Context in Archaeology: an Alternative Perspective

A radiation of new research modes is apparent in the field of archaeology, primarily reflecting concerns derived from cultural anthropology. At the same time, most archaeologists continue to take a static, classificatory approach to environmental variables, regarding the biophysical landscape as a spatial and temporal backdrop. The potential contributions from zoo-archaeology, archaeobotany, geo-archaeology, archaeometry, spatial geography, and ecological anthropology continue to be underexploited. There is urgent need for a multiscale and multidimensional, contextual approach. The goal of contextual archaeology should be the study of archaeological sites as part of a human ecosystem, within which past communities interacted spatially, economically, and socially with the environmental subsystem into which they were adaptively networked.