Methods & Aims in Archaeology

A practical handbook that sets out principles and techniques for archaeological fieldwork, balancing theoretical aims with detailed procedures. It treats the excavator’s responsibilities and organization, methods for distinguishing temples, towns, and cemeteries, and the recruitment and control of labour. It gives step‑by‑step guidance on site arrangement, recording, plotting, copying inscriptions and objects, photography, conservation, packing, and publication. It advocates systematic corpus‑building and sequence dating to interpret material sequences, evaluates the nature and limits of archaeological evidence, and concludes with ethical considerations about destruction, restoration, and the responsibilities owed to both past remains and future scholars.