Field practice in archaeology varies greatly throughout the world mainly because
archaeological sites survive in very different ways in different counties. Many manuals see
this as a problem - to be defeated by the imposition of standardised procedures. In this book
we relish the variety of field practice seeing it rather as the way the best archaeologists
have responded creatively to the challenges of terrain research objectives and the communities
within which they work. While insisting on the highest levels of investigation we celebrate
the different designs concepts scientific detection methods and recording systems applied -
so embracing standards but not standardisation. The book is organised in four parts: Part 1
offers a summary of field procedures. Part 2 reviews the principal methods applied above and
below ground and how the results are analysed. Part 3 illustrates the huge variety confronted
by field workers with a series of exemplary commercial and academic projects enacted in
downland jungle desert permafrost road schemes and towns. Approaches also differ according
to the traditional methodologies that have evolved in particular countries. In Part 4 we give
examples of some the strongest and oldest of those practised on four continents. ¿
