Archaeology For Dummies

386 Pages·2008·5.424 MB·English

by  Nancy Marie White

Archaeology
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
by Nancy Marie White
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Archaeology
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
by Nancy Marie White
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Archaeology For Dummies®
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Copyright © 2008 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
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Manufactured in the United States of America
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About the Author
Being an archaeologist was something Nancy Marie White wanted to do from
the time she learned how to spell the word as a kid. She was interested in
Native American cultures, outdoor adventure, and the romance of finding
ancient things and lost knowledge. After earning a BA in history, she went to
live in Mexico, where she saw that studying archaeology and the rest of
anthropology would lead to a fascinating life. She earned a PhD from Case
Western Reserve University in Cleveland (home of rock and roll), and is now
professor of anthropology at the University of South Florida, Tampa, and a
long-time member of the Register of Professional Archaeologists.
White’s research includes finding and sometimes excavating sites of all time
periods. She’s currently studying how late prehistoric agricultural societies
in the U.S. Southeast became complex and why they had no beer. She also
investigates campsites, villages, and mounds of earlier Native American
hunter-gatherers, fishers, and gardeners, and lost towns and forts inhabited
by historic Indians, European-Americans, and African-Americans. Her one kid,
Tony, spent an entire childhood camping in the woods and digging, and now
studies engineering. White tries to travel often in order to go somewhere dif-
ferent to visit archaeology. She really believes in public archaeology and the
potential of the distant past to show us a lot that might be useful in the mod-
ern world.
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Author’s Acknowledgments
Thanks are due to many people who helped with this book in different ways.
Archaeologists Lee Hutchinson and Jeff Du Vernay read the manuscript and
offered great comments. Malaysian social scientist Cheng Sim Hew asked
good questions about archaeology’s value to society. Help with figures, text,
ideas, and details came from Robbie Baer, Bill Bingham, Susan Harp, Ned
Jenkins, Roy Larick, Erin Kimmerle, Rochelle Marrinan, Erin Murtha-Celii,
John O’Hear, Rob Tykot, and Rich Weinstein. Wiley editors Michael Lewis,
Megan Knoll, and Tim Gallan are superb. Offspring Anthony Orlando White
and parent Adela Dodero White read and commented upon everything and
provided constant encouragement and laughs.
Thanks also to all archaeologists and other scientists whose work I’ve
described here; I apologize for not being able to cite you by name. I realize
I’ve taken on a huge responsibility in representing the entirety of the archae-
ological profession and the specific work of thousands of colleagues around
the world in a single (and, I’m hoping, user-friendly) volume. Perhaps readers
will let me know about any errors. After all, archaeology is a continual pro-
cess of finding out new information about old things!
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Publisher’s Acknowledgments
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Contents at a Glance
Introduction ..............................................................................................................1
Par t I: Archaeology: Seeing Past People Today ......................................................7
Chapter 1: What Archaeology Is ......................................................................................9
Chapter 2: What Archaeology Isn’t and Why That’s Important .................................23
Chapter 3: So You Want to Do Archaeology? What Kind? ..........................................33
Chapter 4: How Archaeologists Think and Work.........................................................53
Par t II: Archaeological Fieldwork: The Adventure Begins! .................................65
Chapter 5: Supplies and Equipment You Need ............................................................67
Chapter 6: Archaeological Survey: Finding Where to Dig ...........................................75
Chapter 7: The Archaeological Dig ................................................................................95
Chapter 8: Laws, Ethics, and Safety in Field Archaeology ........................................121
Par t III: After the Dig: You’ve Only Just Begun ..................................................133
Chapter 9: Processing Excavated Materials in the Laboratory ...............................135
Chapter 10: Studying and Analyzing What You’ve Excavated .................................151
Chapter 11: Reconstructing the Past: Piecing Together the Puzzles ......................171
Par t IV: Archaeology Reconstructs the Whole Human Past...............................193
Chapter 12: Early Humans: Original Cave Guys & Gals .............................................195
Chapter 13: The Last 10,000 Years: Climate Change
and Early Food Production ........................................................................................211
Chapter 14: Ancient States ...........................................................................................235
Chapter 15: Historic Archaeology: Reinterpreting the More Recent Past ..............259
Par t V: Archaeology Is for Everyone ...................................................................279
Chapter 16: The Uses of Archaeological Findings .....................................................281
Chapter 17: How You Can Explore Archaeology .......................................................297
Chapter 18: Controversies and Sensational Findings................................................307
Par t VI: The Par t of Tens ......................................................................................327
Chapter 19: Ten-Plus Archaeological Places to Visit in the U.S. ..............................329
Chapter 20: More Than Ten Archaeological Sites
to Visit Outside the United States .............................................................................335
Chapter 21: Ten Fun Archaeological Experiences .....................................................343
Appendix ...............................................................................................................347
Index ......................................................................................................................355
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Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................. 1
About This Book ..............................................................................................1
Conventions Used in This Book .....................................................................2
Archaeology versus archeology ..........................................................2
Dates ........................................................................................................2
Measurements ........................................................................................3
Anthropology .........................................................................................3
What you’re not to read ........................................................................3
My Assumptions ..............................................................................................3
How This Book Is Organized ..........................................................................4
Part I: Archaeology: Seeing Past People Today .................................4
Part II: Archaeological Fieldwork: The Adventure Begins! ...............4
Part III: After the Dig: You’ve Only Just Begun ...................................5
Part IV: Archaeology Reconstructs the Whole Human Past .............5
Part V: Archaeology Is for Everyone ...................................................5
Part VI: The Part of Tens .......................................................................5
Icons Used in the Book ...................................................................................6
Where to Go from Here ...................................................................................6
Par t I: Archaeology: Seeing Past People Today ............... 7
Chapter 1: What Archaeology Is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
So What Is Archaeology Anyway? .................................................................9
The method: It’s detective work ........................................................10
The goal: Understand people .............................................................11
The Nature of Archaeological Evidence .....................................................11
Artifacts .................................................................................................12
Ecofacts .................................................................................................12
Features .................................................................................................12
Sites .......................................................................................................12
How Archaeological Sites Form ...................................................................13
Cultural processes ...............................................................................13
Natural processes ................................................................................14
How Archaeology Became a Modern Science ............................................15
Early diggers .........................................................................................15
Nineteenth-century archaeology .......................................................16
The early 20th century: Fabulous finds and academic advances ...18
New archaeology of the mid-20th century........................................20
Late 20th-century archaeology ..........................................................20
Modern 21st-century archaeology ....................................................20
Archaeology in the field ......................................................................21
Archaeology in the lab ........................................................................21
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Archaeology For Dummies
Archaeology’s human story................................................................22
Archaeology in the public sphere......................................................22
Chapter 2: What Archaeology Isn’t and Why That’s Important . . . . . .23
Dinosaurs, Fossils, and Rocks: Not What Archaeology Is About ............23
Some fossils but no dinos ...................................................................24
Understanding how rock studies aid archaeology ..........................24
Hollywood Stereotypes: Time for a Dose of Reality ..................................25
The real archaeologists versus the movie heroes ...........................25
Real past people versus movie savages with dinosaurs.................26
Treasure Hunting and Looting: Not the Goals of Archaeology ................26
Early archaeology and looting: The Elgin marbles ..........................27
Give a hoot: Don’t loot (or trade in antiquities) ..............................28
Archaeologists Aren’t Always Digging ........................................................29
Archaeology Isn’t Necessarily Exotic; It’s Real Work ...............................30
Archaeology is about people ..............................................................30
A case study: Archaeology of modern garbage ...............................31
Chapter 3: So You Want to Do Archaeology? What Kind? . . . . . . . . . .33
Archaeology as Anthropology .....................................................................33
The Scientific and the Humanistic in Archaeology ...................................34
Different Fields for a Plethora of Purposes and Places ............................35
Regional specialties: Digging in one place ........................................35
Temporal specialties: Digging within one time period ...................36
Expertise in specific artifacts or site types ......................................37
Archaeological Specialties by Setting, Goals, and Techniques ...............39
Prehistoric and historic archaeology ................................................39
Underwater archaeology: Difficult and expensive ...........................41
Classical archaeology: All those statues! ..........................................42
Forensic archaeology ..........................................................................43
Historic preservation, heritage, and community archaeology ......44
Cultural resources management (CRM)
and contract archaeology ...............................................................45
Museum archaeology and collections management .......................48
Avocational and educational archaeology .......................................49
Other kinds of archaeology ................................................................49
Special Studies Related to Archaeology .....................................................51
Zooarchaeology: Animal remains ......................................................51
Paleoethnobotany: Plant remains ......................................................51
Archaeometry: Archaeological sciences ..........................................51
What Kind of Archaeology Do You Want to Do? .......................................52
Chapter 4: How Archaeologists Think and Work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
How an Archaeological Investigation Begins .............................................54
Determining your research goals ......................................................54
Coming up with a research design ....................................................55
Planning the archaeological project ..................................................55
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