FIELD ARCHAEOLOGY

Field Archaeology

Field Archaeology

Introduction

Field Archaeology is one of the four subdisciplines of anthropology and is the scientific study of past human culture through ancient material remains. Detailed analyses of these material remains help archaeologists reconstruct and interpret the lifeways of ancient groups. Research themes relating to regional settlement patterns, the evolution of agriculture, the spatial arrangement of large city-states, and the collapse of large empires are often pursued alongside more regionally oriented questions, such as group migration and interaction patterns within a specific valley corridor (Fagan, 2006).

Archaeologists are anthropologists who study the material objects, or artifacts, left by past human groups. Artifacts are the tangible portions of culture left by past populations. Examples of artifacts include but are not limited to ancient tools (projectile points, pottery fragments, stone knives, scrapers, bone awls, and fish hooks); food remains and food-processing equipment (animal bones, carbonized seeds, grinding stones, pestles); personal artifacts (buttons, buckles, coins, jewelry, clothing fragments, bone combs); architectural debris (nails, mortar, window glass, bricks, foundation remains); as well as objects used for leisure activities (gaming pieces, clay and stone smoking pipe fragments, musical instruments, writing utensils) (Bahn, 2006).

In addition to artifacts, archaeologists study the organic residues, or features, left by past groups. Unlike artifacts, features cannot be removed whole, but are often destroyed during excavation. For this reason, archaeologists keep detailed notes, drawings, and photographs during the excavation of features. Soil samples, designed to recover ancient plant remains, microfossils, pollen, and phytoliths, are also often collected from features. Features include the remains of prehistoric hearths, postmolds from ancient structures, midden debris from garbage dumps, privies, as well as artifact concentrations from work and resource-processing areas (Newman, 2001).

Artifacts and features are commonly found at sites. Sites are locations containing evidence of human activity. Sites range in size from small resource-processing stations measuring a few meters in diameter, to more elaborate residential sites measuring an acre in size, to large multifamily complexes, which cover dozens of acres. The features of these sites vary with the amount of activity and complexity of the culture group. By example, the complexity of Copan, a large Mayan community, contained an extensive grouping of temples, residences, and specialized procurement stations many acres in size. By comparison, the settlement patterns of the seasonally occupied Schoharie Creek II camp in the Schoharie Valley of eastern New York covered less than a fifth of an acre in size and produced evidence of less than a dozen features. None of these features were elaborate building remains, but rather consisted of the residues of small-hearth, midden, and postmold features (Hargrove, 2002).

The Development of Archaeological Theory and Methodology

The history of field Archaeology dates back centuries and can't be accurately pinpointed to a single event or point in time. Many archaeologists attribute some of the earliest archaeological writings to what has become known as the “Speculative” or “Antiquarian” period dating between 1400 and 1860. This period is largely characterized by local inquiries about the human past. Interest in the past was characterized by an ...