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The Archaeological Record

The Archaeological Record. Context and Variability Transformation Processes Modification. What is the Archaeological Record?. Traces of the Human past. Affected by the age of the material, preservational environment, excavation technique.

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The Archaeological Record

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  1. The Archaeological Record Context and Variability Transformation Processes Modification

  2. What is the Archaeological Record? • Traces of the Human past. • Affected by the age of the material, preservational environment, excavation technique. • The archaeological record is patterned by human activities and the natural environment. • Includes artifacts, ecofacts, features.

  3. Soil vs. Sediment • Soil develops during stable periods of a landscape. • Paleosols are soil profiles that formed in the past and are buried by more recent deposition. • These paleosols represent stable surfaces in the past and can have archaeological sites associated with them. • Sediments are soils that are brought to an area through wind, water, etc.

  4. Geoarchaeology

  5. Geoarchaeologist examining column sample

  6. Artifacts • Anything used, made or modified by humans. • Includes stone tools, pottery, bone objects, etc.

  7. Stone Pipe-ca. 2,000 BPNorth America

  8. Colonoware-Early African American Pottery

  9. Clovis Points-ca. 11,000 BP North America

  10. Ecofacts • Material that provides information about the environments of the past. • These are usually things that were used but not modified by humans in the past. • Includes nutshells, animal bone, botanical remains, etc.

  11. Burnt Wood

  12. Animal bone

  13. Human Remains http://www.ikonosheritage.org/introCourse/theory/archaeology/spring/documents/04-ArchaeologySession2-01.pdf

  14. Roman Cemetery, Italy http://www.ips.siu.edu/SA/bioarchaeology.html

  15. Microscopic Analysis http://www.le.ac.uk/ulas/services/human_remains.html

  16. Features • Non-portable evidence of past human activity. • These include things like hearths, structures, burials, etc.

  17. Postholes

  18. Stone Box Grave Feature

  19. Hearth-Zhoukoudien, Chinaca. 1 million years BP

  20. Late Medieval Hearth and floor

  21. Stone House-Ireland

  22. http://www.ikonosheritage.org/introCourse/theory/archaeology/spring/documents/04-ArchaeologySession2-01.pdfhttp://www.ikonosheritage.org/introCourse/theory/archaeology/spring/documents/04-ArchaeologySession2-01.pdf

  23. Sites • The previously mentioned materials make up what archaeologists call sites. • Sites are areas of past human activity and can vary from being very small and ephemeral to very large.

  24. Pre-Clovis Site: Cactus Hill, VA

  25. Middle Eastern Tell

  26. Novgorod Viking site: Paved Streets

  27. Tomb of the Terra Cotta Soldiers:Emperor Ch’in

  28. Meadowcroft Rockshelter PA

  29. Context • Context is one of the most important concepts in archaeology. • Context is a the relationship of archaeological materials at a site and is comprised of provenience, matrix and association. • Provenience is the exact location of an artifact. • Matrix is the material in which something is found. • Association is the spatial relationships between artifacts, ecofacts, features, structures and sites.

  30. Variability • Variability in the archaeological record is affected by preservation and scale. • Some variability is reflected well in the archaeological record-like the variability of pyramids in Egypt. • Other variability is not-like the variability in moccasin styles of prehistoric people.

  31. Site Formation Processes

  32. Taphonomy • The study of natural processes from the time something dies and is deposited until it is recovered as part of an archaeological site. • Takes into account all of the materials to understand why the materials/objects are they way they are. • Note: Not everything from an archaeological site is necessarily part of that site’s occupation or use.

  33. Taphonomy

  34. Transformation Processes • Cultural • Recycling • Reuse • Loss • Discard • Abandonment • Burial • Natural • Weathering • Erosion • Deposition

  35. Cultural Transforms (C-Transforms) • Applying uniformitarianism: processes acting today acted the same in the past. • Recycling • Recycling a discarded object into something new. • Reuse • Reusing a discarded object. • Also Loss, Discard, Abandonment, Burial

  36. Natural Transforms (N-Transforms) • Natural processes (weathering, erosion, soil deposition) affect cultural materials. • These processes are usually very dynamic, but can also apply the concept of uniformitarianism.

  37. Natural Transforms • Environment can affect color, weight, size, etc. • Objects can be more through wind, water and soil movements. • Weathering affects objects and operates at different rates. • Deposition, erosion and deflation are all natural processes.

  38. http://www.ikonosheritage.org/introCourse/theory/archaeology/spring/documents/04-ArchaeologySession2-01.pdfhttp://www.ikonosheritage.org/introCourse/theory/archaeology/spring/documents/04-ArchaeologySession2-01.pdf

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