ARCH 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Uniformitarianism, Geographic Information System, Racemization

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Archaeology
• Course: ARCH 100
• Professor: Francesco Berna

Document Summary

Goal: mitigating (justifying) the effects of development on archeological resources ! 1: evaluation, treatment (mitigation) ! (if everything is up to par, you may then begin excavating)! Site formation process:: settlers > people develop alongside their environment ! Formation process (depositional): : cultural (anthropological), natural (biological and geological) , destruction! Uniformitarianism: assumption that the natural laws that operate now, have always operated! Stratigraphy geology: : law of superposition: top layer of sediment is younger than layer beneath it, strata: discrete layers in a stratigraphic sequence ! Depositional unit: the material deposited at a site at a particular point in time! Provenience: the precise context in which an object is recovered in an excavation! Context:: place of origin (provenience), location of artefacts in association with other items and materials, matrix (dirt) in which artefacts are found! In situ = primary context, object is considered to be found where it was originally deposited! Mapping the physical remains of human activity, 2 ways:!