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Surveys are ways of
finding archaeological sites. Field walking is one surveying technique,
where archaeologists systematically search freshly ploughed fields for
artefacts, recording the exact location of any finds. Electronic surveying
instruments can be used to make topographical surveys of the upstanding
remains of a site, while a variety of geophysics techniques, such as magnetometry
and resistivity, measure disturbance in the soil under the ground surface
in a non-intrusive way.
| Excavation
is the best way of retrieving information from archaeological sites.
While the greatest amount of information can be gathered from an excavation,
this technique is the most destructive and expensive and is only undertaken
when the archaeology cannot be preserved within the ground.
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By
excavating archaeological layers, or contexts, archaeologists can
study the vertical layering and horizontal relationships between
different contexts. Each context is carefully recorded so that a
three-dimensional image of it can be reconstructed. The position
and context of any artefact is also recorded so that we might learn
of when, how and why the artefact came to be there.
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| Excavations
have to be carefully planned to recover all the information possible.
After mechanical excavators remove the spoil and topsoil, the surface
is cleaned by hand. Each layer or context is then excavated by hand,
photographed, drawn, sampled and recorded. By excavating each archaeological
context, archaeologists can study the vertical layering and horizontal
relationships between different contexts. It is important that any
artefacts recovered in the excavation are recorded in the particular
context that they are found in. This will allow the archaeologists
who will later analyse the artefacts to better understand how, when
and why the artefacts came to be there. Remember, most archaeological
work is done after the excavation. |
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Post-Excavation techniques
are ways of understanding information from archaeological sites. Once
an excavation has been completed, the analysis of the finds takes place.
The sampling of the contexts during excavation allows soil analysts to
later test the chemical constituents of the contexts, indicating for example
the presence of decomposed bone. The sieving of soil from contexts can
also recover seeds, insects or small artefacts that would otherwise be
lost. The contexts may contain traces of pollen, which can provide an
idea of what the environment around the site looked like, while tiny snail
shells, are another great indicator of environmental conditions.
There's no point in
carrying out archaeology if it isn't published. Archaeological work is
published in a variety of national and regional journals, magazines, books
and internet sites so that more people can understand newly discovered
evidence from sites that tell us more about the people who lived long
ago.
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