The Handbook, written by 35 leading experts, provides an authoritative guide to the full range of archaeological activities past and present. It will give the reader a sense of the history of the subject and of the main theoretical debates, as well as a taste of the excitement generated by archaeological exploration.

1. THE NAME AND NATURE OF ARCHAEOLOGY ; 2. TOOLS OF THE TRADE ; 3. EARLY HUMANS ; 4. STRATEGIES FOR SURVIVAL ; 5. COMPLEX SOCIETIES AND THE FORMATION OF EARLY STATES ; 6. SOME REGIONAL OVERVIEWS ; 7. ISSUES AND DEBATES

World coverage of the discipline by leading expert authors Includes regional overviews of key regions of the world Provides essential starting points for more specialist work, as well as a conspectus for general readers Ranges across the history of archaeology, archaeological science, and ethics in archaeology Part of the prestigious Oxford Handbooks series

Barry Cunliffe is Emeritus Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of the British Academy. He has excavated widely in Britain, the Channel Islands, France, and Spain, and written a number of books on archaeology, including Facing the Ocean (OUP, 2001) and The Celts (OUP, 2003). He has presented many radio and television programmes and is currently Trustee of the British Museum and Commissioner of English Heritage. Chris Gosden is Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford. He has excavated in Britain, Europe, Central Asia, and Papua New Guinea, and has written a number of books on archaeology and museum studies, including Prehistory: A Very Short Introduction (OUP, 2003). Rosemary A. Joyce is Professor in the Department of Archaeology at the University of California at Berkeley.

World coverage of the discipline by leading expert authors Includes regional overviews of key regions of the world Provides essential starting points for more specialist work, as well as a conspectus for general readers Ranges across the history of archaeology, archaeological science, and ethics in archaeology Part of the prestigious Oxford Handbooks series