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FORTY FRENCH TOWNS: AN ESSAY ON ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE EVALUATION AND HISTORICAL AIMS
Author(s) -
CARVER M. O. H.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
oxford journal of archaeology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.382
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1468-0092
pISSN - 0262-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0092.1983.tb00346.x
Subject(s) - excavation , archaeology , archaeological record , history , archaeological evidence , historical archaeology , geography
Summary. A preliminary review of forty French towns suggests that the survival of archaeological evidence in urban sites is due to a combination of physical factors, many of which can be known before an excavation campaign begins. The distribution of surviving archaeological strata proves to be uneven, both in time and space; neither is it generally coincident with the riches of the written record. A new approach to national research‐policies is offered, where archaeological site‐evaluation plays a major role and the bias inherent in the differential survival of archaeological and documentary data is explicitly stated. Some compensation for the inadequate record left to us may be achieved by redefining the range of objectives accessible to archaeological investigation in towns.