Archeology

RECORDING A SITE

Main Activity

Even before digging a single hole, archeologists develop a working model of what took place in an area. To do this, they conduct a survey to discover all the sites on the surface of the land and to describe what they can see at each site. Pieces of broken pottery, rocks arranged in patterns, and even trees growing in straight rows suggest that people once occupied an area. Using a local park or vacant lot, test your own ability to unravel past events.

Materials

• notebook and pencil
• ruler
• magnetic compass
• protractor
• large sheet of drawing paper

1. Select a site for your survey. A wooded park, a campground, or even a vacant lot will do fine. Before starting, ask for permission to enter the property if it is privately owned!

2. Using your compass to establish north, measure the site boundaries by pacing off the distance in feet in each direction. Log the direction and distance of your site boundaries in your notebook. To calculate your pace size, do the following:

   With a long tape measure, mark off two points exactly 100 feet (30m) apart. Starting at one point, walk in a direct line toward the other point, counting the number of steps you take to get there. Your steps should be your normal pace. Divide 100 feet (30m) by the number of steps you took. This number is your normal pace size. For example, if you took 25 steps, your pace would be 100 feet divided by 25 = 4 feet/step (30 ü 25 = 1.2 meters/ step). For more accuracy, you should repeat the measurement four times and average your results.

3. Starting at one corner of the site, walk slowly across the site in a systematic pattern. The best way is to cross back and forth at a regular interval of spacing. Look for anything that appears out of the ordinary-a broken bottle, an old can, a ring of rocks with some burnt material on the inside. Each time you encounter an artifact, describe it fully in the notebook and measure its distance and direction from one of the site corners.

4. Once you have completed your survey, plot your data on a scale map of the site. With your protractor, measure the compass direction from north and, with your ruler, measure off a scale distance. When all the data is plotted, see if you can find any patterns suggesting how people used the site.

Questions

1. When conducting site surveys, why walk back and forth in a regular pattern across the site rather than randomly?

2. What artifacts suggest that your site might be old? Which artifacts suggest your site has been recently used?

Artifacts don't have to be thousands of years old to be interesting. Your family may have some tools, games, or toys at home that no one knows how to use. Check out your grandparents' home to find some really old stuff and invite your friends to collect some of their own "blasts from the past." Hold a "What is it?" day to see how many different uses you can come up with for each artifact. Have your grandparents show you the correct use.

TRY THIS

Visit a local historical society or museum to learn about people who lived in your area before the turn of the century. Find out who settled the area and identify the oldest known structure. Are there any archeological excavations nearby? If so, check them out!

TRY THIS

Set up an excavation in a box. Get a 50-pound (22.5 kg) bag of topsoil. Starting at the bottom of the box and moving upward layer by layer, bury a number of different items associated with different tasks, such as cooking, cleaning, sewing, etc. Each group of associated items is called an assemblage, and they must be buried together on the same level. Invite some friends to help excavate and see if they can work out the context of events. (Example of a cooking assemblage: spoon, egg shells, milk carton, can opener.)