Archaeology essentials : theories, methods, and practice / Colin Renfrew and Paul Bahn.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

A guide to all aspects of archaeology, this work provides a readable and compact introduction to archaeology for those new to the field. Long-established techniques are carefully explained as well as exciting new methods as the authors describe the ways in which archaeologists seek to explain and interpret the remote past of humankind.

The searchers : the history of archaeology -- What is left? : the variety of the evidence -- Where? : survey and excavation of sites and features -- When? : dating methods and chronology -- How were societies organized? : social archaeology -- What was the environment? What did they eat? : environment, subsistence, and diet -- How were artifacts made, used, and distributed? : technology, trade, and exchange -- What did they think? What were they like? : cognitive archaeology and the archaeology of people -- Why did things change? : explanation in archaeology -- Whose past? : archaeology and the public.