ANTH 210 – Archaeology of Early Cities
Module 1 – Archaeological Methods
Reading – Ashmore and Sharer
The archaeological record is composed of surviving and retrievable material remains of past human
activity, from the microscopic debris produced by chipping stone tools to the most massive
architectural construction. These residues of past activity become data when the archaeologist
recognizes their significance as evidence and collects and records them.
Artefacts are portable objects whose form is modified or wholly created by human activity. The
shape and other traits of artefacts are not altered by removal from their place of discovery.
Features are nonportable human-made remains that cannot be removed from their place of
discovery without altering or destroying their original form (storage pits, roads…). Features usually
define an area where one or more activities once took place.
Eco-facts are non-artefactual natural remains that nonetheless have cultural relevance. Some are
significantly modified by himan activity (remains of domesticated plants and animals), others are
unmodified by human action (remains of undomesticated plants and animals or soils). Any natural
material that provides information about past human behavior can be considered an ecofact (bones,
seeds, pollen), reflect ancient environmental conditions, diets, and resource exploitation patterns.
Sites
Lecture 1 – Archaeological Methods and Practice
The Archaeological Record
The archaeological record is the configuration of archaeological materials that include: Artefacts,
‘Ecofacts’, Features, Sites and Landscapes. It is the accumulation of the physical remains of past
activities and environmental post-depositional processes.
Artefacts: portable form created by human activity, pottery, stone tools, debris and debitage from
making those tools, copper, bronze, organic artefacts
‘Ecofacts’: Organic and inorganic environmental remains that have importance; they provide
evidence of human activities. Burnt seeds, domestic plant remains, animal and human remains
Features: the importance of studying cities, cannot be removed from their original place
Sites: stational aggregations of artefacts, features, ecofacts,
Landscapes: Spatial relationships between sites, features, and artefacts, on a regional level,
produced and create by people through time
The archaeological record and data are always under-representing past human activities because not
all activities produce tangible evidence.
Scale refers to a measurement of the range of time and space in either units or relative terms.
Attention to scale issues helps us better understand how past (and present) human activities are
distributed across space and time.
Understanding urban contexts require simultaneous attention to multiple scales
Site formation processes and the Creation of the Archaeological Record
Cultural activities, practices and processes are the first sites formation processes
At the same time, environmental processes interfere with the site formation processes
Post-depositional processes, cultural transformation processes (C-transforms) and environmental
transformation processes (N-transforms) can jumble the record of those activities.
Second concept: Context
- Archaeological Context
o Refers to the location of archaeological materials and their association with one
another
o The context of an archaeological object consists of its immediate matric (the
material which surrounds it – usually sediments), its provenience (the vertical and
horizontal coordinates of the find) and its association with other archaeological
objects.
- Systemic Context
o Infer from the analysis of the archaeological context, from the artefacts, and
features, understand how things work
The crucial questions we ask about context have to do with associations of archaeological materials
with one another. These include issues of space, time and, of course, human activity and practice.
Our evaluation of context consists of an examination of archaeological data based on our
understanding and analysis of the cultural…
Primary context -> an aerchaeological context or condition when the archaeological deposit has
remainde largely undisturbed since original deposition
A. Use-related: artefacts and/or ecofacts recovered from where they were originally used or
made
B. Transposed: artefacts and/or ecofacts recovered from locations where they have been
moved from their original location of manufacture or use.
Secondary Context -> depositional situations where transformational processes have altered the
provenience, association and matrix. Also, an archaeological context, as it’s still an archaeological
site with valuable data.
Some depositional processes: loss, production, and consumption activities; discard and site
maintenance, building, rebuilding and rebuilding again; storage and caching – where people were
storing wealth or food; abandonment – speed of abandonment
While some sites are not lost, the meaning of some particular sites and the occupational function
may be lost over time. Stonehenge was a monument built by druids, according to William Stukeley.
But scholars later realised that it was much older than Stukeley implied.
How do Sites become lost, less visible or invisible?
Pompeii was covered in ashes and largely lost until they were accidentally rediscovered.
Tenochtitlan, Mexico, is the former Aztec capital that the Spanish invaded. They destroyed the
ceremonial centre and built big, monumental churches and cathedrals.
More typically is site abandonment. Mexico City is the reoccupation of Tenochtitlan. Buildings made
of non-perishable material (mud brick…).
A few important site types are the site type we call “tell”, which comes from “mounds”. Tells form is
mostly found in northeast Asia.
Lecture 3 – Archaeological Practice
Archaeology starts in the 19th century. By the 20th century, it becomes an academic discipline. Most
archaeology is done as Culture Resource Management Archaeology. Academic Archaeology is a
discipline, whereas CRM is an industry.
Archaeological Methods
Reconnaissance and Survey
Most archaeological sites are found because they are searched. Searching techniques identifying the
diff locations through reconnaissance and survey.
Reconnaissance is often used for scouting, scoping, as a preliminary method. Largely unsystematic,
based on observations that are relatively easy to make in general. Great way to start to consult
locals, satellites pictures. It’s a low-cost method, but it’s the first step of a larger term investigation,
not a true one. Involves basic field investigation.
Systematic Archaeological Survey is a method used to collect information about the location,
distribution and organisation of past human activities through the surface distribution of material
remains over larger areas. Features we can see on the surface for example. It’s one of the most
common research method but not regularly practiced yet. The method was developed in the 1940s.
Pedestrian Survey
Survey Traverse: Individual survey paths walked by a surveyor in which direcition and length
are recorded. Artefact Scatters: ceramic sherds, lithic tools and debitage (production debris)
metals and slags (production debris), bone tools (rarer)
Agricultural features: ancient terraces, irrigation channels, and a small reservoir and dam.
But also megalithic tomb dot medieval temple.
Infrastructure: Inkan Road, Hadrian’s Wall
We use surveys to identify and record sites systematically. In CRM, they try to find all the sites in a
region before building new infrastructures. In a research context, archaeologists try to find a
representative sample of the kinds of sites from periods. But also, identify multi-period settlement
patterns.
The Maski Archaeological Research Project (MARP). A systematic survey was done. Start with
abackground research and reconnaissance
