09 Track 9

Review unit 3

Fluency Practice

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Archaeological Methods and Techniques

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Archaeological Methods and Techniques

When it comes to the field of archaeology, many of us have an image of a scientist working on an ancient site, surrounded by sand, dust, and bones. However, archaeological research involves much more than that, some using methods that don’t even require scientists to venture into the field.

Historical Research

Archival research

If the project involves a site that is known to have been inhabited during historical rather than pre-historic times, this means there might be some written records from that. Which could help in providing vital information in context.

Researchers spend months, sometimes years, combing through historical archives for things like maps, newspapers, tax records, diaries, letters, sacred texts, and books. This search can take an archaeologist to libraries, historical societies, courthouses, even people’s homes.

Oral history

Archaeologists can also gather information via oral history. This focuses on information that is not written but passed down from word of mouth, such as family or tribal stories, songs, dances, and the passing on of traditions to the next generation.

This research may involve interviewing the descendants of the group being studied. For example, archaeologists have gained insight into the fate of the once-flourishing Maya through interviews with modern Mayan people.

Field research

Predictive models

Some archaeological sites are found by accident. Farmers and construction workers, especially, have “struck gold” and stumbled upon sites of great historical importance.

But most of the time, researchers use predictive models to aid their search. A predictive model is a tool that indicates the likelihood that an archaeological site will be in a given area.

It helps determine where to look for sites based on things that influence where people settle, such as soil type and distance from water.

Surface surveys

Once a potential site is located, the area is surveyed to find sufficient evidence of the site’s existence before the investigation gets underway. One such survey is surface survey.

This is a systematic examination of the land where archaeologists look for any evidence of past human activity, including the existence of stone walls, stone artifacts, pottery fragments, garbage or storage pits, or visible changes in the soil.

The location of any artifact is recorded and the artifact collected, labeled, and placed in plastic bags. Sometimes as shovel test pit, a shallow hole dug into the ground, is created.

This is to examine the soil and determine if there are any unusual features to the land.

Geological surveys

An archaeologist needn’t dig in the ground in order to find sites. There are a number on non-invasive techniques that do not disturb the soil. These include magnetometry, a magnetic survey that detects and maps features and artifacts, and ground penetrating radar, a technique that uses image pulses to survey just below the surface.

Both these techniques are commonly used to survey site submerged in water.

Recovering data

After a site is excavated, is gone forever. Therefore, only a small portion is excavated to keep the majority of the site intact. Before any digging begins, a grid of the entire site is created that records exactly where each feature and artifact is located.

Excavations are expensive and time-consuming, as archaeologists have to analyze artifacts, catalogue them, and report all findings.

For these reasons archaeologists only excavate sites when they are threatened by development (for example, by construction), or when they will likely reveal new information about a culture.

Tools

An indispensable tool for an archaeologist is a trial, a small, flat hand tool often used by gardeners. A trowel is used to remove thin layers of dirt as a site is excavated. There are many other tools used to uncover, measure, and analyze artifacts.

Some are high-tech, like an electron microscope, but others are tools you can find around the house, such as toothbrushes, tape measures, brooms and dustpans.

Except at the beginning of the dig, shovels are rarely used as they can easily cause damage to delicate artifacts.

Lab Analyses

Determining age

Various techniques can be used to find out how old something is Stratigraphy, the study of rock layers, can determine the age of soil and artifacts to help us understand the order in which events occurred.

Dating by studying tree rings is also possible. Scientists have built up sequences of rings from tree trunks that extend back hundreds and even thousands of years.

The most widely used method for dating objects made of organic matter is radiocarbon dating.

Artifact analysis

Artifacts tell us key details about the lives of the people who used them. In the lab, all artifacts are cleaned, organized, sorted and stored.

Archaeologists try to determine exactly who made them, for what purpose, from what material, and whether they were made locally or traded. Artifacts provide an astonishingly clear window into the lives of the past culture.

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