Module 2&3 Flashcards
(51 cards)
3 types of Research methods
Survey mapping, excavation, materials analysis
pedestrian survey
walking over different landscapes looking for things relating to past human activity and noting locations
Excavation
digging, finding physical traces of the past
Archaeological tells
an artificial mound formed from the accumulation of people living on the same sire for hundreds to thousands of years; sites built on top of each other
CRM
cultural resource management or contract archaeology
How do sites actually disappear?
natural disaster climate change deliberately raised/levelled or destroyed massive urban renewal site gradually abandoned
True or false; most sites are never truly lost
true, many sites just don’t have the tools to be studied yet,
people knew about them (locals)
often “found” by westerners
What is Reconnaissance?
preliminary exploration, scoping out what is there
see the big, obvious things/readily visible
Examples of some archaeological finds?
bones, garbage, tools (animal, stone, metal), ceramic shards, architecture, infrastructure, building foundations, burial towers, fortifications, ancient terraces, canals, ancient roads
Most common method of Archaeological research?
Survey!
Archaeological field surveys look at…?
Location, Distribution and organization
as well as changes in vegetation and topography
What is a settlement map?
Noting coordinates of a site and recording it on a map
Distribution of sites across a given area, and where the sites are in relation to each other
What do you do once you’ve located sites and survey data?
- settlement patterns: look at distributions of sites on landscape
- look at relationships between sites
- look how patterns change over time
- look at spatial context on settlement map
- determine size of sites
- organize sites by when they were occupied
- occupational history of the area over given time
- length of how long sites were occupied
Settlement patterns reveal…
- Subsistence patterns: agriculture (features on landscape that benefit agriculture)
- natural resources available
- trade (ex. Is this an ideal spot for a trade route?)
- defensive concerns (hilltops, forts, sites that are hard to get to)
- religious significance: shrine, geographic feature with symbolic meaning
- demography and population
- political organization ( are communities clustered or not/ how they are distributed)
what is a test excavation?
excavating a small unit area to test your hypothesis and idea. Used to confirm or deny what you thought about area based on surface study
Purpose of test excavation?
to determine where to do your excavation sites (a good starting point of excavation)
Horizontal excavation??
Exposing a large horizontal area, useful in looking at a city, and good for providing contextual information
spatial approach
Types of digging tools?
masonry tools
gardening tools
construction tools
dental tools/dental picks
Reading dirt?
- compaction
- texture
- homogeneity
- clay, silt, sands
- colour
Stratigraphic profiles?
looking at changes in soil, colour, texture, compaction as you go down
-process by which layers of soil and debris are laid down on top of one another over time
Soil sample and floatation?
during excavation, soil processed through water filtration machine to find small artifacts
What is found during soil flotation tests?
beads, botanical materials, charred seeds
Paleoethnobotany?
ancient seeds
- answers questions about food consumption and climate and environment by looking at preserved seeds and plants
Zoo archaeology
looks at animal bones found in excavation to determine information about food consumption and economic strategies as well as social and ritual uses of animals (Ex. sacrifice)
