Finding sites during a walking survey
Finding sites during a walking survey
There are many ways that an archaeologist find sites. First of all, an archaeologist knows what environmental factors humans have always needed in order to stay alive. These include easy access to water, location on a trade route, and a geographic location that allows for natural protection. With this information in mind, an archaeologist can study maps to locate likely places where prehistoric people may have lived.
In addition to this, archaeologists often learn of sites when construction companies clear land to build houses, shopping centers, etc., and they uncover artifacts. Most states have laws that require construction crews to report their discoveries of artifacts and features to a local archaeologist.
Once in a while a farmer might happen upon an artifact while working in the field. Archaeologists appreciate learning of these discoveries, and having landowners cooperate with them by giving them permission to investigate these potential sites.
Some sites have also been observed from an airplane window, or what we call an aerial view. Sites like the Crow Creek Village near Ft. Thompson, South Dakota, are easily seen from an airplane Large circular depressions in the ground can be observed, as well as a fortification ditch dug to protect them. The circles are the collapsed roofs and walls of the lodges in which the villagers lived.
Crow Creek village from the air, looking south
If people build villages or cities on the same location over the course of many, many years, the elevation of the land in that particular spot will rise, creating a tell which is sometimes also called a midden. This provides an archaeologist with a clue that early people probably lived in that location.
Sometimes archaeologists use new devices such as radar from the Space Shuttle to find sites. This radar has found ancient trade routes in the deserts of the Middle East and ancient Maya cities in the jungles of Central America. This is very complicated, but you can find out more about it by gettiing information from NASA. Underwater archaeologists who look for ancient shipwrecks use sonar to find them. New methods we probably haven't even thought of will proba lby be invented to help us find sites in the future.
What do archaeologists do at a site?
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