Page 17 - Life & Land Use on the Bahrain Islands (Curtis E Larsen)

Preface

During the past two decades, archeology has undergone a variety of changes, and
among these has been a movement to provide a broader, more detailed
understanding of the material cultural remains which have long been the data of
the field. This search for context has led in several directions. Some attention has
been directed toward more detailed analyses of traditionally excavated sites. Such
attempts have frequently sought to increase the quantity and quality of data
recovered by saving such related ecological materials as animal and botanical
remains, as well as sediments, for later analysis. Analyses of these extracultural
data typify the truly multidisciplinary direction that archeology has taken.
Perhaps more important, the trend toward multidisciplinary approaches marks an
increasing awareness of the complex array of cultural and natural forces that lie
behind the artifact. The human population cannot be viewed as the sole driving
force behind changes documented in archeological sequences, nor can the natural
environment be invoked as the sole determinant. Subsistence patterns and social
systems most closely related to the artifact are themselves subsystems of still
larger ongoing processes. As Butzer (1976) has noted, there is "an unmistakable
element of ecology, of a dynamic interface between environment, technology, and
society."
It is a goal of the modern archeologist to achieve an understanding of this
interface. To this end he must adapt his research strategies to go beyond
excavation. While the stratified artifact together with sediments and plant and
animal remains will continue to make up the fabric of the science for years to
come, synthesis of results must take a major role. Spatial arrangement of data,
when firmly controlled by verified artifact assemblages, can present graphically

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