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Archaeology Defined
Archaeology is the study of ancient artifacts, whether they be material remains (e.g., ceramics) or textual (e.g., the Bible).
Archaeology has very real limitations, chief of which is the destructive nature of time, the elements, and successive inhabitants of the region who systematically reused building materials and dug pits through ancient occupation layers.
Interpreting Artifacts
Interpreting Data
Since archaeology is a destructive science and non-repeatable, we must accept the limitations inherent to our current scientific methods and our own record keeping.
Interpreting Data
Excavation Team
Includes the director, area supervisors, square supervisors, and volunteers It is seldom operates as a democracy. Obtain the services of an architect and various scientific experts and if possible have them visit the site and examine the material remains. Place a person in charge of cleaning, sorting, preparing, and recording the daily finds.
Excavation Methods
Ten or fifteen meter squares are laid out with string and sand bags and initial levels are taken so that the supervisors will know starting and ending points for each days work and they can determine the exact depth at which significant finds are made.
Excavation Methods
Excavation begins by breaking the soil with shovels and picks, but this may quickly turn to finer work using brushes, ice picks, and trowels when an artifact is discovered or a floor is found signaling the emergence of a change in stratigraphy.
Excavation Methods
When an important feature or artifact is discovered, a level is taken to determine exact location within the square.
Excavation Methods
Excavated soil is screened to uncover bones, carbonized organic matter, small pieces of pottery, or other objects that might otherwise be missed. Organic remains are later tested using C14 dating methods.
Excavation Methods
Unusual finds are also photographed in situ to establish a clear provenance and provide as much data as possible for later interpretation.
Excavation Methods
All tagged buckets and boxes are taken to the collection supervisor for washing or cleaning with an eye out for inscriptions (ostraca) or for diagnostic examples that will help establish a ceramic chronology of the site, indicate possible trading activity, and in the case of coins a clear date for a particular stratum or building.
Restoration Methods
Untreated Coin Restored Coin
Recording Data
All pottery and other artifacts are placed in tagged buckets or boxes for later examination. The tags indicate which square and at what level they were found. The recording process in the field will be systematized in later field reports by the square and area supervisors.
Analyzing Data
At the end of the excavation season, the entire staff completes and submits their field notebooks and the senior staff spends the next several months analyzing this data while the artifacts are sent to laboratories for scientific tests and classification.
Excavation Methods
Publication and Presentation of the seasons findings should follow as quickly as possible.
A final report of the excavation of the site over a series of seasons should appear in a timely manner for the benefit of the scholarly community. Senior staff should publish articles and present papers on the findings.
Dissemination of Data