Post excavation
Encyclopedia
In archaeology
once the archaeological record
of given site has been excavated, or collected from surface surveys, it is necessary to gain as much data as possible and organize it into a coherent body of information. This process is known as post-excavation analysis, and is normally the most time-consuming part of the archaeological investigation. It is not uncommon for the final excavation reports on major sites to take years to be published.
At its most basic, the artifacts found are cleaned, catalogued and compared to published collections, in order to classify them typologically
and to identify other sites with similar artifact assemblages. However, a much more comprehensive range of analytical techniques are available through archaeological science
, meaning that artifacts can be dated and their compositions examined. The bones, plants and pollen collected from a site can all be analysed (using the techniques of zooarchaeology
, paleoethnobotany
, and palynology
), while any texts can usually be deciphered
. It must be understood, of course, that this is at best a simplistic definition of a complex set of processes.
These techniques frequently provide information that would not otherwise be known and therefore contribute greatly to the understanding of a site.
and structures. One task of post excavation work will be to examine this recorded sequence
of deposits and contexts
by stratigraphic
analysis aided by the sites' Harris matrix
. This role is usually undertaken by the senior archaeologist who was in charge of the site as his anecdotal knowledge is invaluable to interpret the information and help logically phase
contexts into patterns of changing land use. To support this task a different matrix may be created "post ex" called a plan
matrix by overlaying Single context plans
. This plan matrix is often compared to the harris context matrix for discrepancies and insights. During this process other post excavation disciplines will be brought to bear on the constantly refining model of the sequence to test its validity, mainly using dating evidence cross referenced with a phased model of the site. The goal at this stage is produce a solid dependable body of data and identify areas of the sequence that are less understood of have a higher degree of error so poorly supported or false conclusions are not drawn from unreliable data. Once this is achieved to a satisfactory level this model is available to support other disciplines concerned with information and artifacts gathered during excavation.
such as ceramics or metals.
The techniques for analysing can also range extremely depending on what the find is.
For plant remains the find can fall into 2 sections, microscopic
e.g. pollen and macroscopic
e.g. large timbers. Pollen is found within soil sampling or cores taken, these are studied by a Palynologist. Pollen found is individual for each plant speicies and so can be used to identify the plant types around at the period found, this can be applied to archaeology due to many things such as mans uses for plants, e.g. food, decoration - imprints in pottery. This can be seen in the study of Lindow Man
within his stomach remains there was pollen found. Pollen is mostly found in the bottom of waterlogged ditches. The pollen found is counted and drawn into a Pollen Diagram. Other microscopic finds include Diatoms and Phytoliths.
Macroscopic remains range from the smallest seeds to large timbers, and they generally only survive in anaerobic conditions, however carbonised wood and seeds will also survive; these are wood and seeds that are burnt. Seeds are generally only burnt by accident, which has been studied at Butser Ancient Farm
project, who discovered spelt
and emmer
wheat used at the period studied (Iron Age), which were identified by the study of carbonised seeds.
Timber remains only survive in anaerobic conditions, however there are several examples such as Seahenge
, the Sweet track
and Flag Fen
, there is also many shipwrecks such as Mary Rose
and Ulu Burun. A large timber remain can show many things it can identify the species of wood, exotic examples could indicate trade, and others could identify climate change, they can show the tools used in axemarks which can indicate technology. The remains can also show woodland management, such as the understanding of properties of different tree species, which were selected for different uses like in the Sweet track
, they also controlled the growth of trees with techniques such as coppicing
and Pollarding
.
The main way of dating timbers is Dendrochronology
which is one of the most accurate dating methods, it works on annual growth of trees. However, this means that is will only work on sensitive trees which are effected by moisture and temperature, this method will also only go back until 5000B.C. and a minimum of 50 tree rings are needed so it will not work on small wooden artifacts. Also it only gives a 'felling date' and so will not indicate the date of a structure as wood is left to dry after being felled.
Animal remains can be used to study how humans used animals in their time, whether a Haulage animal, seen in wear on shoulder bones, or a hunted animal, seen in impact points and cause of death. It shows mans diet, status, technology and periods of settlement, it may also be an indicator of ritual such as feasting or sacrifice.
The NISP
can be found along with an MNI
when studying bone assemblages. From the study of animals alongside humans, the bone profiles can be studied, to show hunting strategies. A natural herds profile can be seen in a catastrophic kill, where the whole herd is killed at once, such as stampeding off of a cliff. When studying animal remains as an indicator of mans diet, careful considerations must be taken, such as the meat carrying capacity, e.g. if a cow gives us 5 times more meat than a sheep than the cows importance is greater than sheep even if the number found is less. Also Beast Year Ratio must be considered, as some animals take longer to rear before being butchered.
Following excavation all the artifacts recovered must be cleaned and catalogued in some archive. this work involves disciplines form archaeological science
and conservation techniques.
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
once the archaeological record
Archaeological record
The archaeological record is the body of physical evidence about the past. It is one of the most basic concepts in archaeology, the academic discipline concerned with documenting and interpreting the archaeological record....
of given site has been excavated, or collected from surface surveys, it is necessary to gain as much data as possible and organize it into a coherent body of information. This process is known as post-excavation analysis, and is normally the most time-consuming part of the archaeological investigation. It is not uncommon for the final excavation reports on major sites to take years to be published.
At its most basic, the artifacts found are cleaned, catalogued and compared to published collections, in order to classify them typologically
Typology (archaeology)
In archaeology a typology is the result of the classification of things according to their characteristics. The products of the classification, i.e. the classes are also called types. Most archaeological typologies organize artifacts into types, but typologies of houses or roads belonging to a...
and to identify other sites with similar artifact assemblages. However, a much more comprehensive range of analytical techniques are available through archaeological science
Archaeological science
Archaeological science, also known as archaeometry, consists of the application of scientific techniques to the analysis of archaeological materials. Archaeometry is now considered its own scientific field. The UK's Natural and Environmental Research Council provides funding for archaeometry...
, meaning that artifacts can be dated and their compositions examined. The bones, plants and pollen collected from a site can all be analysed (using the techniques of zooarchaeology
Zooarchaeology
Zooarchaeology, also known as Archaeozoology, is the study of animal remains from archaeological sites. The remains consist primarily of the hard parts of the body such as bones, teeth, and shells...
, paleoethnobotany
Paleoethnobotany
Paleoethnobotany, also known as archaeobotany in European academic circles, is the archaeological sub-field that studies plant remains from archaeological sites...
, and palynology
Palynology
Palynology is the science that studies contemporary and fossil palynomorphs, including pollen, spores, orbicules, dinoflagellate cysts, acritarchs, chitinozoans and scolecodonts, together with particulate organic matter and kerogen found in sedimentary rocks and sediments...
), while any texts can usually be deciphered
Decipherment
Decipherment is the analysis of documents written in ancient languages, where the language is unknown, or knowledge of the language has been lost....
. It must be understood, of course, that this is at best a simplistic definition of a complex set of processes.
These techniques frequently provide information that would not otherwise be known and therefore contribute greatly to the understanding of a site.
Post-excavation analysis of the stratigraphic sequence
Since the end of World War II there has been a growing understanding and consensus that good practice treats all the deposits and layers of the site representing a history of activity as discoveries of importance on par with artifactArtifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
and structures. One task of post excavation work will be to examine this recorded sequence
Sequence (archaeological)
The archaeological sequence or sequence for short, on a specific archaeological site can be defined on two levels of rigour.# Normally it is adequate to equate it to archaeological record. However, the two terms are not exactly interchangeable...
of deposits and contexts
Archaeological context
In archaeology, not only the context of a discovery is a significant fact, but the formation of the context is as well. An archaeological context is an event in time which has been preserved in the archaeological record. The cutting of a pit or ditch in the past is a context, whilst the material...
by stratigraphic
Stratification (archeology)
Stratification is a paramount and base concept in archaeology, especially in the course of excavation. It is largely based on the Law of Superposition...
analysis aided by the sites' Harris matrix
Harris matrix
The Harris matrix is a tool used to depict the temporal succession of archaeological contexts and thus the sequence of deposition on a 'dry land' archaeological site. The matrix reflects the relative position and stratigraphic contacts of observable stratigraphic units, or contexts. The Matrix was...
. This role is usually undertaken by the senior archaeologist who was in charge of the site as his anecdotal knowledge is invaluable to interpret the information and help logically phase
Archaeological phase
Archaeological phase and phasing refers to the logical reduction of contexts recorded during excavation to near contemporary archaeological horizons that represent a distinct "phase" of previous land use. These often but not always will be a representation of a former land surface or occupation...
contexts into patterns of changing land use. To support this task a different matrix may be created "post ex" called a plan
Archaeological plan
An archaeological plan in an archaeological excavation, is a drawn record of features in the horizontal plane.- Overview :Archaeological plan can either take the form of...
matrix by overlaying Single context plans
Single context recording
Single context recording was initially developed by Ed Harris and Patrick Ottaway in 1976, from a suggestion by Lawrence Keene. It was further developed by the Department of Urban Archaeology from where it was then exported, in the mid 1980s by Pete Clarke to the Scottish Urban Archaeological...
. This plan matrix is often compared to the harris context matrix for discrepancies and insights. During this process other post excavation disciplines will be brought to bear on the constantly refining model of the sequence to test its validity, mainly using dating evidence cross referenced with a phased model of the site. The goal at this stage is produce a solid dependable body of data and identify areas of the sequence that are less understood of have a higher degree of error so poorly supported or false conclusions are not drawn from unreliable data. Once this is achieved to a satisfactory level this model is available to support other disciplines concerned with information and artifacts gathered during excavation.
Finds analysis
To process a find depends on what the find is; there are many types of material to analyse, these can include organic materials such as plants and animals. Or could be artifactsArtifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
such as ceramics or metals.
The techniques for analysing can also range extremely depending on what the find is.
For plant remains the find can fall into 2 sections, microscopic
Microscopic
The microscopic scale is the scale of size or length used to describe objects smaller than those that can easily be seen by the naked eye and which require a lens or microscope to see them clearly.-History:...
e.g. pollen and macroscopic
Macroscopic
The macroscopic scale is the length scale on which objects or processes are of a size which is measurable and observable by the naked eye.When applied to phenomena and abstract objects, the macroscopic scale describes existence in the world as we perceive it, often in contrast to experiences or...
e.g. large timbers. Pollen is found within soil sampling or cores taken, these are studied by a Palynologist. Pollen found is individual for each plant speicies and so can be used to identify the plant types around at the period found, this can be applied to archaeology due to many things such as mans uses for plants, e.g. food, decoration - imprints in pottery. This can be seen in the study of Lindow Man
Lindow man
Lindow Man, also known as Lindow II and as Pete Marsh, is the preserved bog body of a man discovered in a peat bog at Lindow Moss near Wilmslow in Cheshire, North West England. The body was found on 1 August 1984 by commercial peat-cutters...
within his stomach remains there was pollen found. Pollen is mostly found in the bottom of waterlogged ditches. The pollen found is counted and drawn into a Pollen Diagram. Other microscopic finds include Diatoms and Phytoliths.
Macroscopic remains range from the smallest seeds to large timbers, and they generally only survive in anaerobic conditions, however carbonised wood and seeds will also survive; these are wood and seeds that are burnt. Seeds are generally only burnt by accident, which has been studied at Butser Ancient Farm
Butser Ancient Farm
- External links :* * *...
project, who discovered spelt
Spelt
Spelt is a hexaploid species of wheat. Spelt was an important staple in parts of Europe from the Bronze Age to medieval times; it now survives as a relict crop in Central Europe and northern Spain and has found a new market as a health food. Spelt is sometimes considered a subspecies of the...
and emmer
Emmer
Emmer wheat , also known as farro especially in Italy, is a low yielding, awned wheat. It was one of the first crops domesticated in the Near East...
wheat used at the period studied (Iron Age), which were identified by the study of carbonised seeds.
Timber remains only survive in anaerobic conditions, however there are several examples such as Seahenge
Seahenge
Seahenge, which is also known as Holme I, was a prehistoric monument located in the village of Holme-next-the-Sea, near Old Hunstanton in the English county of Norfolk...
, the Sweet track
Sweet Track
The Sweet Track is an ancient causeway in the Somerset Levels, England. It was built in 3807 or 3806 BC and has been claimed to be the oldest road in the world. It was the oldest timber trackway discovered in Northern Europe until the 2009 discovery of a 6,000 year-old trackway in Belmarsh Prison...
and Flag Fen
Flag Fen
Flag Fen near Peterborough, England is a Bronze Age site, probably religious. It comprises over 60,000 timbers arranged in five very long rows connecting Whittlesey Island with Peterborough across the wet fenland. Part way across the structure, a small island was formed which is where it is...
, there is also many shipwrecks such as Mary Rose
Mary Rose
The Mary Rose was a carrack-type warship of the English Tudor navy of King Henry VIII. After serving for 33 years in several wars against France, Scotland, and Brittany and after being substantially rebuilt in 1536, she saw her last action on 1545. While leading the attack on the galleys of a...
and Ulu Burun. A large timber remain can show many things it can identify the species of wood, exotic examples could indicate trade, and others could identify climate change, they can show the tools used in axemarks which can indicate technology. The remains can also show woodland management, such as the understanding of properties of different tree species, which were selected for different uses like in the Sweet track
Sweet Track
The Sweet Track is an ancient causeway in the Somerset Levels, England. It was built in 3807 or 3806 BC and has been claimed to be the oldest road in the world. It was the oldest timber trackway discovered in Northern Europe until the 2009 discovery of a 6,000 year-old trackway in Belmarsh Prison...
, they also controlled the growth of trees with techniques such as coppicing
Coppicing
Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which takes advantage of the fact that many trees make new growth from the stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, young tree stems are repeatedly cut down to near ground level...
and Pollarding
Pollarding
Pollarding is a pruning system in which the upper branches of a tree are removed, promoting a dense head of foliage and branches. It has been common in Great Britain and Europe since medieval times and is practiced today in urban areas worldwide, primarily to maintain trees at a predetermined...
.
The main way of dating timbers is Dendrochronology
Dendrochronology
Dendrochronology or tree-ring dating is the scientific method of dating based on the analysis of patterns of tree-rings. Dendrochronology can date the time at which tree rings were formed, in many types of wood, to the exact calendar year...
which is one of the most accurate dating methods, it works on annual growth of trees. However, this means that is will only work on sensitive trees which are effected by moisture and temperature, this method will also only go back until 5000B.C. and a minimum of 50 tree rings are needed so it will not work on small wooden artifacts. Also it only gives a 'felling date' and so will not indicate the date of a structure as wood is left to dry after being felled.
Animal remains can be used to study how humans used animals in their time, whether a Haulage animal, seen in wear on shoulder bones, or a hunted animal, seen in impact points and cause of death. It shows mans diet, status, technology and periods of settlement, it may also be an indicator of ritual such as feasting or sacrifice.
The NISP
Number of Identified Specimens
The Number of Identified Specimens or Number of Individual Specimens , is used in archaeology and paleontology when counting bones from a site. NISP counts each bone and fragment as one unit...
can be found along with an MNI
Minimum number of individuals
In disciplines including forensic anthropology, bioarchaeology, osteoarchaeology and zooarchaeology Minimum number of individuals, or MNI, refers to the fewest possible number of people or animals in a skeletal assemblage...
when studying bone assemblages. From the study of animals alongside humans, the bone profiles can be studied, to show hunting strategies. A natural herds profile can be seen in a catastrophic kill, where the whole herd is killed at once, such as stampeding off of a cliff. When studying animal remains as an indicator of mans diet, careful considerations must be taken, such as the meat carrying capacity, e.g. if a cow gives us 5 times more meat than a sheep than the cows importance is greater than sheep even if the number found is less. Also Beast Year Ratio must be considered, as some animals take longer to rear before being butchered.
Archaeological science
Archaeological science, also known as archaeometry, consists of the application of scientific techniques to the analysis of archaeological materials. Archaeometry is now considered its own scientific field. The UK's Natural and Environmental Research Council provides funding for archaeometry...
and conservation techniques.
See also
- Archaeological sub-disciplinesArchaeological sub-disciplinesAs with most academic disciplines, there are a number of archaeological sub-disciplines typically characterised by a focus on a specific method or type of material, geographical or chronological focus, or other thematic concern. In addition, certain civilizations have attracted so much attention...
- Archaeological scienceArchaeological scienceArchaeological science, also known as archaeometry, consists of the application of scientific techniques to the analysis of archaeological materials. Archaeometry is now considered its own scientific field. The UK's Natural and Environmental Research Council provides funding for archaeometry...
- Archaeological field surveyArchaeological field surveyArchaeological field survey is the method by which archaeologists search for archaeological sites and collect information about the location, distribution and organization of past human cultures across a large area...
- Excavation
- Archaeological planArchaeological planAn archaeological plan in an archaeological excavation, is a drawn record of features in the horizontal plane.- Overview :Archaeological plan can either take the form of...
- DendrochronologyDendrochronologyDendrochronology or tree-ring dating is the scientific method of dating based on the analysis of patterns of tree-rings. Dendrochronology can date the time at which tree rings were formed, in many types of wood, to the exact calendar year...
- Single context recordingSingle context recordingSingle context recording was initially developed by Ed Harris and Patrick Ottaway in 1976, from a suggestion by Lawrence Keene. It was further developed by the Department of Urban Archaeology from where it was then exported, in the mid 1980s by Pete Clarke to the Scottish Urban Archaeological...
- Starch AnalysisStarch AnalysisStarch analysis is a post excavation technique used in archaeological research. First applied in the 1980s, starch analysis has became an invaluable tool to paleobotanists and archaeologists alike. Starch is ubiquitous in the archaeological record and can provide answers to a large number of...
- Harris matrixHarris matrixThe Harris matrix is a tool used to depict the temporal succession of archaeological contexts and thus the sequence of deposition on a 'dry land' archaeological site. The matrix reflects the relative position and stratigraphic contacts of observable stratigraphic units, or contexts. The Matrix was...
- GeoarchaeologyGeoarchaeologyGeoarchaeology is a multi-disciplinary approach which uses the techniques and subject matter of geography, geology and other Earth sciences to examine topics which inform archaeological knowledge and thought...
- GeomaticsGeomaticsGeomatics is the discipline of gathering, storing, processing, and delivering geographic information, or spatially referenced information.-Overview and etymology:...
- Dating methodology (archaeology)Dating methodology (archaeology)Dating material drawn from the archaeological record can be made by a direct study of an artifact or may be deduced by association with materials found in the context the item is drawn from or inferred by its point of discovery in the sequence relative to datable contexts...
- Archaeological illustrationArchaeological illustrationArchaeological Illustration is a form of technical illustration that records material derived from an archaeological context graphically. - Overview :Archaeological Illustration encompasses a number of sub disciplines. These are:...