Archaeology owes much to science in terms of theory and practice, and as a source of investigative techniques. The subfield of archaeological science draws on various branches of science and has shed much light on the archaeological works commissioned by the National Roads Authority (NRA). The occasion of Dublin hosting the international conference Euroscience Open Forum in July 2012 was celebrated with Dublin City of Science 2012—a year long programme of science-related events. The NRA contributed to this prestigious festival of science with Futures and Pasts: archaeological science on Irish road schemes, a seminar held on 23 August 2012, which showcased a magnificent array of scientific techniques currently employed in Irish archaeology.
These proceedings include a noteworthy assessment of the past and future application of geophysical surveying on national roads and explores the use of another remote sensing technique—airborne laser scanning—that has been employed on a number of recent projects. Terrestrial laser scanning features too, in a paper highlighting how the related, cutting-edge technology of 3D printing has revolutionised non-invasive artefact recording and replica modelling. The importance of artefacts for future analyses is underlined in a discussion of the conservation techniques used to preserve them physically and chemically. This is followed by two papers on the scientific study of archaeological human skeletal remains. The first deals with a novel consideration of aspects of physical pain, the second examines the use of bone chemistry analysis to investigate past dietary patterns and geographic origins. Scientific dating has been crucial to archaeology for many decades and Futures and Pasts illustrates important aspects of and developments in the application of radiocarbon and tree-ring dating, as well as highlighting the less commonly applied technique of optically stimulated luminescence dating. The proceedings conclude with two papers devoted to the environmental and earth sciences, which have both made valuable contributions to the understanding of sites excavated as part of the national roads building programme.
Published August 2013. Approx. 158 pages, approx. 100 illustrations, paperback.
ISBN 978-0-9574380-5-7. Price €25.00.
|Author||Bernice Kelly, Niall Roycroft and Michael Stanley (eds)|
|Publication Data||August 2013|
Futures and Pasts: archaeological science on Irish road schemes
- ISBN: 978-0-9574380-5-7
- Author(s): Bernice Kelly, Niall Roycroft and Michael Stanley (eds)
- Availability: In Stock