Geology for Archaeologists : A Short Introduction.

Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright Information -- Contents -- List of Figures and Tables -- Author's Foreword and Acknowledgements -- 1. Why Geology Matters -- 2. Minerals -- What is a mineral? -- Feldspar Family -- Olivine Family -- Quartz -- Amphibole Family -- Clay-mineral Family -- Mica Family -- Pyroxene Family -- Calcite, aragonite and dolomite -- Gypsum and anhydrite -- Further reading -- Minor and accessory 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 -- How to study rocks -- Major classes -- Igneous rocks -- Clastic sediments and rocks -- Glacial deposits and features -- Carbonate sediments and rocks -- Evaporites -- Metamorphic rocks -- Catastrophic deposits -- Further Reading -- 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 -- How geological maps are made -- What is a geological map? -- Faults -- Folds -- National Geological Surveys and other data sources -- Further Reading -- 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 -- Succession and correlation -- Systematic stratigraphy -- Geological and archaeological dating -- Further Reading -- Table 5.1 Summary of the stratigraphy of Britain and Ireland and the chief geological conditions and events -- 6. Geology and Landscape -- What is landscape? -- Geological history -- Structure, rocks and sediments -- Geological processes -- Climate -- Humankind -- Further Reading -- Case 1: Pleistocene glaciation of the Cumbrian massif -- Case 2: Hardknott Castle Roman fort, Cumbria.

Case 3: The Nene valley, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire -- Case 4: Land-claim in the Nene estuary, Fenland, eastern England -- 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 -- Rivers and their character -- Sedimentation in rivers -- Channel and water management -- Catchments and alluviation -- Further Reading -- Case 1: Woolaston Grange Farm - a West Gloucstershire 'hydraulic' landscape -- Case 2: A medieval channel deposit in the Leicestershire Trent Valley -- Case 3: Contamination from metal mining in the Tyne Valley -- 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 &amp -- Newson 1993) -- 8. Sea-Level and Coasts -- Coastal geological agencies -- Coastal types -- Dune belts -- Estuaries -- Saltmarshes -- Relative sea-level -- Further Reading -- Case 1: Middle Pleistocene shoreline, Boxgrove, West Sussex -- Case 2: Shannon-Fergus Estuary, Central Ireland -- 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 -- National resources -- The right stone? -- Styles and applications -- Decorative stone -- Mortars and plasters -- Further Reading -- Case 1: Skara Brae, Orkney -- Case 2: Roman Caerwent, southeast Wales -- Case 3: Barnack stone -- Case 4: Oxford gravestones -- 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 -- Cutting and allied applications -- Sharpening -- Grinding and milling -- Further Reading -- Case 1: Neolithic axe production at Great Langdale, Cumbria -- Case 2: Roman Wealden whetstone industry -- Case 3: Iron Age-Roman rotary quern and millstone industries in southern England -- 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.

This short introduction aims to provide archaeologists of all backgrounds with a grounding in the principles, materials, and methods of geology. 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.

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