Alpine Archaeology

Patrick Hunt¿s Alpine Archaeology is born out of more than a decade of widespread high altitude archaeological field research in the Alps. The observations in this research study were made over time in a number of different field seasons and therefore, gradually built up over the years. The author conducted this study while directing the Stanford Alpine Archaeological Project. Alpine archaeology is a specialized field where normal archaeological principles such as stratigraphy, pedology, data recording, anthropogenic features, materials analyses etc. apply but where contextual and climatic conditions are considerably unique. Higher altitudes and cold climate impact archaeological research and its practice in many different ways and influence the survival and preservation of both organic substances and metal objects as less oxidation and lower diffusion rates in the alpine environment noticeably inhibit the decomposition and corrosion of artifactual material. While observations in the first part of the book have been derived mostly from fieldwork in the Grand-St-Bernard region, those discussed in the second part are derived from the Stanford Alpine Archaeology Project¿s most important ongoing research, which is focused on attempting to trace Hannibal¿s route over the Alps in 218 BCE. Hunt completed his PhD in Archaeology from the Institute of Archaeology, University of London in 1991. He is on the Classics and Archaeology faculty at Stanford University, where he has been Director of the Stanford Alpine Archaeology Project since 1994. His Hannibal research is sponsored by the National Geographic Society, with a grant from their Expedition Council for 2007¿2008.