Basic Principles Flashcards
Geophysical survey methods
Ground penetrating radar, sonar, resistivity, magnetometry
Survey methods
Pedestrian, test pitting, geophysical survey, aerial reconnaissance
Excavation techniques
Vertical emphasis and horizontal emphasis
Vertical emphasis
Reveals stratification, investigate change through time
Horizontal emphasis
Focus on occupation phase, limited examination of change
Aerial reconnaissance methods
Oblique photography, remote sensing
Archaeology
The systematic, scientific study of the human past based on the investigation of material culture and its context
Five Ws
Where? When? Who? What? Why?
Stratigraphy
Layers of cultural and natural materials accumulate one on top of another, Law of Superposition, reveals sequence of deposition
Context
The in situ location and associations (in 3D) of finds
Artifacts
Portable objects made or altered by humans
Ecofacts
Natural plant, animal or sediment remains resulting from human activity
Features
Non-portable structures including houses, walls, fireplaces and burials
Site and settlement patterns
Spatial distribution of rooms, sites or groups of sites (landscape archaeology)
Types of specialists
Archaeobotanist, archaeozoologist, bioarchaeologist, geoarchaeologist, lithics, dating, ceramics, human osetology
