Archaeological Geology
1982 saw the continuation of a small explosion in publication of archaeological-geology research and this year promises to be as active. It is a fact of life that, as interdisciplinary rather than sub-specialists in geology, we are faced with the job of monitoring publications in both archaeology and geology. In this review I will present some of the publication outlets now in use, from international to relatively esoteric, and comment on a possible future trend in publication of archaeological-geology research.
Large university presses continue to publish books dealing entirely or substantially with archaeology geology, K.W. Butzer, in his Archaeology as human ecology (Cambridge), explicitly denies the synonymy of archaeological geology with geo-archaeology, which to him infers archaeology done primarily by earth-science methods, techniques, and concepts. Many who consider themselves archaeological geologist may, after digesting Butzer’s 5-chapter systematic treatment of the principles, procedures, and goals of geo-archaeology, begin to shift their research methodologies from the geological to the archaeological end of the spectrum. A second publication, Troy: the archaeological geology (George R. Rapp & John A. Gifford; Princeton), is a supplementary monography in a long-standing approach to archaeological geology.
Academic Press, which sensed the potential for archaeological-geology publications some years ago, published 2 volumes last year: Quaternary coastlines and marine archaeology (P.M. masters & N.C. Flemming) and Paleoecology of Berengia (D.M. Hopkins & others). Academic Press, also publisher of both the explicitly interdisciplinary journal Quaternary research and the Journal of archaeological science (which occasionally contains articles on archaeological geology), deserves acknowledgment of its important role in disseminating research results int hat field. This year it is continuing the role by publishing a review of recent developments in New World early-man studies (edited by R.S. Shutler, Jr.).
Other books to appear in the next year or so will be the Encyclopedia of geoarchaeology (Rhodes W. Fairbridge & A.S. Gilbert, Hutchinson & Ross), and a volume on archaeological-geology research in the eastern Mediterranean, to be edited by F.W. McCoy. The Encyclopedia will serve to collect and review background information and research literature at the geology-archaeology interface, and the Mediterranean volume will contain papers presented in 1981 in Cincinnati, at a symposium by the Geological Society of America’s Archaeological Geology Division.
However, most research publications in archaeological geology (and geoarchaeology) appear not in book form but through other publication outlets, to some extent in monograph series but primarily in refereed journals. Serial publications are usually published by smaller university or departmental presses, regularly or occasionally, for example, the Geoscience and man series of the School of Geoscience at Louisiana State University. Publications in such series are often of high caliber and more than regional interest. One interesting development for archaeological geologists is the commercial publication British archaeological reports, which produces an international monograph series that has included interdisciplinary research.
Refereed subscription journals, other than the pan-professional Science, Nature, Scientific American, and American scientist, may be categorized as geological, archaeological, or archeometric by subject, content and readership. Although regular readers of Geotimes will be familiar with those in the first category that occasionally publish articles on archaeological geology (such as the Geological Society of America Bulletine, Geology, Geologie en mijnbouw, Quaternary research, and Environmental Geology), they may not be well acquainted with journals in the others. A designation follows.
English-language archaeology journals include American Antiquity, American journal of archaeology, Antiquity, Journal of field archaeology, International journal of nautical archaeology, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, and World archaeology. In many of those, one may find archaeological-geology articles, or sections of articles, relating to site excavations, surveys, or other specific archaeological projects. The archaeological-geology information, as an appended specialist report, often will not be indicated by the article’s title. In addition, thanks to editors such as P.A. Colinvaux, W.R. Farrand, R. Stuckenrath, and M.Stuiver, detailed and insightful reviews of archaeological-geology publications appear from time to time in the little known Quarterly review of archaeology.
The third category (archeometric journals) includes Archaeolmetry, Journal of archaeological science, ,MASCA journal, and SAS research notes. The last is a new outlet for rapid publication of current research and interim reports on, among other fields, archaeological geology; it is a supplement of the Society for archaeological sciences quarterly newsletter. By definition, archaeological-geology reports appearing in those publications will be skewed towards geochemical and geophysical research. A search through the 1982 number of those publications will reveal about 20 to 25 articles that would be classified as archaeological geology.
A final, and labyrinthine, publication outlet for archaeological-geology research is through U.S. government documents, often repots to the Department of Interior’s National Park Service. One example of archaeological-geological research recently published as a government report is that of S. Gagliano & others (Coastal-Environments, Inc.) On sedimentary studies of archaeological sites submerged on the Gulf of Mexico continental shelf. Perhaps the most efficient way of keeping track of them is through the National Technical Information Service citations of federally funded research, using appropriate keywords.
The compilation of archaeological geology-publication mechanisms, although not all-inclusive, indicates the wide range of printed material we regularly must review to stay informed. It is a second fact of life that, by and large, archaeologists do not read geology publications and vice versa. At least 2 serious attempts have been made in the last few years to launch a journal of archaeological geology (or geoarchaeology), which it is assumed would present the ideal publication outlet for those of us torn in at least 2 directions for the readership of our articles. But perhaps more consideration of a new journal is needed, independent of financial considerations for publishers and subscribers in the present times. Might we not be painting ourselves into a lonely publication corner? Possibly another fact of life may well be that neither geologists nor archaeologists would have the time or inclination peruse such a specialized journal. Since we are - or should be - trying to reach the mainstream of both professions, that might compromise the usefulness of our research efforts.