Archaeology (also spelled archeology): In the United States, archaeology is taught and practiced as one of the four major subfields of anthropology (with anthropological linguistics, physical anthropology, and cultural anthropology). The aim of archaeology is the understanding of past human societies. Archaeologists not only attempt to discover and describe past cultures, but also to develop explanations for the development of cultures.
Archaeologist: Anyone with an interest in the aims and methods of archaeology. At a professional level, the archaeologist usually holds a degree in anthropology, with a specialization in archaeology (see Archaeology). The professional archaeologist is one who is capable of collecting archaeological information in a proper scientific way, and interpreting that information in light of existing scientific theories and methods.
Archaeological Survey: The archaeological survey is a study intended to compile an inventory of archaeological remains within a given area. Usually a survey is an extensive rather than an intensive phase of archaeological study. The objective is to form the most complete and representative picture possible of the archaeological remains found within a defined area. Surveys may be based upon a wide variety of methods, including on-foot examinations of the ground surface, brief digging, talking with people who know where archaeological sites are to be found, consulting historical records, and looking at satellite photos of an area.
Archaeological Testing: Archaeological testing involves carrying out limited-scale testing of archaeological sites (see Site). Testing attempts to dig only enough to determine the extent, content and state of preservation within an archaeological site.
Artifact: Any object that shows evidence of modification by a human agency. Examples of artifacts are spear points chipped from flint, animal bones burned during preparation of a meal, fragments of pottery vessels and coins. Whether ancient or recent, artifacts are the traces of human behavior, and therefore one of the prime categories of things studied by archaeologists (see also Context).
Conservation Archaeology: A subfield of archaeology whose primary objective is informed management of archaeological remains and information. Working with private and public agencies, conservation archaeologists provide information that will allow archaeological properties and information to be effectively managed for the benefit of future generations. In this context, archaeological values are a natural resource of the nation, to be wisely conserved for the future (see Cultural Resource Management).
Context, or Archaeological Context: The setting from which archaeological objects (see Artifacts) are taken. Usually the meaning of archaeological objects cannot be discerned without information about their setting. One example is determining how old an object is, given that the age of objects excavated from a site varies with their depth in the ground. Unless the depth of an object is carefully recorded against a fixed point of reference, it may be impossible to relate objects to the dimension of time.
Cultural Resource Management: Development of programs and policies aimed at conservation of archaeological properties and information. Such programs exist within the federal and state governments, academic institutions and private agencies.
Cumberland Dwelling: An architectural style named for its common occurrence throughout middle Tennessee. These dwellings have two front rooms of about equal size and front doors, with any additional rooms added onto the rear of the building.
Data Recovery: In the context of cultural resource management (see definition) studies, data recovery refers to relatively large-scale excavation designed to remove important objects and information from an archaeological site prior to its planned destruction. Data recovery is only undertaken after it is shown that preservation of the site in place is not a feasible course of action in the project in question. Scientific data are recovered to answer important scientific and cultural questions.
Debitage: A term meaning the characteristic types of stone flakes produced from manufacture of prehistoric stone tools by chipping (as, for example, stone spear and arrow points). One of the most common types of prehistoric artifacts, these distinctive flakes frequently alert the archaeologist to the presence of a prehistoric site.
Feature, or Archaeological Feature: Many things of archaeological interest are portable, such as fragments of bone, pottery and stone tools. However, archaeological sites frequently contain man-made things that are not portable, but are part of the earth itself. Examples of these features are hearths, foundations of buildings, storage pits, grave pits and canals.
Hipped Roof Bungalow: These are square to rectangular dwellings with hipped gable roofs, one or two front doors and four to five rooms arranged in a modular design.
Historic Sites: Archaeological sites dating to the historic era, or after about the early seventeenth century in the project area. The distinguishing characteristic of this period is availability of written documents. This era extends from the earliest period mentioned in histories to the present.
Midden: A word (adopted from the Danish language) meaning refuse heap. In many instances, one of the most apparent aspects of an archaeological site is “midden”, or a soil layer stained to a dark color by decomposition of organic refuse, and containing food bones, fragments of stone tools, charcoal, pieces of pottery or other discards. Archaeologists can learn a great deal about people’s lifeways by studying their middens.
Potsherds (or sherds): Pieces of ceramic vessels. Since the making of pottery did not begin in the project area until the first few centuries A.D., the presence of potsherds is a useful index of time. Also, the composition of the sherds and their decorative motifs are a highly useful way of detecting different prehistoric cultural groups, since manufacture and design of pottery varied with cultural groups.
Prehistoric Sites: Archaeological sites (see Site) that date to a time prior to European contact (that is, before written history). In the project area that would be prior to the early seventeenth century. Prehistory is a relative concept, varying from one area to another, depending on the first intrusion of Americans or Europeans.
Profiles: Detailed maps of the walls of test pits and test trenches (see definitions). These are key records in understanding a site’s layers (stratigraphy) and distribution and age of artifacts.
Site: A site, or archaeological site, is the location of past human behavior. Sites vary tremendously in their size and content, ranging from cities to a few flakes of stone indicating the manufacture of a stone tool. As a relative concept, sites are defined in relation to specific research problems and needs.
Stratigraphy: A number of normal processes caused the earth’s surface to be built up over time in layer-cake fashion. Sometimes this is caused by floods or wind-carried soil. In other cases it may result from people piling up refuse of one kind or another. The layering effect here is called stratigraphy, and is a major interpretive tool of the archaeologist. Within a given stratigraphic sequence the most deeply buried layers are usually the oldest, and things found within a given level were usually from the same points in time. Stratigraphy is therefore a means of telling time (in a relative sense) for the archaeologist.
Test Pits: Rectilinear pits dug during excavation of a site (see Archaeological Testing). The archaeologist works with square or rectangular pits because they aid in keeping records of changes in soil types and other variables with depth. Extensive records, drawings and maps are kept of test pits. The function of the test pit is to provide a sample of a site’s contents at a particular point.
Test Trenches: Serving much the same function as a test pit, the test trench give a more continuous record of a site’s contents over a larger distance than a pit. Trenches are useful for tracing stratigraphy (see definition) over distance.
