Name. Designed and Produced for the Orleans County Historical Society by Andrew R. Beaupré, RPA

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2 Archaeology! Archeology! What is Archaeology? Archaeology is the scientific study of people of the past by studying the places people lived, the objects they used, and traces in the soil left by human activities. Archaeology is a sub-field of the larger field of anthropology. What is Anthropology? Anthropology is the study of human beings and their culture, past and present. There are four sub-fields of Anthropology: Archaeology - focuses on past peoples. Cultural Anthropology - focuses on living peoples. Linguistic Anthropology - focuses on languages. Biological Anthropology - focuses on human biology. Are there different types of Archaeology? Not all archaeologists study the same topics. There are three major forms of archaeology. Classical archaeologists study the ancient world, such as Greece, Rome and Egypt. Prehistoric archaeologists study the past before historical records began. Historical Archaeologists study the places, things, and issues from the past when written records can be used as additional evidence. What do Archaeologists not do? Archaeologists do not dig up dinosaurs! The study of dinosaurs is called paleontology.

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5 Artifacts are Everywhere! What is an Artifact? An artifact is an object that have been made or used by a human being. The pencil you draw with is an artifact. If you used a rock as a hammer, the rock would become a tool, a tool is an artifact. You made it an artifact by using it. In short, artifacts are everywhere! Artifacts from archaeological sites offer very important information. Examples of Artifacts from the Old Stone House Site: Nails Ceramic sherds Bottle glass Skeleton keys Cutlery What about Really Big Artifacts? Is a stone wall an artifact? Is a building an artifact? Is the Old Stone House an artifact? Well, Yes! Large immobile artifacts are members of a special class of artifact called archaeological features. Examples of Features from the Old Stone House Site: Stone walls Twilight House Stone wall along The Old Stone House Athenian Hall. What do Artifacts tell us? The study of artifacts is called artifact analysis. Artifact analysis can tell archaeologists about how people lived in the past. What did they eat? What did they do for work? Where they wealthy or poor? What was life really like? What if I find an archaeological artifact off the Old Stone House site? Artifacts are the business of archaeologists, if you find an artifact when an archaeologist is not around, leave the artifact where it is. Take a photo of the object, or draw a picture of it and report it to an archaeologist.

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7 The Law of Superposition The Law of Superposition states that: Sedimentary layers are deposited in a time sequence, with the oldest on the bottom and the most recent on the top. The law was written in the 17 th century by the Danish scientist Nicolas Steno

8 What is Stratigraphy? Archaeologists use profile drawings of archaeological stratigraphy to show the remains of historic events such as the construction of buildings. These drawings are called stratigraphic Profiles.

9 Survey Techniques Archaeologists use many of the same techniques employed by land surveyors to make accurate measurements of archaeological excavations. All of these measurements are based on a point in space called a Datum Point. During the week you will learn how to set-up and use a special telescope called a transit. Archaeologists look through the transit and read measurements off of a special ruler called a stadia rod. The transit viewfinder has crosshairs just like a rifle sight. Make sure to read the measurements off of the middle line!

10 From: Booth, Tony Old Stone House Museum Barn Excavation : Results of July 2011 Field School pg. 29

11 Catalog Number Name: Old Stone House Museum Archaeological Inventory Form Date: Recovery Area: Unit: Level: Depth: cm Artifact Description: Colors: Size: cm long cm tall cm thick Weight: grams Photo Ref. Number: Artifact Illustration:

12 Catalog Number Old Stone House Museum Archaeological Inventory Form Name: ANDY BEAUPRE Date: 07/27/2014 Recovery Area: 1 Unit: N 100 E 120 Level: 2 Depth: 23 cm Artifact Description: A CERAMIC POTTERY SHERD, APPEARS TO BE NATIVE AMERICAN IN ORIGIN Colors: ORANGE RED IN COLOR Size: 6.5 cm long 6.5 cm wide 0.5 cm thick Weight: 23 grams Photo Ref. Number: Artifact Illustration: Cat

13 Old Stone House Museum Archaeological Excavation Photographic Record Site Camera Roll No. Exp. No. Date Direction Facing Film Type Description

14 Speak Like an Archaeologist in One Easy Lesson! Archaeology Vocabulary ANTHROPOLOGY - the study of human beings and their culture, past and present. ARCHAEOLOGY the scientific study of people of the past by studying the places people lived, the objects they used, and traces in the soil left by human activities. Archaeology is a subfield of the larger field of anthropology. Archaeologists do not dig up dinosaurs! (see paleontology) ACTIVITY AREA An activity area is a place of working, living or playing that has left an archaeological mark in the ground. This mark can be a feature, a concentration of artifacts, faunal or floral remains. The only way to determine activity areas at a site is through context. Oftentimes determining activity areas reveals more information about past peoples than just studying artifacts. ARROWHEAD Arrowhead is a general term that is misleading, since the object may have been used on spears, darts or other weapons. Instead, archaeologists use the term PROJECTILE POINT. ARTIFACT Any object (such as a tool or ornament) that has been made, modified or used by a people. ASSEMBLAGE- a related set of different artifacts CONTEXT An artifact found in the spot where the people who originally used it left it is said to be in context (or in situ). An artifact in context is directly associated with many clues that can tell archaeologists more about the past. Such clues might include soil colors and chemistry, relationships to other artifacts, charcoal that can be used for radiocarbon dating, etc. Any artifact that is in context is said to have PROVENIENCE, since we know where it came from. In contrast, an artifact picked up and carried off by a collector or moved around by a bulldozer is

15 out of context. An artifact out of context usually tells us very little about the past. When archaeologists excavate a site, they are just as concerned about recording the context as they are about artifacts. When a collector picks up artifacts and takes them away from the site, the context is destroyed. This is the reason we urge people to leave sites intact and artifacts undisturbed. CHRONOLOGY An arrangement of events in the order which they occurred. A timeline from oldest to most recent. CULTURE A society s way of life; the set of learned beliefs, values and behaviors including technology, economy, and social structure. Culture is learned, it is not biologically inherited. DATUM POINT A point or object used as a basis for taking measurements. A starting point determined by archaeologists. EXCAVATION The systematic digging and recording of a site. EXPERIMENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY- modern experiments to reproduce ARTIFACTS, architecture and/or techniques from the past. FAUNAL REMAINS Remains of animals such as deer bones, teeth or fish scales. Faunal remains found on sites tells us which animals people were eating, how people caught them, and how animals were valued. Tool and ornament artifacts may include items made from faunal remains. FEATURE A feature is any archaeological evidence that cannot be removed from a site without being destroyed. For example, a feature may be a large soil stain, or it may be the remains of building walls, or a stone hearth. A feature can even be a combination of artifacts such as a trash pit once the trash pit has been excavated, the context is lost. To avoid losing this information archaeologists take explicit notes on observations, take photos, video and do many drawings with precise measurements. This information would not be saved if a pot-hunter was robbing a site.

16 FLORAL REMAINS Remains of plants, such as corncobs, nutshells, seeds or charcoal. Studying floral remains can help us learn what season people lived at a site, what they ate and how they domesticated plants. GEOLOGY- the study of rocks soils and terrain. HISTORY the record of human events after writing was developed. HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY- the study the places, things, and issues from the past or present when written records can inform and contextualize cultural material. LITHIC(s) - lithic is Greek for stone. In archaeology lithic refers to stone tools. LEVELS Levels are determined by archaeologists. Sometimes levels follow the stratigraphy of the soil and sometimes levels are predetermined by measuring. At Fort St. Joseph, each level has its own recorded numbers, paperwork and properly labeled artifacts. MIDDEN An area used for trash disposal (an ancient garbage dump). PALEOETHNOBOTANY- the study of plant use by both living and prehistoric peoples. POTSHRED- a broken piece of pottery. A piece from the upper rim is called a rimshred. Shreds from other parts of the pot are called body shreds. PROJECTILE POINT- a tool, often made of stone, colloquially called an arrowhead. Archaeologist use the term projectile point instead of arrowhead is that archaeologists do not know if the points were on an arrow, spear or some other tool. SITE A place where people have lived or worked in the past, and where evidence of their activities survive. An area of archaeological excavations.

17 STRATIGRAPHY The layering of soil demarcated by soil color changes or texture changes. Stratigraphy can be natural or manmade, depending on the location. The stratigraphy of the soil can reveal the history of the soil, meaning what happened at that location. Unless disturbed, the lowest stratigraphy layer is the oldest, therefore the deeper you dig, the older the artifacts. UNIT A portion of an excavation grid. Each unit has its own identification designation which is used when recording all data.