ANT 309 Lecture Outline January 28, 2008

IV IV The Recovery of Archaeological data: Reconnaissance and Survey

A Definition: Archaeological reconnaissance: systematic attempt to identify archaeological sites. Archaeological reconnaissance and archaeological survey are synonyms

1 Objective: To discover and precisely locate sites and define their form, size, location, and context relative to landforms and in habitats

B Types:

1 Informant based: local people often know where sites are; the archaeologist asks questions

2  Aerial Reconnaissance: examining stereoscopic photos looking for patterns (crop marks) and then ground truthing what you saw

3 Subsurface reconnaissance (searching for anomalies):

a Via excavation: augering, coring, shovel tests, backhoe

b Magnetometer: measure variability in magnetic field of soil

c Ground penetrating radar: projecting radar beams into the ground

d Resistivity: measuring the electrical resistance of the soil

4 Ground reconnaissance (gumshoe survey): Walking over the ground and looking down. Looking for natural windows into ancient sediment: cut banks, old surfaces.

a Procedures

i Pre-field Research

(i) Become familiar with local ethnohistory:

1. Seasonal round (pattern of seasonal migrations),

2. Settlement system

3. Potential settlement pattern

a. Example Sierra Miwok: Semi-permanent villages in the lowlands, Seasonal camps in the mid-elevations, Ephemeral camps and hunting sites in the high elevations.  Other possible site types: cemeteries, rock art (pictographs [paintings] or petroglyphs)

ii Record Search (Previous research) Information Centers (CHRIS System)

(i) Previous surveys

(ii) Previously recorded sites

(iii) Archaeological Site records

1. Trinomial: CA-SLO-65

2. Description

3. Location: Topographic Map

4. Sketch Map (or GPS): Includes trinomial, north arrow, scale, legend

iii Field Survey

(i) Types

1. Random

2. Intuitive

3. Systematic: Basic Method: Transects; Cursory (Surveyors spaced > 20 m), Intensive (Surveyors spaced < 20 m)

(ii) Sampling considerations

1. Complete survey (the norm for CRM)

2. Sample surveys (more common outside US)

a. Random sampling: Investigators will determine a particular percentage of an area that they want to examine and then divide it up into blocks. And select blocks randomly. Common in the 1970s.

b. Systematic sampling: Patterned, regularized sampling

c. Stratified random

iv Surface Collection

(i) Total

(ii) Sample

1. Formal artifacts only (Formal versus informal)

2. Everything

3. Quadrants (units)

a. Random

b. Stratified random

c. Systematic

d. Usefulness (?)