What an Archaeologist Does...

  Hubby is an archaeologist.  Generally those that have archaeology for a profession love it as a hobby as well (as do us historians/genealogists!) so our home is filled with rocks and books ;) One question we always get is what does an archaeologist do?  Well, since I was given the rare opportunity to actually get out into the field with hubby this last week, I'll give you a tour :)
  Archaeologists deal with past people.  Hubby went to school for an undergraduate degree in Anthropology and then a Master's degree in Archaeology.  We often get the question about if we've found any dinosaur bones - nope!  As much as we love our fossils, paleontologists deal with dinos - us, just essentially people's discarded things which become artifacts and clues to how people lived.

Some copper artifacts

Archaeology is separated into 1)locations and 2) time periods.  For instance, Hubby is a Plains archaeologist - he deals with the ancient Native American tribes of the Great Plains.  You can get some similarities with how the ancients did things all over, but archaeologists generally tend to stick to one geographic area.  There is also historic vs. prehistoric archaeology.  Historic in the New World is pretty much anything after European contact and Prehistoric anything before that.  Many archaeologists have field experience in both prehistoric and historic digs, but specialize in one or the other.
  So you ask, how do we know where to dig?  Well, all archaeologists are born with a certain sense of where to find these things... Not buying that?  Lol, well, they do it one of two ways... They know from reading historic documents or via oral tradition where a site was located (which is how we knew where the site was that we just finished up on).  For the prehistoric digs, Native Americans chose places with surroundings that provided shelter/protection and water and so if you know what to look for you can give a good educated guess on where to start looking and if you find some surface artifacts, you've found a site. Now don't just go digging up places.  Archaeology is a science that essentially destroys the site when it is uncovering it, so there are certain things that the professionals do to ensure that all the information that can be gained is recorded fully.

  If there is a site, it needs to be recorded with the state.  That way the state knows what historic resources are out there and where they are located.  Then when the archaeologist has done his/her research and has a plan the dig can begin!  But we don't just take a shovel and start digging, this is not Indiana Jones (in fact, he's a bad example - do not be Indiana Jones!). 

Our site that we worked on had each of us professionals digging in 1x1 meter square units that we gridded out ahead of time.  We chose some areas that looked promising for giving us some insight into what was going on underground and after we took the sod off we dug with trowels (Shorty wanted to try his hand, so I let him take a turn at my trowel).  The units are dug in levels (usually 10 centimeters at a time) so you can keep track of what you are finding and where.  At the end of a level then you get to draw a map of what the bottom of your level looks like.

But, you might miss something when you're digging.  Even though you're cutting through that dirt with a little trowel.  So, most often you screen all the dirt you take out of it too!  And because every artifact can hold a clue, you want to grab those too.  Can you see what I missed in my dirt?  As an archaeologist, you need good eyes - I missed 2 nails and a piece of window glass :)

  Then when you are done with your level, have all your artifacts you pack them away in a bag labeled with where you found them and how deep.  Then if your dirt is giving you clues that tell you there's more to be discovered in your unit, you go down another level!  When your time is done you map the entire site with what has been uncovered so that the head archaeologist can go back and analyze the findings. Then you carefully cover it back up so that if someone needs to come back and investigate more they can.

  Have someone in your family that is interested in archaeology?  Many states have amateur programs that offer an opportunity for a volunteer dig every year.  Hubby and I got our start with the one here in Kansas.  We have also been a part of the one in Texas (which had a great educational program aimed at kids!).  Project Archaeology is also a great resource for teaching.