapes In Poverty Point Objects / Christopher Pierce. Edited By Ann F. Ramenofsky And Anastasia Steffen. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 191-236) And Index.

Unit Issues In Archaeology-Paper (Foundations of Archaeological Inquiry)

Ramenofsky, Ann F. (Ann Felice), 1942-; Steffen, Anastsia, 1963-

edited by Ann F. Ramenofsky and Anastasia Steffen

Ann Felice Ramenofsky; Anastasia Steffen

Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press

Foundations of archaeological inquiry, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1998

United States, United States of America

1st Edition, 1997

February 2, 1998

November 1997

Printed skewed texts.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-236) and index.

As the contributors to this well-edited book make clear the process of splitting up and classifying the material record of constantly changing life is still a highly controversial and theoretical one. Some of the papers discuss how typologies are created to split one type of stone tool from another. Another paper focuses on the classification of landscape units examining issues such as the identification of `sites' during intensive survey. Such different fields of enquiry (imposing order on `time', `space' and `material') are pulled together by a great introduction which defines the problem and suggests theoretical ways of approaching it.

xiii, 245 p. : 26 cm
Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-236) and index

2023-06-28