In 1973, researchers from the University of Michigan conducted a survey in the Loboi area, north of Lake Bogoria (Lake Hannington) in west Kenya, north of Nairobi. The goal of the project was to record archaeological remains in the area. In 1965, Mary Leakey had noted the presence of stone tools and faunal remains in Loboi, and her son Richard Leakey, director of the National Museums of Kenya, suggested the area should be further studied.In addition to the intensive survey, the researchers excavated seven small test units at five sites and recovered archaeological materials.

Almost every artifact in archaeological analysis originates in or on the ground. While there are elaborate methods for extracting and analyzing artifacts, treatment of the matrix within which they are located is often unsophisticated and does not include systematic analysis.

Sediments in Archaeological Context concerns the analysis of this matrix and the potential use of sediments to answer archaeological questions. Describing sediments and sampling them in appropriate ways do not replace the study of artifacts, but they can provide additional, useful information regarding a site complex, its physical environment, and the relations of artifacts to each other.

Each chapter in the volume considers sediments within a specific context. Topics include sediments found in a variety of environments: cultural environments, rockshelter and cave environments, dryland alluvial environments, humid alluvial environments, lake environments, shoreline environments, and spring and wetland environments.

Sediments in Archaeological Context is intended for every archaeologist who investigates sites in depositional contexts.