1 / 16

Dig It?

Dig It?. What is Project Archaeology?. http://www.projectarchaeology.org. What are the indications of an archaeological site?. Artifacts Features. Artifacts. These artifacts may have been used in relation to a number of activities including architecture; food procurement, preparation

kiona-dotson
Download Presentation

Dig It?

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Dig It?

  2. What is Project Archaeology? • http://www.projectarchaeology.org

  3. What are the indications of an archaeological site? • Artifacts • Features

  4. Artifacts These artifacts may have been used in relation to a number of activities including architecture; food procurement, preparation and consumption; defense; tool making; clothing; personal use; recreation; household activities; ceremonies and rituals; and transportation. • Chipped stone • Clay • Bone • Shell • Wood • Fibers • Metal

  5. Prehistoric Artifacts • Spear points • Arrowheads • Knives • Chipped or broken debris • Ground stone axes • Grinding stones • Mortars and pestles • Awls • Adzes • Gouges • Pottery • Clothing and ornamental pins • Decorative items and ornaments • Scraping tools • Hammer stones • Bone fishhooks • Stone drills • Beads

  6. Historic Artifacts • Glass • Iron and other metal items like nails and coins • Ceramics or china • Metal utensils • Clothing items such as buttons, buckles, leather items • Worked wood • Horse equipage • Gun parts • Household items such as pins, scissors, and thimbles • Furniture hardware • Copper/brass and iron kettle fragments • Beads and ornaments • Farm equipment

  7. Features: • Soil stains • Burned earth • Foundations • Clusters of artifacts • Pits • Earthworks or embankments • Ash and charcoal lenses and pits

  8. Prehistoric Features • Fire pits and hearths • Burned earth and clay • Trash and garbage pits • Postholes • Evidence of house floors or basins • Storage pits • Chipped and broken stones • Caches of projectile points • Ceramics or pottery sherds • Human and animal burials • Pictographs and petroglyphs • Middens

  9. Historic Features • Evidence of fires and fire pits • Ash and charcoal lenses and stains • Trash and garbage pits • Dumps • Middens • Postholes • House foundations • Cisterns • Fence lines • Ditches • Canals • Landscapes • Mill races • Dams • Old trails and roads • Cemeteries • Human burials • Clusters of historic artifacts • Old parks and cultural landscapes

  10. The presence or occurrence of one or more artifacts or features indicates an archaeological site.

  11. Once the site is determined, archaeologists do a lot of research and planning because after a site has been excavated, it is no longer there.They must carefully sift through the site, make detailed notes, sketch objects, map sites, and take many photographs.

  12. Digging the site

  13. Sifting for artifacts

  14. Discussion Questions • Is it legal to disturb the ground for the purpose of obtaining artifacts or human remains? • Is it legal to surface collect artifacts? • If I surface collect artifacts, who do they belong to? • If I see or know of looting of an archaeological site, whom should I contact? • What should I do if I discover remains or know of disturbance to a human burial site?

  15. Your assignment • Each group will be a team of archaeologists trained in the skills of culture, context, observation-inference, classification, chronology, scientific inquiry, and hypothesizing. • Each group will be given a bag of garbage (middens) to learn about the people who threw them away. • Study the garbage very carefully. • Determine what culture this garbage is from? • What can you infer about the behavior of the owners of this garbage and the origin of the garbage based on your observations? • Classify the garbage. • Be ready to tell the complete story of the garbage owners.

  16. Resources: • Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology 402 West Washington Street, Room W274 Indianapolis, Indiana 46204 • Bureau of Land Management National Park Service U.S. Forest Service The State of Utah • Angel Mounds State Historic Site 8215 Pollack Avenue Evansville, Indiana 47715

More Related