This abridged version of Colin Renfrew and Paul Bahn's best-selling textbook, Archaeology , has all the authority of the longer edition, but it has been carefully rewritten to provide a readable and compact introduction to the subject for those new to the field. No other book of this length can match its range of essential information and explanation. Long-established techniques as well as exciting new methods are carefully explained as the authors describe the ways in which archaeologists seek to interpret the remote past of humankind.