The Geoarchaeological Approach

Abstract

‘Geoarchaeology’ can be defined as a major discipline of environmental archaeology applied to archaeological issues, together with palaeoecology, archaeobotany and archaeozoology. In this sense, the definition mainly relies on the study of the soils and sediment. From a broader perspective, in fact, archaeology can be described as a general earth sciences discipline which associates the palaeoenvironmental studies on a given archaeological site and at the same time investigate the landscape surrounding the site. A rather similar understanding of the term was proposed by Butzer (Archaeology as human ecology: method and theory for a conceptual approach. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1982), who distinguishes geological archaeology or geoarchaeology – which tries to solve archaeological issues thanks to the methods and techniques of earth sciences – from archaeological geology or archaeogeology, which is inspired by geological and geomorphological issues, the results of which may be used in archaeology. In this chapter, we will present the state of the art and the principles of the discipline, and we will discuss the methodological and applicative frameworks, in the light of the most recent developments and achievements.