CLASSICS 1A03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Common Era, Remote Sensing, Aerial Photography
14 Sep 2016
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Document Summary
The study of past cultures through the materials they produced and left behind. Culture = human behaviour & belief system. Problem= how to ascertain these from ancient societies. Material culture = not text-based culture, although texts can be useful (especially true of classical archaeology) Also includes large items - architecture, town, planning. Features: fixed objects that cannot be easily removed from a site. Examples: buildings, carvings, graves, walls, hearths, drains, shrines, kilns, structures (temples, houses, amphitheaters) Artifacts: small objects that can be moved. Examples: pottery, coins, glass, metals, bone, tools, sculpture. The association of artifacts & features found within a particular area or layer, & the relative position & relationship of this area or layer to the ones above it & below it. The context of archaeology finds is what allows us to interpret them and to understand their function and meaning.
