Introduction
Archaeology is a component of Encyclopedia of Social Sciences and Humanities in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias.
Archaeology is a road for traveling into the past that is independent of and complementary to documents and memory. The archaeological record provides historical perspectives on variability and change in human life support systems with the potential for use in planning for future sustainable development. The Theme is organized into four different topics which represent the main scientific areas of the theme: - Foundations of Archaeology; - The Archaeology of Life Support Systems; - World Cultural Heritage; - Preserving Archaeological Sites and Monuments which are then expanded into multiple subtopics, each as a chapter. The first topic deals with historical, methodological, and theoretical foundations of archaeology. The second topic explores the archaeological record of human life support systems and includes chapters on foraging, food production such as farming and nomadic lifestyles, civilizations, water-management systems, and sustainability. World cultural heritage is the third topic. Finally, the fourth topic covers the preservation of cultural memorials such as archaeological sites, landscapes, and monuments.
These two volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College Students Educators, Professional Practitioners, Research Personnel and Policy Analysts, Managers, and Decision Makers, NGOs and GOs.
Editor(s) Biography
Donald L. Hardesty is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Nevada–Reno. He received his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Oregon. Hardesty specializes in historical archaeology of the American West and is the author or editor of six books or monographs, including Ecological Anthropology, The Archaeology of Mining and Miners, and The Archaeology of the Donner Party, along with many articles in scholarly journals. He is a past president of the Society for Historical Archaeology, past president of the Mining History Association, and past president of the Register of Professional Archaeologists. He a past member of the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) Directorate for Arid Lands Ecosystems
