Archaeology Ch 3 Flashcards
reconnaissance survey
a broad range of techniques involved in the location of archaeological sites (the recording of surface artifacts and features, and the sampling of natural and mineral resources) ALSO helped with the growth of regional studies.
surface survey
two kinds: systematic and unsystematic
unsystematic survey
field walking, scanning the ground along one’s path and recording the location of artifacts and surface features.
systematic survey
less subjective, involves a grid system, area divided into sectors, and they are then walked systematically so that results are more accurate.
remote sensing
the imaging of phenomena from a distance, primarily through airborne and satellite imaging. “ground-based remote sensing” links geophysical methods, such as radar, with remote sensing methods applied at ground level.
Research Design
the planning of archaeology research
1) formulation of a research strategy
2) collecting and recording of evidence
3) processing and analysis
4) publication of results
ground reconnaissance
collective name for a variety of methods for identifying individual archaeological sites, including consultation of documentary resources, place-name evidence, local folklore, and legend, but primarily actual fieldwork.
aerial survey
technique primarily employing aerial and satellite imagery used in the discovery, and recovering of archaeological sites
reconnaissance survey in practice
first: region needs to be surveyed needs to be defined: boundaries either natural (valley or island), cultural (extent of artifact or style), or purely arbitrary, through natural boundaries are the easiest to establish. Other factors to take into consideration are: time, resources available, and how easy it is to actually reach and record and area.
hunter-gatherer
collective term for members of small-scale or semi-sedentary societies, whose subsistence is mainly focused on hunting game and gathering wild plants and fruits; organizational structure is based on bands with strong kinship ties.
types
a class of artifacts defined by consistent clustering of attributes.
Simple random sample
where areas to be sampled are chosen using a table of random numbers. inherently biased.
stratified random sample
region or site is divided into its natural zones, each zone has the number of squares proportional to its area.
systematic sampling
selection of a grid of equally spaced locations, however one runs the risk of missing or hitting every single example in an equally regular pattern of distribution (more bias)
stratified unaligned systematic sample
combines main elements from other techniques
transects
straight paths, easier to examine, easily segmented into units, useful for recording artifact densities across landscape. Use transects to cover long distances.
squares
exposes more area to survey, increases probability of intersecting sites. Use squares when larger concentrations of material are encountered.
documentary sources
mainly of use in locating classical, biblical, and relatively recent sites
difference between excavation and survey
excavation tells us a lot about a little of site and can only be done once where survey tells us a little about a lot of the sites and can be repeated.
extensive survey
combining results from a series of individual projects in neighboring regions to produce very large-scale views of change in landscape, land use, and settlement through time.
intensive survey
aiming at total coverage of a single large site or site cluster.
arch survey using airborne sensing can be divided into two component parts:
data collecting and data analysis
data collecting
taking photographs or images from aircrafts or satellites
data analysis
images are analyzed, interpreted, and integrated with other evidence from field survey, ground based remote sensing, or documentary evidence.
in order for a site to be detected by remote sensing method…
it needs to have altered the soil or subsoil (holes in grounds, features placed upon it) or in relief (lumps and bumps on surface or buried under leveled cultivated land)
aerial images record relief sites through
highlight and shadow
LIDAR
technique where instrument transmits lights to a target, some of which is reflected back to the instrument. Time for light to travel out and back to target and back is used to determine range.
SLAR
recording in radar images the return of pulses of electromagnetic radiation sent out from a flying aircraft.
satellite photography
useful primarily at the largest scales, like mapping very large sites or tracing ancient irrigation systems
SAR
multiple radar images (usually from space) are possessed to yield extremely detailed high-resolution results that can provide data for maps, databases, land-use studies, etc. Record height information. Provides info day or night, regardless of conditions.
GIS (Geographic Information Systems)
collection of computer hardware and software and of geographic data designed to obtain, store, manage, manipulate, analyze, and display a wide array of spatial information. Data can be shown in layers.
total station
an electronic/optical instrument used in surveying and to record excavations
landscape archaeology
the study of individual features including settlements seen as single components within the broader perspective of the patterning of human activity over a wide area.
Site surface survey
studying the distribution of surviving features, and recording and possibly collecting artifacts from the surface.
provenience
the place of origin or (earliest) known history of something; also the horizontal and vertical position of an artifact, ecofact, feature within a matrix.
subsurface detection
collective name for a variety of remote sensing techniques operating at ground level, and including both invasive and non-invasive techniques.
probes
with rods or augers, noting positions where they strike solids or hollows.
soil resistivity (earth resistance survey)
method of subsurface detection that measures changes in conductivity by passing electrical current through ground soils. These changes are generally caused by moisture content, and in this way, buried features can be detected by differential retention of groundwater.
STP (shovel test pits)
help identify extent of a possible site, while analysis and plotting of material retrieved from them by sieving of the soil can produce maps showing areas with high concentrations of different kinds of facts.
ground penetrating radar (GPR)
emitter sends short pulses through the soil, and the echoes not only reflect back any changes in soil sediment conditions encountered, but also measure the depth at which the changes occur on the basis of travel time of pulses.
time-slices, slice-maps
thousands of individual reflections are combined into a single three-dimensional dataset that can be sliced horizontally, corresponding to a specific estimated depth in ground, and revealing general shape and location of buried features at successive depths.
what do magnetic survey help find
fired-clay structures: hearths, pottery kilns, iron objects, pits, ditches.
excavation
the most reliable evidence for informational archaeologists interested in: human activities during a particular period in the past and changes in those activities from period to period.
what are the two main strategies for excavation?
Wheeler box grid and open-area excavation.
mesolithic
old world chronological period beginning around 10,000 years ago between paleolithic and neolithic
refitted
or conjoining, entails attempting to put stone tools back together again, provides important information about the craft.
division of excavation techniques
1) vertical dimension: cutting into deep deposits to reveal stratification
2) horizontal: to open up large areas of a layer to reveal spatial relationships between artifacts and features in that layer
wheeler box grid
Retaining intact baulks of earth between excavation grid squares, so different layers can be correlated across the site in the vertical profiles.
open-area excavation
where single period deposits lie close to the surface
step trenching
excavation method used in very deep sites where it proceeds downwards in a series of gradually narrowing steps
important aspects of field laboratory procedure
cleaning of artifacts and sorting/classifying them
