Sediments in archaeological context

the long version

"Almost every artifact in archaeological analysis originates in or on the ground. While there are elaborate methods for extracting and analyzing artifacts, treatment of the matrix within which they are located is often unsophisticated and does not include systematic analysis. Sediments in Archaeological Context concerns the analysis of this matrix and the potential use of sediments to answer archaeological questions. Describing sediments and sampling them in appropriate ways cannot replace the study of artifacts but can provide additional, useful information for a site complex, its physical environment, and the relation of artifacts to each other. Each chapter in the volume considers sediments within a specific context...Sediments in Archaeological Context is intended for every archaeologist who investigates sites in depositional contexts" -- Back cover.