Case Study Proposal Archaeological Records in a Geographical Information System: Research in the American Southwest Focus 2 - Science
Erin O’Meara · 2003
The idea of this proposal materialized when the correlation between InterPARES and archaeology became very apparent. Both endeavours seek to preserve something that falls into destruction all too easily by the environment, upheaval and development, as well as many other factors. In general terms, archaeology is “the study of material objects regardless of time or space in order to describe and explain human behavior and culture.” This case study is first aimed to investigate the nature of records from archaeological activities and what archaeologist’s think about the records that they create. The archaeological site is the major element to archaeological research. It is “a place where traces of ancient human activity are to be found. It is the archaeologist’s archive.” A site usually has to have multiple features that are associated, and be at least 50 years old. An example of an archaeological site would be if you came across a sleeping ring, next to it a hearth, a pottery sherd scatter, and a grinding stone. If the four aforementioned elements were found in close spatial proximity, they would constitute an archaeological site. Once a site is found, investigation into it can occur. Another major part of archaeological investigation is context. An artifact loses much of its value without its spatial (position in regards to other objects within the site) and temporal (position within the strata that buries it) context that it possesses in its original position within a site. The concept of the archival bond is very similar to context for archaeologists. Without the organic layers surrounding these artifacts, there is little information to gather from the object. One of the main goals of archaeology is reconstructing culture history, and this cannot be fully accomplished by simply collecting