Geology for Archaeologists

A short introduction

J.R.L. Allen

• Publisher: Archaeopress
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781784916879
• eBook ISBN: 9781784916886
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: Social Sciences

This short introduction aims to provide archaeologists of all backgrounds with a grounding in the principles, materials, and methods of geology. Sections include coverage of main rock-forming minerals and classes of rocks. Geological maps and structures are introduced, and the elements of geological stratigraphy and dating are explained and related to archaeological experience. Fluvial and coastal environments are important archaeological landscapes and their formation processes, sediments and topography are outlined. Stone for building, implement-making, tool-making, and making mortar are all discussed, followed by an introduction to clays and ceramics. A final chapter introduces metallurgical landscapes: metalliferous ores, mining and smelting, and metal-making industries. Each chapter ends with a short reading list, and many have selected case-histories in illustration of the points made. Included is a glossary of technical terms.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Information
• Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• Author’s Foreword and Acknowledgements
• 1. Why Geology Matters
• 2. Minerals
• Fig. 2.1 A – Unit cell of common salt (NaCl). B – The silicate tetrahedron (SiO4 )
• Fig 2.2 Planes (A) and axes (B) of symmetry of a crystal on the Cubic System. The numerals denote the number of each kind of property
• Fig. 2.3 A gypsum crystal showing the single plane and single axis of symmetry
• F – Dolomite. (Creative Commons CC-BY-SA-2.5)
• Fig. 2.4 Six common rock-forming minerals in hand-specimen. A – Quartz. (Creative Commons CC-BY-SA-2.5) B – Plagioclase feldspar. (USGS Licence) C – Olivine. (GNU Free Documentation Licence)
• 3. Rocks and Sediments
• Fig. 3.1 A megacrystic granite with large, flow-oriented feldspars.. Scale 5 cm
• Fig. 3.2 Selected rocks in thin-section . A – gabbro, doubly-polarized light . B – basalt, doubly-polarized light. C – calcite-cemented fine-grained sandstone, Weald Clay Formation (Early Cretaceous), plain-polarized light. D – lithic sandstone (Pennant
• Fig. 3.3 A Cretaceous glauconitic sandstone (doubly-polarized light)
• Fig. 3.4 Current ripples on a modern beach. Flow towards upper right. Pocket tape c. 5cm square
• Fig. 3.5 Cross-bedded Upper Carboniferous sandstone. Flow from left
• Fig. 3.6 Dune formed by tidal currents in a modern estuary. Flow towards reader
• Fig. 3.7 Flaggy (parallel-laminated) Upper Carboniferous sandstone
• Fig. 3.8 A coarse, silty slate in thin-section (plain-polarized light)
• Fig. 3.9 A banded garnet-gneiss. Scale 5 cm
• 4. Geological Maps
• Fig. 4.1 William Smith’s geological map of 1815. The Carboniferous rocks of the Mendips, South Wales and the Pennines appear in dark blue and grey. The Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks are shown in bright red, yellow and dull greyish green. Note the grani
• Fig 4.3 Types of fault. A – Normal. B – Reverse. C – Thrust. D Strike-slip
• Fig. 4.2 Schematic dip-and-scarp topography
• Fig. 4.4 Types of fold. A – Anticline. B – Syncline
• Fig. 4.5 Types of fold. A – Pericline. B – Recumbent (overfold)
• Fig. 4.6 A schematic unconformity in vertical, two-dimensional section
• Fig.4.7 Hutton’s famous unconformity at Siccar Point on the northeast coast of the Southern Uplands of Scotland. Near-vertical Silurian sandstones and mudstones are overlain by now-tilted beds of Old Red Sandstone (Devonian). Image by Dave Souza – Creat
• 5. Geological Stratigraphy
• Table 5.1 Summary of the stratigraphy of Britain and Ireland and the chief geological conditions and events
• 6. Geology and Landscape
• Fig 6.1 The chief influences on landscape
• Fig. 6.2 Greatly simplified summary of the geology and geological realms of Britain and Ireland
• Fig. 6.3 The glaciation of the Cumbrian massif (adapted from Smith 2008). Key to principal lakes: B – Bassenthwaite Lake; C – Coniston; D – Derwewntwater; H – Haweswater; L – Loweswate; U – Ullswater; Wa – Wastwater; W – Windermere
• Fig. 6.4 The setitng of Hardknott Castle Roman fort in southwest Cumbria
• Fig. 6.5 Geology and ssettlement in the Nene Valley, Wellingborough. Adapted from British Geological Survey 1:50,000 Sheet 186
• Fig. 6.6 The advance of land-claim in the Nene Estuary, East Anglia. Representative enclosures are dated
• 7. Rivers and Water Management
• Fig. 7.1 Schematic river channel patterns. A – low-sinuosity. B – braided. C – meandering. Sediment accumulations not stabilized by vegetation shown stippled
• Fig. 7.2 A model for flow and sedimentation in a curved or meandering river reach
• Fig 7.3 The ‘hydraulic’ landscape around Woolaston Grange, West Gloucestershire, on the banks of the Severn Estuary
• Fig. 7.4 Partly schematic cross-section of the gravel bar on the R. Trent at Hemington, Leicstershire (adapted from C.R. Salisbury 1992)
• Fig. 7.5 Vertical distribution of lead-zinc-silver waste washings in silty-sandy floodplain deposits of the Tyne at Lower Prudhoe (adapted from Macklin, Rumsby & Newson 1993)
• 8. Sea-Level and Coasts
• Fig. 8.1 A view seaward (northwestward) across the Penhale Sands and (stabilized) Dunes at Perranporth, Cornwall. Copyright: Historic Environment Record, Cornwall Council
• Fig. 8.2 Saltmarshes on the north Norfolk coast. The photograph shows an area about one kilometre square, with the sea toward the top
• Fig. 8.3 A late medieval, now redundant seabank on the Severn Estuary coast. The coast is to the right, where the present active seabank (1960s) can be glimpsed
• Fig. 8.4 Middle Pleistocene deposits at Boxgrove, West Sussex (adapted from Roberts and Parfitt 1999). A – Pleistocene clifflines. B – the generalized sediment sequence at Boxgrove
• Fig. 8.5 The Shannon Estuary, Ireland. A – General view. B – Wetland/intertidal archaeological sites in the upper Shannon and Fergus Estuaries (generalized from O’Sullivan 2001)
• 9. Stone for Building
• 9.1 Some buildings styles. A – random stone, chalk. B – rock-faced stone, oncolitic limestone. C – rock-faced stone, Pennant sandstone D – ashlar, Bathstone. E – ashlar, Bathstone. F – snecked, carrstone.
• 9.2 Rubble-filled walls and pitched stone floor of an early modern building at Dolaucothi-Pumpsaint southwest Wales. Photo: B. Burnham
• 9.3 External view of part of the town wall at Roman Silchester showing the exposed, shingled wall core of flint and layers of lacing stone slabs
• Fig. 9.4 Shingled flint facing, Sts. Peter and Paul, Checkendon, South Oxfordshire
• Fig. 9.5 House wall of small carr, Norfolk
• Fig. 9.6 The (restored) interior of hut 1 at Skara Brae, Orkney
• Fig. 9.7 The masonry wall of Roman Caerwen, southeast Wales. A- External view of portion of west wall c. 45 m south of West Gate. B – Reconstruction of shingling directions in the core of the west wall, including the section illustrated in A
• Fig. 9.8 The distribution of C8-11 buildings with Barnack stone in east-central England (adapted from Jope 1964)
• Fig. 9.9 Rock-types used in Oxford burial ground and their dates of appearance (the figures are the numbers of monuments of each type)
• 10. Stone for Tools and Implements
• Fig. 10.1 A reconstruction by an English Heritage artist of the operation of a flint mine at Grimes Graves in Norfolk. The inset shows the plan of the interlinked galleries at a group of mine shafts (S). Copyright: English Heritage.
• Fig. 10.2 A Neolithic quarry for axe-blanks with a scree of trimming debris high up in the Langdale Pikes. Photo: Mark Edmonds
• Fig. 10.3 Whetstones of sandstone from the Weald Clay Formation. A – two complete and little-worn examples. B – distribution in Roman Britain.
• Fig. 10 4 Iron Age-Roman rotary querns A – Quartz Conglomerate (Upper Old Red Sandstone), photo: R. Shaffrey. B - Lodsworth stone, photo: R, Shaffrey. C –Hertfordshire puddingstone, photo: C. Green
• Fig. 10.5 Distribution in late Iron Age and Roman Britain of rotary querns of (A) Quartz Conglomerate (after Shaffrey 2006), (B) Lodsworth stone (after Shaffrey & Roe 2011), (C) Hertfordshire puddingstone (after Green 2011), and (D) millstones of Millston
• 11. Pottery and Brick
• Fig. 11.1 The early-modern bottle-kiln at Nettlebed, South Oxfordshire
• Fig. 11.2 Some common brick bonds (external views). A – stretcher bond. B – English bond. C –header bond D – Flemish bond. E – rat-trap bond
• Fig. 11.3 Polychrome brickwork in a nineteenth-century street, Reading, Berkshire
• Fig. 11.4 The distribution of Neolithic gabbro=-tempered ware in Southwest England
• Fig. 11.5 The distribution of North Devon Gravel-tempered Ware in Britain and southern and eastern Ireland, based on archaeological and documentary sources
• 12. Metallurgical Landscapes
• Fig 12.1 The main metalliferous ore regions and mining sites of Britain and Ireland
• Fig.12.2 Iron-making tap slag with flow markings from a Roman bloomery furnace
• Fig. 12.3 The metallurgical landscape at Dolaucothi, southwest Wales (adapted from Burnham & Burnham 2004)
• Fig. 12.4 A mine entrance at Dolaucothi, southwest Wales. (Photo: David Ross, www.britainexpress.com)
• Fig 12.5 The metallurgical landscape of southern Cumbria, (adapted from Bowden 2000)
• Glossary
• Index
• Back Cover