Field methods and post-excavation techniques in late antique archaeology / edited by Luke Lavan and Michael Mulryan.

"Originally published as Volume 9 (2012) of Brill's journal Late Antique Archaeology."

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Field methods and post excavation techniques in late antique archaeology : anyone for discussion? / Luke Lavan -- [1] Period-specific methods? -- "Late antique field archaeology" : a legitimate aim? / Steve Roskams -- Distinctive field methods for late antiquity : some suggestions / Luke Lavan -- The analysis of reused material culture for late antique studies / Ellen Swift -- [2] the regional development of field methods -- Late antique archaeology in Hungary : the development of fieldwork methodologies / Zsolt Magyar -- Late antique archaeology in the Holy Land : evolution, fieldwork methods and post-excavation analyses / Itamar Taxel -- [3] Urban and rural survey -- Central Greece in late antiquity : the evidence from the Boeotia Project / John Bintliff -- Survey in the Taurus Mountains : methodologies of the Pisidia Survey Project / Lutgarde Vandeput and Veli Kose -- [4] restudying excavated sites -- Ruins, rubbish dumps and encroachment : resurveying late antique Ostia / Axel Gering -- The Agorai of Sagalassos in late antiquity : an interpretive study / Luke Lavan -- [5] Buildings archaeology -- The early Byzantine domed basilicas of West Asia Minor : an essay in graphic reconstruction / Nikolaos D. Karydis -- Reuse as archaeology in Ostia : a test case for late antique building chronologies in Ostia / Douglas Underwood -- [6] Special deposits and contextual analysis -- Approaches to artefact assemblages : inventories, imagery, and stratified deposits / Joe Williams -- Beyond the grave : excavating the dead in the late Roman provinces / John Pearce -- Contextual archaeology : the late antique fort and Vicus Favianis/Mautern : methods and results / Stefan Groh and Helga Sedlmayer -- [7] Material culture studies -- Food for thought : the potential and problems of faunal evidence for interpreting late antique society / Steve Roskams -- Excavation, processing and studying the pottery from Ras El Bassit, Syria / Jeremy Evans and Philip Mills -- The potential of ceramic building materials in understanding late antique archaeology / Philip Mills -- The potential of laser scanning Roman buildings / Yoshiki Hori -- Abstracts in French -- Indices -- Themes -- Index of people (historical) -- Index of places.

"Archaeologists working on late antique sites have not spent enough time thinking about methodology. Their focus has often been on recovering and cataloguing evidence, or on the study of specific historical problems. Digging has often been more important than publishing, which has rarely extended beyond the basic summaries found in preliminary reports. The re-emergence of clearance excavation, fuelled by the demands of tourism, has further reduced the value of urban excavations in the East Mediterranean. Here, late antique levels have suffered, in the hunt for photogenic early imperial architecture. This volume attempts to address this situation by offering a critique of present practice and a series of exemplars, alongside discussion articles on field technique and post-excavation analysis. The scope of the articles ranges from urban survey to the study of finds. Finally, the book considers if we need to develop specific field methods appropriate to the study of late antiquity. Contributors are John Bintliff, Jeremy Evans, Axel Gering, Stefan Groh, Nikolaos D. Karydis, Veli Köse, Luke Lavan, Zsolt Magyar, Philip Mills, John Pearce, Steve Roskams, Helga Sedlmayer, Ellen Swift, Itamar Taxel, Douglas Underwood, Lutgarde Vandeput and Joe Williams"--Provided by publisher.

Contributions in English; abstracts in English and French.