Transcript BASIC METHODS IN ARCHAEOLOGY

BASIC METHODS IN
ARCHAEOLOGY
HOW WE LEARN ABOUT THE
PAST
ARCHAEOLOGY:
- In its broadest sense archaeology is the study of the human
past, particularly as it is revealed through material remains;
- A set of methods and procedures for investigating the past
that reflect both the data that are available and the academic
training and theoretical orientation of archaeologists.
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Archaeology and Anthropology:
- In American universities, archaeology is a subdiscipline of
Anthropology, a field that seeks to study humans in their
various aspects: physical, cultural, social, linguistic, and
historical;
-Archaeology differs from most Anthropology in that it deals
with dead people and with cultures in which individuals are
seldom perceived;
- it differs in that archaeologists study people’s works – their
artifacts and places of activity – rather than the people
themselves.
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- Though Archaeology can never hope to be all that
Anthropology is, it can make important contributions to both
Anthropology and History by adding a time dimension that
cannot be studied with living people.
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Various Steps of the Archaeological Process:
- preliminary research - problem-oriented;
- surveying and mapping; aerial photographs;
- digging: horizontal and vertical exposure;
- recording: photographs; top plans; drawings;
- removing the cleaning of objects;
- the cataloging, preservation, and dating of artifacts
with stratigraphy, Carbon 14; etc.;
- project database;
- laboratory work on the artifacts; comparisons;
- publication of the findings.
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-The primary job of the archaeologist is not to provide us
with beautiful relics, but to excavate, restore, and interpret
pieces of the past;
- A cycle of preliminary research, excavation, fact-finding,
interpretation, and publication of findings to be shared
with others.
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Archaeological Periods and Dates for the Near/Middle
East:
 Handout from Stern (ed.), The New Encyclopedia of
Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land (2001).
 See also A. Mazar, Archaeology of the Land of the Bible,
“Contents”, pp. v-x.
 The Conventional Chronology (see Textbook, p. 122) and
Mazar’s “The Modified Conventional Chronology”, p.
122.
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