Geoarchaeology

Archaeology is the study of human past, culture and civilization via examination and analysis of material remains. Geoarchaeology combines the methods and concepts of earth sciences to solve the problems in archaeology. It involves elucidation of issues concerning environmental changes and changes in physical landscape that led to preservation or destruction of an archaeological site. It also describes interaction between geology, geography and geomorphology with archaeology to gather information about location and age of ancient cities by studying the soil, sediments and buried rocks and other artifacts. The conventional techniques involve determination of particle size analysis, determination of magnetic susceptibility, conductivity tests on the sediments, elemental analysis to find carbon content, pH tests and mineral analysis of the rocks or the sediments. With the help of modern technologies like GIS, digital elevation models and computer cartography, the field of geoarchaeological sciences has evolved. Geoarchaeological studies provide an understanding of the soil environment, the differences between sediments being natural or anthropogenic, development of agroecosystem models and details about history and formation of archaeological deposits In the book, articles are included that provide an insight to the history and development of Geoarchaeology. There is special attention paid to the use of modern day geophysical methods, GIS and information modeling. I hope it will be informative and useful for the readers.