Archaeology 101

What is archaeology?

• The scientific study of the physical evidence of past human societies recovered through the excavation.

• Archaeologists not only attempt to discover and describe past cultures, but to explain the development of these cultures.

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What does an archaeologist search for?

• Instead of looking towards written texts, an archaeologist looks for what has been left behind- ARTIFACTS- and other evidence of past human activity.

• While an historian knows how to find documents, an archaeologist has fewer leads- where do you start to dig?

Site Seeing…

There are several non destructive methods that can help determine whether a certain area may contain artifacts:

• Primary written sources contain clues

• Careful observation of surface features and already exposed artifacts

Aerial Photography• Views from the sky offer unique perspectives

on an archaeological site- often revealing features that may be less noticeable from the ground

• By carefully examining patterns of shadows, soil colours, and crop growth, an archaeologist may detect the remains of sunken features such as walls, ditches, and earthworks

At ground level…

A variety of remote sensing techniques can be used to investigate a potential site without disturbing it- depending on the soil.

• Ground penetrating radar• Soil-resistivity testing or measuring a soil’s

electrical resistance• Magnetic surveys to determine the nature of

the materials below the surface.

Digging in the Dirt

An important thing to remember is that unlike a document in history, the soil of an archaeological site can only be interpreted once. The very process of an excavation destroys a site forever. Therefore, excavations must be conducted with great care.

As an excavation progresses, it uncovers the past in both HORIZONTAL and VERTICAL dimensions.

• The horizontal dimension reveals a site as it was at a fixed point in time.

• The vertical dimension shows the sequence of changes within a site over time.

Excavation methods vary depending on which aspect or dimension that the archaeologist chooses to study.

• If a person wants a detailed snapshot of a point in time would likely initiate a horizontal dig

• If an archaeologist wants to understand the progression of time at a site, they would most likely initiate a vertical dig.

Intrusive Excavations

• Oftentimes, archaeologists are called in by builders when they discover ruins during construction. At these times, salvage operations forces reconnaisance surveys or small-scale excavations at random locations to try to find important evidence.

Tools of the trade…

• Once the site is active, there are several tools one can use when looking for artifacts. Some of them are… a spade, a shovel, a trowel, a measuring tape, a bamboo pick, a pencil, a file, a paint brush and clippers.

Working at a dig site…

• When beginning to excavate one will need to CAREFULLY remove the soil 5 cm. at a time. Each 5 cm of soil is called a level.

• Using the tools, one slowly digs lower and lower until artifacts are found

StratigraphyAn archaeologist interprets artifacts Based within their positions within thestratigraphy or horizontal layering of the soil.

•Stratigraphy follows the principle “Last in, first out”- meaning the soil Layer is removed in reverse order that itwas laid down

Finding artifacts

• After you remove an artifact, you need to put it into a correctly labeled plastic bag. The artifacts will be taken back to MVAC to be washed and cataloged.

Dating

Dating artifacts is quite important and complicated:

Most widely used method for determining the absolute date of organic material is Radiocarbon (C-14) Dating.

C-14

• Because all living organisms contain a radioactive form of carbon that decays at a known, slow, and steady rate, archaeologists can determine an organic object’s age if it is less than 40,000 years old by measuring the amount of carbon remaining in the object

Inorganic Material

• Is very challenging to date- they are not labeled with date of manufacture

• Use thermoluminescence dating.

• Artifacts absorb radioactive elements from soil then decay at know rates. The fragment is dated by measuring the amount of radioactive elements that it has absorbed from the soil.