This volume offers an archaeology of Asia whose geographic coverage ranges from
the equator to the upper latitudes, and from the South China Sea to the lakes of
eastern Kazakhstan. For many readers picking up this book, their first question is
likely,“Why Asia?”The answer is fourfold: Asia is vast; it is diverse; its history merits
comparison with other regions of the world; and for the last century Western archaeologists
have largely ignored Asia’s archaeology. The primary goal of this volume is
to bring to the fore Asia’s past as part of world archaeology by including case studies
on subjects of global archaeological interest.