ARCHAEOLOGY TERMINOLOGY
1. ARCHAEOLOGY - study of humans and their behavior by focusing on
material remains
a. Artifacts - tangible objects
b. Features - nonportable creations such as a trash pit, hearth,
foundation, etc.
c. Context - spatial and temporal associations between or among
artifacts and/or features
*** DISCOVERY
ANALYSIS
INTERPRETATION
PALEOARCHAEOLOGY - archaeology of ancient humans
PRE-HISTORIC ARCHAEOLOGY - archaeology of pre-literate humans of
the Holocene
HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY - archaeology of literate societies where
historical records are used to complement archaeological data
ETHNOARCHAEOLOGY - study of present-day societies, how they use
objects, and how the archaeology record is created
2. METHODOLOGY
Survey
Excavation
a. Assemblage - grouping of artifacts/features from particular
time and site
b. Archaeological Culture - grouping of similar assemblages from
different sites