E.5 Surveying the Surface

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School

Brigham Young University *

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Course

110

Subject

Anthropology

Date

Dec 6, 2023

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docx

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1. If you were an archaeologist who was particularly interested in obsidian blade production, where might you consider excavating based on these sampling results? To begin my search, I would concentrate my efforts on grids from I-10 to K-12. These grids appear to have one of the largest collections of obsidian flakes (a byproduct of shaping obsidian stones into tools) on site, which should lead me to finding clues to the production of obsidian blades. 2. During the surface survey, burnt wood, ceramic sherds, animal bone, and an obsidian flake were collected from the southwestern portion of the site. Based on this assemblage of artifacts, what might that area of the site have been used for? It is very likely that the area was used for the processing of animal tissues as food and food storage. The burnt wood was used as fuel for cooking, the ceramic shards could be evidence of pots and other culinary tools, obsidian flakes likely came from obsidian blades used to cut through animal tissue, and animal bones were the remaining inedible parts that were left behind. 3. Following your surface survey, you have enough money to excavate 5 test pits at the site. Each test pit can be 1 square meter in area. Which squares would you choose to excavate and why? I would concentrate my efforts on excavating the southwestern grids i.e. from L-4 to L-7 and M- 2. These squares represent the largest variety in potential human activities where all types of artifacts discovered from the surface survey can be found. Focusing on areas where diverse sets of artifacts can be found seemed logical since it would give us the best opportunity to compare and contrast the largest set of discoveries, leading to a better collection of data for future analysis.

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E.5 Surveying the Surface

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