Definition
The term alluvial geoarchaeology denotes the practice of geoarchaeology in fluvial drainage systems, with an emphasis on the discovery, excavation, and contextual analysis of archaeological records in alluvium, i.e., sediments deposited by water, and existing within varied alluvial settings.
Introduction
The study of alluvial systems and their geologic records has been an important part of the earth sciences since the 1830s, when Charles Lyell focused on alluvial records as part of his famous Principles of Geology. In his Antiquity of Man (1869), arguably the first major work in geoarchaeology, Lyell recounted many discoveries of artifacts and fossils in alluvium, using these to present one of the first chronicles of human cultural and environmental history.
Since that publication, archaeologists and geologists have constructed an increasingly detailed record of human occupations in alluvial environments. The oldest known stone artifacts, 2.6 million-year-old flakes and...
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Ferring, C.R. (2017). Alluvial Settings. In: Gilbert, A.S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geoarchaeology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4409-0_150
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