Topic 5: Fieldwork

Question 1

Archaeological research is a ________, not ________

Answer 1

Archaeological research is a feedback loop, not linear

Question 2

What are some of the basic steps to archaeological research? what is part of the “loop”?

Answer 2

• research design
• fieldwork
• analysis
• interpretation
• hypothesis

Question 3

what are some of the key things needed to be done before fieldwork?

Answer 3

• research proposal/design
• grant applications
• ethics clearance approvals
• travel arrangements
• assembling a team

Question 4

How are sites found?

Answer 4

• foot survey, ground inspection
• aerial reconnaissance
• archival study, discuss with locals
• research local geology/geomorphology

Question 5

Why do archaeologists need maps?

Answer 5

• identify areas of high potential for site discovery!
• develop survey strategies
• to record/interpret/report artifacts or material culture (like recording provenience of an artifact)
• Site grids- for context
• to know important natural features of the land such as rivers, lakes, vegetation, ect.

Question 6

Why do we excavate? What are the two goals?

Answer 6

1. recover as much evidence as possible
2. record the horizontal and vertical location (provenience) for the evidence with as much precision as possible

Question 7

What does excavation tell us? What information does it yield?

Answer 7

yields reliable information for
- human activities at a particular period in the past
- changes in those activities from period to period

Question 8

Why do we overkill in recording information?

Answer 8

• archaeology is a destructive science, and we destroy through excavation. We need to record as much information as possible because once we excavate, we destroy any future chances as research for that particular area
• also, limited time, limited funding, ect.

Question 9

If archaeology is destructive then why excavate at all?

Answer 9

• in many cases excavation is the only way to truly known what material culture is preserved in an archaeological site
• excavations allow us to collect and analyze material culture while maintaining control over context
• facilitates interpretation of site formation processes

Question 10

What is stratigraphy?

Answer 10

• studying the different layers of soil/rock
• An archaeologist will slowly dig down through these layers of soil to look for artifacts.
• As a rule, the deeper they dig, the farther back in time they go

Question 11

what is Taphonomy?

Answer 11

• processes affecting remains from the time of death of an organism (or the discard of shed parts) through cultural and natural processes (decomposition, burial, and preservation ect)
• through c-transforms (cultural, man-made transforms) or n-transforms (natural transforms)

Question 12

What are constructive c-transforms?

Answer 12

• artifacts entered in the archaeological records through deliberate discard or burial
• artifacts entered in the archaeological record through unintentional human activity (discard or loss)

Question 13

what are destructive c-transforms?

Answer 13

site/material culture transformed through:
- ancient people destroying them (on purpose or accident)
- modern development
- warfare

Question 14

What are N transforms? What are some examples?

Answer 14

• natural processes that alter (preserve or destroy) the archaeological record
• include soil formation, water, wind, animals, weathering, and mechanical erosion

Question 15

what is the key to preserving organic material?

Answer 15

• very dry conditions, with little climate change (either very hot or very cold)

Question 16

How does organic preservation vary? What does organic preservation depend on?

Answer 16

• varies significantly based on material and context, especially the matrix
• depends on the climate of the area!

Question 17

What is the golden rule of preservation?

Answer 17

• the absence of evidence is NOT evidence of absence
• ex. just because only stone tool remains are found at a site does NOT mean they were the only tools used.
• because of preservation and climate, different types of materials will preserve and others will not!

Question 18

What are site formation processes? Why are they so important to understand?

Answer 18

Site formation processes are events that create and affect an archaeological site POST creation. The study of site formation processes is called Taphonomy. It is so important to understand them because site formation processes convert the original context in archaeological context!

Question 19

What are some differences in how organic vs inorganic materials preserve?

Answer 19

inorganic materials typically preserve much better than organic. Inorganic materials such as stone, clay, metals generally can survive much longer in the material record (metals to a lesser extent)
How organic materials preserve depends greatly on the material and context (matrix!)

Question 20

How have natural disasters shaped the archaeological record?

Answer 20

they can often preserve sites (such as pompei and Ozette), or destroy them.

Question 21

who was michael sciffer?

Answer 21

An archaeologist who worked with taphonomy, named cultural processes c-transforms and natural processes n-transforms.

Question 22

What was Ozette? Pompei?

Answer 22

Ozette site in northwest US had a mudslide, with wet preservation. there were over 50k artifacts recovered in good states of preservation, due to the mud.
Pompei was a Roman site that was preserved from volcanic disaster, that killed many in the area. It is generally thought of as a good preservation model that shows the daily life of romans.

Question 23

What is the Pompei premise?

Answer 23

• The “Pompeii premise” is the assumption that an archaeological site represents the complete and unaltered remains of past human activity.
• this is never the case!