Transcript Archaeology

Archaeology
Can You Dig It?
What is Archaeology?
 Study of past human life and activities by the
recovery and examination of remaining
material evidence.
 It is a sub field of anthropology - study of
humans both past and present.
 Supplies the information that written history
leaves out.
Archaeologists DO NOT:
 Study dinosaurs.
 Just look for pretty or
valuable objects.
 Just pick up artifacts.
 Spend all their time just
digging.
 Buy, sell, or put a price on
artifacts.
The Evidence
 Pottery
 Stone artifacts
 Animal bones
 Insects, snails and fish
 Human remains and teeth
 Pollen
 Plant remains
How Does it Survive?
 Many factors affect an artifact’s survival:
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Climate
Type of soil
Speed at which something is buried
Extent to which they are disturbed after burial.
Organic or inorganic
Organic Materials
 Require special conditions in order to survive.
 Hot and dry
 Extremely cold/frozen
 Waterlogged environments - bogs, wells,
bodies of water.
Bad Conditions
 Tropical climates
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Rainforests grow rapidly
 Acidic Soil
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Destroy bone and wood
Relative Dating Methods
 Used for getting an approximate age.
 Stratigraphy
 the study of rock layers and their relative
ages.
 Law of Superposition - rocks in the deepest
layers are older than the rocks near the
surface.
 Some layers take longer to form than others.
Ex: shale vs. sand
Biostratigraphy
 Helps determine the dates of rock layers based
on the fossils found within.
 Works with stratigraphy.
 Based on sequence of change for various
animals.
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Ex: Pigs’ molar teeth
Absolute Dating
 Used to get specific dates of artifacts using
scientific methods.
 Tree ring dating
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Each ring represents one year.
Thinner rings indicate a poor growth season.
Useful for identifying environmental patterns.
Carbon-14
 Type of radioactive dating method.
 All living things contain carbon-14 (C-14).
 Upon death, C-14 begins to disappear.
 After 5730 years, half of it has decayed.
 Cannot be used on objects older than
years.
50 000
Potassium-argon (K-Ar)
 Type of radioactive dating
 Decays into argon gas in volcanic rocks.
 Much like C-14, except slower rate of decay.
 Takes 1.3 billion years for half of the original
to decay.
Thermoluminescence
 Useful for dating pottery, flint rocks,cooking hearths,
etc.
 Pottery contains radioactive elements that escape in
the form of light energy when heated to 500º C or
more.
 To determine the date, a sample is reheated and TL
measured.
 Suitable for objects up to 80 000 years old.
Archaeology Terms
 Systematic: A consistent way
of studying anything.
 Science: Methods and
knowledge of studying
anything.
 Recovery/ Analysis: To
collect and study artifacts.
 Artifact: Any item resulting
from human activity.
Archaeology Terms
 Question-based:
Archaeologists study
artifacts in order to answer
questions about how
humans lived.
 Past: Archaeologists study
human cultures that are no
longer living.
 Culture: Any learned
behavior that is shared with
others.
History of Archaeology
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The first archaeologists
 Antiquarians or wealthy collectors of artifacts
As far back as the 1700s wealthy people would pay money for
classical treasures.
 Pompeii – was discovered in 1709 and was immediately set
upon by treasure hunters.
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But they were interested in sculptures and gold, not
cultural relics that offered insight into typical Roman
life.
 Egypt – Europeans in the early 1800s renewed their interest
in ancient Egypt during the Napoleonic Wars.
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This started off a wave of tomb robbing with even the
bodies removed.
Early Archaeology
 It was a combination of several other sciences concerned
with the evolution of man.
1817
 Danish archaeologist Christian Jurgensen Thomsen opened
the National Museum of Antiquities in Copenhagen to the
public.
1920’s
 Archaeology became a fully fledged scientific discipline.
Christian Jurgensen Thomsen
Process
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Most excavations start off with solid research
 Archives, primary secondary sources
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Serve to help archaeologists understand what they are looking for as well as
where it might be.
Test Pits
 When a location is not positively known the archaeologist might start off with small pits
to verify location.
Mapping
 Once a site has been determined archaeologists will grid the area so that exact
measurements of the excavation can be made and location of artefacts cited with
precision
Digging
 The soil is removed layers at a time. When a new layer is encountered it is recorded
and numbered for the stratigraphic profile
 Items from that soil level are collected and kept together for cataloguing
 Larger objects or features maybe photographed in place before being removed.
Cataloguing
 Items are cleaned in water before being labelled
 Each item is given a number which provides all the information about its origins.
Analysis
 Once the excavation is over, the material from the dig (photos, artefacts, and records)
are examined to then create hypotheses about the people who left the evidence behind.
Where to Dig
 Archaeologists use a
number of techniques to
determine where to go.
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Aerial Photos
What to Look For
 Objects underground
can affect the growth of
plants and vegetation
and so are great
resources.
A Slow Process
 Unlike Indiana Jones, the
process of excavation is
slow and methodical. It is
important to follow the
stratigraphy of the site.
 That means removing the
layers of dirt in a set
pattern or process.
 This helps the
Archaeologist determine
dates and significance to
items found within that
layer.
What can be learned
 Things like garbage pits or Middens or latrines tell us
a lot.
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They offer a glimpse into the daily lives of people.
 Diet
 Everyday items
 Ruins tell us about what as well as how things were
made.
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Tool marks
 Physical remains can tell us about the health of
people prior to or at the time of death.
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This has become a sensitive issue as some cultures
resent the intrusion and desecration of their ancestors.