Thomas C. Pleger, Ph.D.
UW-Fox Valley Anthropology
Copyright © 2000
Archaeology is a subfield of anthropology in most academic institutions in North America. Anthropology is a science that studies human cultural and biological variation. Anthropologists are interested in a wide variety of topics such as evolution, social organization, technology, ideology, subsistence, economy, etc. Archaeology studies extinct cultures that are no longer observable. One of the ways we can learn about people in the past and how they lived is by studying the materials they left behind. The term material culture refers to all of the tangible things that human beings make or made in the past. A more popular conception of material culture is the term "artifact". An artifact is anything that is intentionally made by human beings or their ancestors. Archaeologists collect and study artifacts for the purposes of reconstructing ancient lifeways. They do not focus on finding the most artifacts possible; rather they concentrate on finding artifacts in primary context.
The process is very similar to the work
of a detective at a crime scene. The investigator maps or photographs and then
gathers all
the evidence. If someone has removed some of the clues prior to the investigation,
the crime scene is then considered biased or contaminated. Disturbed crime scenes
are extremely difficult to interpret. To the archaeologist, the crime scene
is the archaeological site and the clues are the artifacts left in place by
the people who produced and used them. The three-dimensional patterning of the
artifacts in the ground can be used to reconstruct a detailed picture of the
past.
If you have ever watched an archaeological excavation on television or in-person, you may have noticed that archaeologists tend to dig in boxes or units within a grid. This is done so that the exact provenience or location of every clue can be mapped out in both horizontal and vertical dimensions. For the archaeologist, vertical position is related to time--as one digs deeper, one moves back in time. The excavation process is complex and extremely laborious, it requires great precision, patience and above all--careful observation via note taking and photographic documentation.
The actual value of an archaeological site lies in the information that the artifacts can provide about how earlier humans lived. When artifacts are uncovered, their locations are mapped and photographed. The artifacts are carefully packaged and labeled for their journey to the laboratory. Archeologists go to great lengths to see that as much information as possible is documented about the patterns revealed in the ground. As with other sciences, archeology has set rules and parameters within which one must work. Soil is carefully sifted to check for the smallest bits of evidence that might be used to reconstruct what people ate or what their natural environment was like. Once the information and artifacts are taken to the laboratory, the analysis phase of the project begins. Archaeologists study such things as stylistic variation, functional attributes, raw materials, manufacturing techniques, and wear patterns in order to reconstruct ancient cultures.
To professional archaeologists, artifacts have no monetary value. They only have value in terms of the information that they can provide about the past.
In Wisconsin, lay people or amateurs have discovered most of our known archaeological sites. Routinely, people visit my office or call about stone tools, ceramics, and other artifacts that they have recovered at construction sites, plowed fields, or along eroding beaches. Often amateurs and lay people work together with professional archaeologists in order to record their finds and to contribute to our understanding of the past. This type of collaboration is beneficial to all.
While the great majority of nonprofessional archaeology enthusiasts contribute in this way, there are some individuals that knowingly collect or disturb archaeological sites for the purposes of collecting artifacts for resale on the open market. This activity leads to the destruction and degradation of the evidence since it removes the clues without proper documentation about the context. Since prehistoric archaeological sites are nonrenewable resources, it is important that they be protected and preserved for future generations and excavated only under the direction of trained professionals. There are opportunities in Wisconsin for the public to get involved in field archaeology. A number of both state and private universities and colleges offer public field schools in archaeology. Additionally, archaeologists at museums and universities are always willing to work with citizens that have found archaeological materials and are genuinely interested in learning about Wisconsin's prehistory. Wisconsin's prehistory belongs to all of its residents. The artifacts left behind by ancient cultures can be used to investigate those who came before us. Since artifacts and clues about the past are limited in number, we should strive to preserve and record as much as possible whenever they are discovered.
For more information about Wisconsin archaeology, please visit the UW-Fox Valley Anthropology web site at: www.uwfox.uwc.edu/academics/depts/ant.html.
*Originally published in the Appleton Post-Crescent