Quantifying the Present and Predicting the Past

One of the more interesting developments in the field of archaeology in the recent past is the emergence of predictive modeling as an integral component of the discipline. Within any developing and expanding field, one may expect some initial controversy that will, presumably, diminish as the techniques are tested, refined, and finally accepted. We are still very much in the initial stages of learning how to go about using predictive modeling in archaeology, and this book represents an effort by some of the leading experts in the field to present a comprehensive and detailed examination of this approach to understanding how people in the past used the landscape in which they lived.