The Principles of Archaeology

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Duties of the

excavation team

Director

Supervise the dig and maintain site records.

Assistant director

Care and allocation of equipment; financial administration.

Site supervisor

Responsible for a specific section of a site; care of site notebook,

labelling of artefacts excavated; recording of all relevant information.

Diggers

Unearth items; clear soil from around artefacts and call in measurers

and records.

Recorders

Enter details in a log of artefacts together with their serial

number; record the position of objects excavated in a pit, noting the level

at which they are found and whether they are part of a feature; send

artefacts off to the washers after the measurers have completed their task.

Measurers

Record pit number in which artefacts are found; measure the

horizontal distance and depth of artefact as found.

Washers

Wash excavated items.

Sifters

Sift excavated dirt and debris through a screen to located small

finds.

Photographers

Record finds and strata profiles.

Surveyors

Survey the site; help draw up and lay out pits.

Laboratory specialists

Preserve and repair artefacts.

Illustrators/draughtspersons

Record artefacts and features through scaled drawing.

Process of excavation

1. An ancient site is discovered.

2. Once the site has been found, plans for its excavation are drawn up

· Map of landscape (topographic map) is made

· Grants to fund excavation are sought

· Permission to excavate is sought from relevant authorities

· Dig team is established, complete with all the relevant experts/specialists etc.

3. Excavation begins

· Surveyors lay out the site using theodolites and measuring sticks – grid system is marked with wooden pegs

· Top soil is removed – baulk (1 metre wide) strip remains in place

· As digging gets deeper, tags are placed on the walls marking different layers and finds made

· All artefacts uncovered are left where they are found (said to be left in situ) until their exact position can be photographed and measured – preserving their context (their relationship with other articles

· All finds from the same layer are removed, washed, tagged, photographed, illustrated and placed in their own labelled tray

· A planimetric map is made of each of the layers or strata (singular – stratum)

4. Finds are studied

· All layers are studied and grouped into periods of occupation

5. Excavation results are published

· After the finds have been studied and dated, the results are published in an excavation report

Specialists at a dig

Numismatist

Expert on coins and medals

Zoologist

Experts on animals and animal behaviour

Anthropologist

Scientists who studies the cultural development of humans

Cartographer

A producer of maps

Epigrapher

Expert on inscriptions

Botanist

Expert on plant life

Historian

Studies the past using documents and inscriptions

Studies

only people with a form of writing

Archaeologist

Studies the past using objects and other excavated evidence

Studies

people without any form of writing as well as literate civilisations

Sometimes the types of evidence they use can overlap. A historian would be interested in reading a papyrus, while an archaeologist would be interested in the material it is made from, the procoess used to manufacture the papyrus and the way in which the paint was developed.

Middle Ages

- A lack of curiosity about the past (probably because the Bible was accepted as a complete account history)

- Thought date of creation was recent; not early than 5000BC

- Only medieval chroniclers were interested in the past; they relied on written records and oral traditions

People:Cyriac of Acona:

- Visited sites and libraries in Greece

- Recorded details of physical remains

- Pioneered early topographic methods

Beginning of archaeology

- Began in mid-16th century

- Durin 17th and 18th centuries, emphasiswas put on recording archaeological monuments

People:John Leland:

- 'Keeper of king's libraries' for Henry VIII

- Travelled extensively

- Made inventories of monuments and recorded the history of hte places he visitedWilliam Camden

- Wrote Brittania (1585)

- First book to give tophographical descriptions of monuments in Britain

Treasure hunters

- History became important in Renaissance era; people began to question established ideas

- Interest in the Greekes and Romans encouraged 18th century scholars to publish volumes about the ancient world

- Interest in antiquities was due to travellers touring European countries and bringing home antiquities as souveneirs

- End of 8th century emphasis was changing from fieldwork to excavation

- People wanted to obtain ancient monuments for private collections

People:Lord Elgin

- Brought back parts of the Parthenon from Greece and sold it to the British Museum

Introduction of typologoy

- End of 19th century, excavators wanted to understand what they were finding

- During the 20th century, the development of archaeology has accelerated with use of electronic devices for locating sites and dating, and the introduction of sophisticated techniques for interpreting evidence

A site plan is a map that records the surface features of an archaeological site.

There are two types of sites:

- Topographic

Relates the site to its landscape by recording geographical features

e.g. contours of the land, changes in elevation, etc.

- Planimetric

Records individual features of the site

e.g. location of buildings, roads. tombs, etc.

How sites are found

See mindmap

Duties of the excavation team

Specialists at a dig

Archaeologist vs Historian

The developments of archaeology

Site Plans