electrical resistivity: see soil resistivity. A standard cleaning process in archaeological conservation. Artifacts are placed in a chemical solution, and by passing a weak current between them and a surrounding metal grill, the corrosive salts move from the cathode (object) to the anode (grill), removing any accumulated deposit and leaving the artifact clean.

　　electron probe microanalysis: used in the analysis of artifact composition, this technique is similar to XRF (X-ray fluorescence spectrometry), and is useful for studying small changes in composition within the body of an artifact.

　　electron spin resonance (ESR): a chronometric dating technique based upon the behavior of electrons in crystals exposed to naturally occurring radioactivity; used to date limestone, coral, shell, teeth, and other materials. Enables trapped electrons within bone and shell to be measured without the heating that thermoluminescence requires.

　　emulation: one of the most frequent features accompanying competition, where customs, buildings, and artifacts in one society may be adopted by neighboring ones through a process of imitation which is often competitive in nature.

　　environmental archaeology: a field in which inter-disciplinary research, involving archaeologists and natural scientists, is directed at the reconstruction of human use of plants and animals, and how past societies adapted to changing environmental conditions.

　　eolian deposits: sediments transported by wind (e.g. sand-dunes, loess, etc.).

　　ethnoarchaeology: the study of contemporary cultures with a view to understanding the behavioral relationships which underlie the production of material culture.

　　ethnographic analogy: interpretation of archaeological remains by comparison to historical cultures.

　　ethnography: that aspect of cultural anthropology concerned with the descriptive documentation of living cultures.

　　ethnohistory: the study of ethnographic cultures through historical records.

　　ethnology: a subset of cultural anthropology concerned with the comparative study of contemporary cultures, with a view to deriving general principles about human society.

　　excavation grid: a system of rectangular coordinates, established on the ground surface by stakes and string, which divides a site into excavation units.

　　experimental archaeology: the study of past behavioral processes through experimental reconstruction under carefully controlled scientific conditions.

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　　fall-off analysis: the study of regularities in the way in which quantities of traded items found in the archaeological record decline as the distance from the source increases. This may be plotted as a falloff curve, with the quantities of material (y-axis) plotted against distance from source (X-axis).

　　faunal dating: a method of relative dating based on observing the evolutionary changes in particular species of mammals, so as to form a rough chronological sequence.

　　faunal remains: bones and other animal parts found in archaeological sites. Important in the reconstruction of past ecosystems and cultural subsistence patterns.

　　field data forms: printed forms used to record archaeological survey or excavation information. Special forms are frequently used to record artifact proveniences; features and burials; site locations and descriptions; and level-notes.

　　fission-track dating: a dating method based on the operation of a radioactive clock, the spontaneous fission of an isotope of uranium present in a wide range of rocks and minerals. As with potassium-argon dating, with whose time range it overlaps, the method gives useful dates from rocks adjacent to archaeological material.

　　flake: a fragment removed from a core or nucleus of cryptocrystalline or fine-grained rock by percussion or pressure. May be used as a tool with no further deliberate modification, may be retouched, or may serve as a preform for further reduction.