Geoarchaeology has been defined, by Karl W. Butzer, as “archaeological research using the
methods and concepts of the earth sciences.” Although the relationships among geology,
geography and archaeology have been recognised since the beginnings of these
disciplines in the nineteenth century, geoarchaeology was first articulated as a
subdiscipline of archaeology in the 1970s.  It developed as part of a contextual approach
to archaeological evidence focused on recording stratigraphic relationships in
archaeological sites, interpreting site formation processes, seeing sites as components
of past landscapes, and using geophysical techniques to discover archaeological sites
and features.

The development of the Geoarchaeological Research Group at UNB has catalysed around
the interests of students researching Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene human
occupations in the Maritime Provinces.  However, our members are involved in studies of
sites as diverse as Middle Palaeolithic rockshelter occupations, anthropogenic soils created
by horticulturalists in Amazonia, alluvially stratified riverine sites and anthropogenically
stratified coastal middens in the Maritimes. Our purpose is to develop and promote geoarchaeological research.  We aim to reinforce the connections among earth sciences and
social sciences involved in the study the past.

David W. Black, Anthropology