Deconstructing Context: A Critical Approach to Archaeological Practice

The importance of context has been extensively discussed in recent years. This volume attempts to address the fragmentation and misconceptions that have developed around context in archaeology, highlighting the common threads that link together varying contextual perspectives. The first part of the book examines the concept of archaeological context by offering a critical assessment of its 'historical' development. The second section presents a number of case studies, and the third section discusses the management of archaeological material. Finally, part four takes the discussion on context further, setting the content of the book in a wider perspective.

Part 1: Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to Context
Archaeological context as a unifying process – an introduction (D Papaconstantinou)
Ethnoarchaeology and its contribution to contextual studies (C Cameron)
Part 2: Archaeological Context and Material Culture
From context to the use of space: Methodological problems in studying faunal remains from settlements of early farmers in prehistoric Europe (A Marciniak)
Questioning spatial contexts: The distribution of lithic studies as analytical and interpretative bodies of data (K Skourtopoulou)
The meaning of context for changing interpretations of the Cypriot Aceramic Neolithic (C McCartney)
Potted histories: Towards an understanding of potsherds and their contexts (J Last)
Counting sherds at Neopalatial Petras, Siteia, East Crete: Integrating ceramic analysis with architectural data (M Tsipopoulou)
Material culture and the value of context: Case studies from Marki, Cyprus (J Webb)
Part 3: Context and the Management of the Archaeological Record
Hypothetical approaches and realities: Space context research strategies (M Özdogan)
Re-constructions: Materialised narratives (K Vouzakis)
Part 4: Instead of an Epilogue
Archaeology as the investigation of contexts of humanity (J Barrett)