How does Archaeology get done?
What archaeology isn’t
Archaeologists don’t do dinosaurs!
That’s paleontology.
It’s not just about digging!
It’s complicated, meticulous work that
demands training, patience and big
budgets.
It’s extremely interdisciplinary.
In other words, it’s not what
most people think it is.
Some Types of Archaeology
Paleoanthropology
Classical
Some Types of Archaeology
Anthropological
Historical
Some Types of Archaeology
Underwater
Industrial
The Goals of Archaeology
1. Discovering the past
Excavation & Description
2. Reconstructing culture history
Who was where, when, with what?
3. Explaining cultural processes
How and why do cultures change or stay the
same?
4. Interpreting Past Cultures
What did peoples’ lives mean?
Sites
What are they?
Places where past human activity occurred
Some common site types:
Habitation―places where people lived
Procurement―places where people got
resources
Processing―places where people
converted
resources to products
Sacred―places where people practiced
activities
related to their ideology
Specialized―places with unique purposes
Sites are defined by what’s in them.
Habitation Sites
Procurement Sites
Processing
Sacred
Specialized
What do archaeologists find?
Artifacts—transportable objects made and
used by past peoples
Features—formed or built by people, these
“objects” can’t be moved
Activity areas—clusters of artifacts and
features resulting from particular activities
Ecofacts—environmental elements that
exhibit traces of human use or activity
Ideofacts—objects or features that contain
information about peoples’ belief systems
Sociofacts—objects or features that contain
information about peoples’ social structure
Items can fit in more than one category.
Information, not the item, is the key.
How Sites Are Formed
Taphonomy—The study of how
paleontological and archaeological remains
ended up in a particular place.
Primary refuse—When the items used
together and deposited together are left
exactly where they fell by ancient people.
Secondary refuse—Deposits where
people took their trash to a pile or pit,
removing it from the immediate vicinity of
their living quarters.
How Sites Are Found
Scientists ask around or read reports.
Sophisticated remote-sensing devices—groundpenetrating radar, proton magnetometers, or
electrical resistivity meters, can help search for
sites.
Pedestrian Survey
Scientists search for sites through a process of
subsurface sampling, placing test pits at regular
intervals.
How Information Is Recovered
Literature searches, maps, site forms
Surface Survey/subsurface testing
Sampling
Test excavations
Excavations
Analysis
Context is crucial!
A single artifact, devoid of any context, provides
only a fraction of the information provided by an
object for which context has been preserved and
recorded.
All data recovery is slow and tedious, so as not to
lose context.
A typical archaeological excavation looks like
this: square holes on a grid system, measuring
tapes, shovels (sometimes), and lots of sitting
around taking notes or photos.
The most important tools in archaeology
are a small (5 ½ inch) bricklayer’s trowel, a
tape measure, and a notebook.
Everything after that is gravy.
None of this happens without a
research design!
Formulation involves defining the research problem, performing background
investigations, and conducting feasibiliity studies.
Implementation involves completing all the necessary arrangements for
planning the work
One of the most difficult parts including everything from finance to
permissions.
Who pays for archaeological research?
Data Acquisition: reconnaissance, survey, and excavation (steps are not
mutually exclusive!)
Reconnaissance is locating sites without excavation
Survey records as much as possible about sites without excavation
Excavation exposes the buried cultural remains and other characteristics of
sites, recording or retrieving data
Data Processing is the manipulation of materials (raw data) including the
treatment of artifacts, measurements, development of records such as maps.
Analysis provides information about each type of data, such as artifacts,
ecofacts, ideofacts, features. Some can be done in the field, but much
more is done in the lab. Estimates of lab:field in terms of time range from 510 times more in the lab.
Analyzing Archaeological Data
Artifacts
The Sources of Raw Materials
Determined through trace element analysis in which impurities in tiny
or “trace” amounts are scanned for.
Uses procedures such as neutron activation analysis and
x-ray fluorescence.
Tool Manufacture and Use
Experimental replication is the process of attempting to
authentically re-create ancient artifacts.
Morphology is the form of the object, what it looked like, and by
the evidence of wear patterns.
Social Patterns, based on distribution (a sociofact)
Understanding Past Behavior
Archaeologists use ethnoarchaeology (the study
of living populations as analogy).
Archaeologists also experiment in order to
reconstruct.
Publication and Public Archaeology
It does little good to dig and
analyze unless you publish
your findings.
In fact, it’s unethical!
Public accountability
They usually pay the bills,
and it’s often their heritage