Revealing^® Archaeology

Version 1.9

Copyright © 2001-2006 Thinking Strings, LLC

Table of Contents

Humanity's Imprint

The Presence of the Past

Goals: Presence of the Past

Our Imprint & the Record

Archaeologists

Material Culture

The Patterned Record

Archaeological Preservation

The Record is Contemporary

A Non-Renewable Resource

A Fragile Record

Summary: Presence of the Past

Try It: Presence of the Past

What is Archaeology?

Goals: What is Archaeology?

Imagination & Questions

Observations & Questions

Message, Codes, & Patterns

Archaeological Data

Research Design

Archaeology's Challenge

Archaeological Translation

Theory & Interpretation

What Archaeology Isn't

Summary: What is Archaeology?

Try It: What is Archaeology?

Archaeology's Goals

Goals: Archaeology's Goals

Defining Archaeology

Archaeology & History

Archaeology's Agenda

Reconstruct Culture History

Reconstruct Past Lifeways

Archaeological Explanation

Scales of Explanation

Questions & Answers

The Search for Meaning

Summary: Archaeology's Goals

Try It: Archaeology's Goals

Archaeology's Earliest History

Goals: Archaeology's Earliest History

Origins of Archaeology

Archaeology's Roots

Archaism

Speculative Antiquarianism

Ancient Archaeology?

Medieval Times & the Past

The Renaissance & the Past

Summary: Earliest History

Try It: Archaeology's Earliest History

Archaeology Emerges

Goals: Archaeology Emerges

Antiquity & the Enlightenment

Diverse Speculation

Artifacts & Human Antiquity

America's First Archaeologist

Expansion & Exposure

Archaeologists & Antiquaries

Establishing Human Antiquity

Discovering Early Civilizations

Summary: Archaeology Emerges

Try It: Archaeology Emerges

Empires & Archaeology

Goals: Empires & Archaeology

Lubbock's Cultural Evolution

Cultural Stages

Misguided Evolution

19th Century Expansion

The Moundbuilder Myth

Demise of the Moundbuilders

Ethnocentrism at Great Zimbabwe

Summary: Empires & Archaeology

Try It: Empires & Archaeology

Contemporary Archaeology

Goals: Contemporary Archaeology

Classification & Culture History

Ecological Approaches

Archaeology as Anthropology

New Archeology

Middle-Range Theory

Historical Archaeology

Interpretive Archaeologies

A Diverse Future

Summary: Contemporary Archaeology

Try It: Contemporary Archaeology

Leaving a Trail

The Archaeological Record

Goals: The Archaeological Record

Leaving a Patterned Trail

Artifacts

Ecofacts

Features

Structures

Sites

Summary: The Archaeological Record

Try It: The Archaeological Record

Context & Variability

Goals: Context & Variability

The Importance of Context

Provenience

Matrix

Association

Archaeological Variability

Preservation Variability

Variability of Scale

Summary: Context & Variability

Try It: Context & Variability

Cultural Deposition

Goals: Cultural Deposition

Cultural Deposition Processes

Loss

Discard

Abandonment

Burial

Storage & Caching

The Record Accumulates

C-Transforms & N-Transforms

Summary: Cultural Deposition

Try It: Cultural Deposition

Cultural Modification

Goals: Cultural Modification

The Past Transformed

Uniformitarian Reasoning

Formation & Transformation

A Complex Cultural Record

Recycling

Maintenance & Reuse

Trampling

Summary: Cultural Modification

Try It: Cultural Modification

Natural Transformation

Goals: Natural Transformation

Dynamic Landscapes & Environments

Natural Transformations

Weathering

Deposition, Erosion, & Deflation

Soil Genesis, Paleosols & Buried Soils

The Time Factor

Cryoturbation & Pedoturbation

Taphonomy

The Future of the Past

Summary: Natural Transformation

Try It: Natural Transformation

Preservation Environments

Goals: Preservation Environments

Artifact Materials

Cycles of Change

Spectacular Rarities

Organic Preservation

Wet Environments

Dry Environments

Cold Environments

Natural Disasters

Summary: Preservation Environments

Try It: Preservation Environments

Tracking Down Time

Geologic Time

Goals: Geologic Time

What is Geologic Time?

Religion & Geology

Modern Historic Geology

Geologic Nomenclature

Humanity's Imprint in Geologic Time

The Geologic Time Scale

Hominids & Archaeology

Summary: Geologic Time

Try It: Geologic Time

Thinking & Talking About Time

Goals: Thinking About Time

Thinking About Time

Talking About Time

What is Time?

The Human Time Scale

Ordering Time

Cyclical Time

Serial Time

Perceiving Time

Temporal Scales

Summary: Thinking About Time

Try It: Thinking About Time

Temporal Sequences

Goals: Temporal Sequences

Anthropology's Time Dimension

Time & Sequence

The Fog

The Flat Past

Unflattening the Past

The Three-Age System

Temporal Models

Making Time Tangible

Relative Chronology

Summary: Temporal Sequences

Try It: Temporal Sequences

Stratigraphy & Sequence

Goals: Stratigraphy & Sequence

Sedimentary Signatures

Deposition of Sediments

Sedimentary Sequences

Strata & Profiles

Stratigraphy

Superposition

Original Horizontality

Lateral Continuity

Summary: Stratigraphy

Try It: Stratigraphy & Sequence

Stratigraphic Correlation

Goals: Stratigraphic Correlation

Regional Stratigraphic Correlation

Correlating Stratigraphic Sequences

Correlation Limitations

Summary: Stratigraphic Correlation

Try It: Stratigraphic Correlation

Biostratigraphy & Index Fossils

Goals: Biostratigraphy

The Biostratigraphic Alternative

Fossils & Natural Historians

William Smith

Correlating Discontinuous Strata

Cuvier & Brongniart

Index Fossils

Evolution & Biostratigraphy

The Coelacanth

Biostratigraphic Correlation

Summary: Biostratigraphy

Try It: Biostratigraphy

Seriation & Sequence

Goals: Seriation & Sequence

Sequencing Change

Seriation

Seriation & Style

The Battleship Curve

Kinds of Seriation

Sir Flinders Petrie

Nels Nelson

Relative Frequency & Change

Seriation & Gravestones

Summary: Seriation & Sequence

Try It: Seriation & Sequence

Charting Time

Scales of Time

Goals: Scales of Time

Pinning Down the Sequences

Linear Time

Temporal Flexibility

Archaeological Time Scales

Tempo

Absolute Time

Association & Context

Summary: Scales of Time

Try It: Scales of Time

Radioactivity & Time

Goals: Radioactivity & Time

Chronometry & Archaeology

Radioactive Clocks

Radiometric Dating

Radiometric Dating Tools

Half-Life

Summary: Radioactivity & Time

Try It: Radioactivity & Time

Radiocarbon Dating

Goals: Radiocarbon Dating

Discovering Radiocarbon

Radiocarbon's Instability

Radiocarbon's Origin

Distributing Radiocarbon

The Radiocarbon Clock

Calculating 14C Ages

Radiocarbon Samples

Beta Counting

AMS Counting

Summary: Radiocarbon Dating

Try It: Radiocarbon Dating

Tree-Rings & Calibration

Goals: Tree-Rings & Calibration

Dendrochronology & Climate

Tree-Rings

Dendrochronology & Archaeology

Tree-Ring Variability

Dendrochronology & Radiocarbon

Early Problems with Radiocarbon

Calibrating Radiocarbon Dates

Summary: Tree-Rings & Calibration

Try It: Tree-Rings & Calibration

Radiopotassium Dating

Goals: Radiopotassium Dating

Radiopotassium Decay

Using Radiopotassium

Radiopotassium Samples

Dating with Radiopotassium

Argon-40/Argon-39 Dating

Summary: Radiopotassium Dating

Try It: Radiopotassium Dating

Fission Track Dating

Goals: Fission Track Dating

Fission Tracks

Uranium-238

Uranium in Glass

Counting Fission Tracks

Fission Track Dating Olduvai Gorge

Summary: Fission Track Dating

Try It: Fission Track Dating

Obsidian Hydration Dating

Goals: Obsidian Hydration

Creating Obsidian Surfaces

Obsidian Hydration

Hydration Rinds

Obsidian Hydration Ages

An Archaeological Example

Summary: Obsidian Hydration

Try It: Obsidian Hydration

Luminescence Dating

Goals: Luminescence Dating

Luminescence: Trapped Electrons

Electron Traps

The Luminescence Clock

Luminescence Techniques

Luminescence Time Range

TL Dating

ESR Dating

OSL Dating

Summary: Luminescence Dating

Try It: Luminescence Dating

Magnetic Dating

Goals: Magnetic Dating

Magnetic Dating Methods

Measuring Magnetism

Paleomagnetism

Archaeomagnetism

Summary: Magnetic Dating

Try It: Magnetic Dating

Following the Trail

Designing Fieldwork

Goals: Designing Fieldwork

Field, Research Design, Fieldwork

Responsibilities

Fieldwork Scale

Sampling

Budgets & Funding

Summary: Designing Fieldwork

Try It: Designing Fieldwork

Locating Our Imprint

Goals: Locating Our Imprint

Finding the Record

Exposing Our Imprint

Documentary Sources

Accidental Discovery

Interviews

Searching Systematically

Summary: Locating Our Imprint

Try It: Locating Our Imprint

Regional Survey

Goals: Regional Survey

Why Do We Survey?

Planning, Sampling, Preparing

Visibility & Remote Sensing

Systematic Regional Survey

Site Distributions

Rank/Size Distributions

Summary: Regional Survey

Try It: Regional Survey

Excavation Principles

Goals: Excavation Principles

Planning to Dig

Site Maps

Site Assessment

Matrix, Provenience, Association

Excavation Units

Plotting Precision & Accuracy

Database Management

Summary: Excavation Principles

Try It: Excavation Principles

Digging a Site

Goals: Digging a Site

At An Excavation

Making Baulks & Taking Samples

Fieldwork Surprises

The Field Lab

Screening

Flotation

Customized Recovery

Illustrating the Evidence

Organization & Conservation

Summary: Digging a Site

Try It: Digging a Site

Detecting Technology

Shifting Frameworks

Goals: Shifting Frameworks

Time, Space, & Form

Taxonomy & Systematics

Artifacts, Data, & Variability

Artifacts & Attributes

Assemblages

Interassemblage Variability

Summary: Shifting Frameworks

Try It: Shifting Frameworks

Archaeological Typology

Goals: Typology

Typology & Types

Constructing Types

Patterning & Variability

Types, Types, & Types

Formal Types

Temporal Types

Functional Types

Summary: Typology

Try It: Typology

Thinking About Technology

Goals: Thinking About Technology

Studying Stuff

Materials

Tools

Techniques

Technology, Systems, & Change

Invention vs. Innovation

Knowledge & Creativity

Diffusion

Technical Choices

Summary: Thinking About Technology

Try It: Thinking About Technology

The Prehistory of Technology

Goals: Prehistory of Technology

Monkeys & Tools

Chimpanzees, Tools, & Learning

The Search for Early Tools

Choppers & Planning

Handaxes & Cognition

Fire: Heat & Light

The Mousterian

The Upper Paleolithic & Beyond

Summary: Prehistory of Technology

Try It: Prehistory of Technology

Studying Technology

Goals: Studying Technology

The Life of an Artifact

Technological Organization

Studying Form

Analyzing Data

Histograms

Scatterplots

Pie Charts & Contingency

Functional Analysis

Experimentation

Summary: Studying Technology

Try It: Studying Technology

Stone

Goals: Stone

Archaeology & Stone Tools

Flintknapping

Debitage

Ground Stone Tools

Studying Lithic Technology

Stone Tool Morphology

Stone Tool Function

Refitting

Lithics & Experimentation

Summary: Stone

Try It: Stone

Skeletal Materials

Goals: Skeletal Materials

Not Just Stone

Early Osseous Tools

Bone & Antler

Shell

Studying Osseous Artifacts

Worked Bone & Antler Typology

Studying Manufacture

Function

Summary: Skeletal Materials

Try It: Skeletal Materials

Pottery

Goals: Pottery

Pottery & Its Origins

Studying Pottery

Clay & Temper

Making Pottery

Sourcing Clay

Pottery Typology

Pot Form & Function

Pottery & Culture

Summary: Pottery

Try It: Pottery

Provisioning Society

Human Subsistence

Goals: Human Subsistence

Provisioning People

Nutrition & Human Evolution

Archaeological Accessibility

Different Grocers

Mobile & Sedentary Foragers

Intensification & Domestication

Explaining Subsistence Change

Subsistence Variability

Summary: Human Subsistence

Try It: Human Subsistence

Subsistence Resources

Goals: Subsistence Resources

Food Resources

Plant Resources

Animal Resources

Wild Foods

Domestic Foods

Cooking

Seasonality

Preservation & Storage

Summary: Subsistence Resources

Try It: Subsistence Resources

Studying Plant Remains

Goals: Studying Plant Remains

Archaeobotany

Macrobotanical Remains

Microbotanical Remains

Pollen

Phytoliths

Comparative Collections

Summary: Studying Plant Remains

Try It: Studying Plant Remains

Studying Animal Remains

Goals: Studying Animal Remains

Zooarchaeology

Durability & Part Abundance

Taphonomic History

Sampling & Counting Bones

Age & Sex

Scavenging, Hunting, & Sharing

Animal Domestication

Summary: Studying Animal Remains

Try It: Studying Animal Remains

Other Evidence

Goals: Other Evidence

Human Remains

Coprolites

Bone Chemistry

Subsistence Tools

Summary: Other Evidence

Try It: Other Evidence

Preserving the Trail

Preserving Our Imprint

Goals: Preserving Our Imprint

What is the Trail?

Cultural Resources

Who Owns the Past?

Summary: Preserving Our Imprint

Try It: Preserving Our Imprint

Preservation Efforts Begin

Goals: Preservation Efforts Begin

Antiquities Research & Preservation

National Parks & Reservations

As the 19th Century Ends

Antiquities Act of 1906

National Monuments

Summary: Preservation Efforts Begin

Try It: Preservation Efforts Begin

Before the Bulldozer

Goals: Before the Bulldozer

WPA Archaeology

HABS

Collection & Documentation

Historic Sites Act of 1935

Archaeology & Urban Expansion

River Basin Surveys

Highways, Reservoirs, & Pipelines

Preservation & the New Archaeology

Summary: Before the Bulldozer

Try It: Before the Bulldozer

Cultural Resource Management

Goals: CRM

CRM

National Historic Preservation Act

The National Register

The Section 106 Process

Preservation in the 60s & 70s

CRM & the Academy

The Sunken Past

Protection on Non-Federal Land

Summary: CRM

Try It: CRM

Organizing the Past

Goals: Organizing the Past

Curation & Management

Curation Regulations

Collections Management

Collections-Based Research

What Should Be Saved?

Site Management

Presenting the Past

Public Education

Summary: Organizing the Past

Try It: Organizing the Past

Owning the Past

Goals: Owning the Past

Looting & Vandalism

The Past for Private Sale

Landowners & Guardianship

Human Burials

Just Compensation

The Archaeological Conservancy

Summary: Owning the Past

Try It: Owning the Past

A Past Without Borders

Goals: A Past Without Borders

Global Culture

Global Past at Risk

Global Responsibility

UNESCO & World Heritage

World Heritage List

Endangered World Heritage

World Heritage Fund

Summary: A Past Without Borders

Try It: A Past Without Borders

Negotiating the Past

Goals: Negotiating the Past

Appropriating the Past

Archaeology & Native Americans

NAGPRA

Repatriation

The African Burial Ground

Patrimony in Peril

Understanding & Compromise

Summary: Negotiating the Past

Try It: Negotiating the Past