Chapter 4

Doing Fieldwork: Surveying for

Archaeological Sites

Outline

• Good Old Gumshoe Survey• Archaeology Is More than Just

Digging Sites• Surface Archaeology in the Carson

Desert• Does Sampling Actually Work? The

Chaco Experiment

Outline

• Quality Control in Surface Survey• What about Things that Lie Below

Ground?• GPS Technology and Modern Surveys• Full-Coverage Survey

Finding Archaeological Sites

• Archaeological sites are found in different ways, and there is no single formula.

• Luck and hard work are the major keys; other sites are found through systematic regional survey.

Systematic Regional Survey

• A set of strategies for arriving at accurate descriptions of the range of archaeological material across a landscape.

Seasonal Round

• Hunter-gatherers’ pattern of movement between different places on the landscape timed to the seasonal availability of food and other resources.

Settlement Pattern

• The distribution of archaeological sites across a region.

• A settlement system is the movements and activities reconstructed from a settlement pattern.

The Surveyor’s Toolkit

• A GPS instrument• A two-way radio• A good but cheap

watch (We’ve crushed several climbing over rocks.)

• A good compass• A K+E field notebook• Pencils• Ziploc bags

• A black Sharpie marker• A trowel (for test pits)• A metric tape measure• Graph paper (for site

maps). • A small flashlight• A snake bite kit,,

pepper spray, mosquito repellent, or shin guards.

Map of the Carson Desert and Stillwater

Mountains

Statistical Population

• A set of counts, measurements, or characteristics about which relevant inquiries are to be made.

• Scientists use the term “statistical population” in a specialized way (quite different from “population” in the ordinary sense).

Sample Universe

• The region that contains the statistical population and that will be sampled.

• Its size and shape are determined by the research question and practical considerations.

Getting the Sample

1. Decide on the sample fraction. What portion of the sample population would be included—1% of the sites? 5%, 10%, 50%?

2. How do you actually acquire the sample? Ideally, we would take all the sites in the sample universe, give each one a number, and randomly select a portion and examine those sites.

Stratified Random Sample

• A survey universe divided into several sub-universes that are then sampled at potentially different sample fractions.

Smithsonian Number

• A unique catalog number given to sites.

• It consists of a number (the state’s position alphabetically), a letter abbreviation of the county, and the site’s sequential number within the county.

Does Sampling Work?

• Experimental studies show that survey sampling does work—it can accurately characterize a region’s archaeology.

• But survey sampling is not good at finding the rare sites that are important in understanding a region’s prehistory. – These are found by gumshoe

survey.

What’s a Site?

• Often geography places a clear boundary on a site’s edges, for example, a riverbank or a steep slope.

• Deflation is a geologic process whereby fine sediment is blown away and larger items remain.– This results in archaeological remains,

which might have been discarded at different times, being left together.

Topographic map of Quadrat 36 in the Stillwater Mountain

survey

Hypothetical Artifact Scatter 4 Site-definition Scenarios

Total Station

• A device that uses a beam of light bounced off a prism to determine an artifact’s provenience.

• Total stations make the precise mapping of large areas practical and the archaeologist treats the entire survey unit as one large site.

• He or she can use a variety of statistical methods to find patterns in which artifact types are physically associated.

Shovel-testing

• A sample survey method used in regions where rapid soil buildup obscures buried archaeological remains.

• It entails digging shallow, systematic pits across the survey unit.

GPS Technologyand Modern Surveys

• GPS consists of 24 satellites that circle the earth in 12-hour evenly distributed orbits at an altitude of 17,000 kilometers.

• Each satellite carries a computer and a very accurate atomic clock.

• Handheld GPS units operate by picking up the continuously broadcast signals from at least four satellites.

• GPS is funded and controlled by the U.S. Department of Defense.

Full-coverage Survey

• Most useful when:1. The research question concerns

complex settlement systems and seeks to explain their changes through time.

2. A surface archaeological record is clearly visible.

3. Addressing questions regarding specific relations between specific sites.

Quick Quiz

1. The systematic regional survey is the single best formula for finding an archaeological site.

A. TrueB. False

Answer: B. False

• Archaeological sites are found in different ways, and there is no single formula. Luck and hard work are the major keys; other sites are found through the systematic regional survey.

2. A settlement system is:A. The distribution of archaeological

sites across a region.B. The movements and activities

reconstructed from a settlement pattern.

C. A set of counts, measurements, or characteristics about which relevant inquiries are to be made.

D. All of the above.

Answer: B

• A settlement system is the movements and activities reconstructed from a settlement pattern.

3. Full-coverage surveys are necessary when trying to ensure that no rare but significant site will be missed.

A. TrueB. False

Answer: A. True

• Full-coverage surveys are necessary when trying to ensure that no rare but significant site will be missed.