Post-Dig LabMA-SB-SS

2014

Prehistory vs. History

South Jordanian Desert

Humayma

Camels

Before

After

Tools of the Trade

Material Culture – The finds

Two point eight four meters below surface

2.84m = 9’ 3 4/5”

Pottery Washing and Paperwork

Sotira, Cyprus

Experimental Archaeology

• Reconstructing past technology to better understand how people lived

• Mock Excavations– Safety for students

• Assures no toxic or dangerous areas excavated

– To emphasize specific topics– Cultural Comparison

• American vs. Ancient World

Paperwork, Paperwork, Paperwork

• Post-dig– Artifact form– Register finds– Data base entry– Ceramicist report– Faunal Analysis– Seed Flotation – Floral Analysis– C14 dating– Site report

POST DIG - ARTIFACT FORM

SITE ____ - ____ - _____ SQUARE # 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (circle one)

QUAD # NW, NE, CEN, SE, SW (circle one) LEVEL _____

ARTIFACT # __________

DESCRIPTION - metal ( ) bone ( ) glass ( ) ceramic ( ) other___________________ ( )

DEPTH FROM SURFACE _____ cm

Draw and measure the artifact:

What was the artifact used for?

What objects from ancient civilizations had the same use?

What do the artifacts tell us?

Interpretation:The big universal questions

ShelterFood

ClothingTrade

Transportation

Context: Native American

trade, food source, tools

Fishing

Agriculture

Donkeys pulling a seeder plow on a cylinder seal from Tell Suleimeh, Iraq, mid-third millennium B.C.E.

Colonial American farmer with ox and plow

Sheep and Goats

Textiles - wool

Textiles - linen

Transportation and Trade

Laetoli, Africa

Sumerians used pottery wheel and cart wheel

Ceramics – Potsherds reconstruction

Greek culture

Colonial Building materials

Sumerians had reed houses and monumental architecture

thermopolium

Think Archaeology