Classification
Finding
Ancient artifacts/items are often found through excavating. Each step of an archaeological dig is taken in small and precise steps, so every bit of evidence is recovered. Once all the artifacts are removed from the ground, every one of them is fully documented-by itself, and in relation to what is around it. Then it is cleaned, photographed, drawn to scale and labeled with a reference number.
Furthermore, archeologists are equipped with tools such as penknives, brushes, scalpels, calipers, plumb
bobs and even things like chopsticks and dental picks.
Classifying
Various experts are invited to join the project to find out information and classify the items that have been discovered. Depending on what is found, these people could be pottery experts, geologists to examine the layers of soil, architects to record buildings, anthropologists to suggest models of social behaviour, epigraphers and philologists to record and translate any inscriptions, botanists to analyze plants, numismatists to assess coins, zoologists to examine animal remains and pathologists to study the remains of humans.
Dating
There are many ways of finding out the date of an item/artifact:
Ancient artifacts/items are often found through excavating. Each step of an archaeological dig is taken in small and precise steps, so every bit of evidence is recovered. Once all the artifacts are removed from the ground, every one of them is fully documented-by itself, and in relation to what is around it. Then it is cleaned, photographed, drawn to scale and labeled with a reference number.
Furthermore, archeologists are equipped with tools such as penknives, brushes, scalpels, calipers, plumb
bobs and even things like chopsticks and dental picks.
Classifying
Various experts are invited to join the project to find out information and classify the items that have been discovered. Depending on what is found, these people could be pottery experts, geologists to examine the layers of soil, architects to record buildings, anthropologists to suggest models of social behaviour, epigraphers and philologists to record and translate any inscriptions, botanists to analyze plants, numismatists to assess coins, zoologists to examine animal remains and pathologists to study the remains of humans.
Dating
There are many ways of finding out the date of an item/artifact:
Stratigraphy: This method is used to determine the different periods of time. The different strata (series of layers of
rock in the ground) help place artifacts found in chronological order. Strata are counted from the top down, meaning the top layer will be the youngest level of occupation and the lowest layer is the earliest.
Dendrochronology: Dendrochronology also known as 'tree-ring dating', is a method of dating using the rings of growth in
the trunk of a tree. As trees grow, their trunks expand every year because of a layer of growth known as tree
rings.
Radiocarbon Dating: This method measures the amount of radiation (or carbon-14) in an organic or
living object. Carbon-14 is the radiation from the sun that exists in all living organisms on earth. It can used anywhere and it is calculated up to 50,000 years.
Thermoluminescence Dating: This method is used on materials that have no organic matter such as quartz, flint, pottery and bricks that have been buried for a long time. Thermoluminescence dating is used to date materials up to 300 000 years
old.
Optically Simulated Luminescence Dating (OSL): This method determines the time that has passed since
the sediment was exposed to sunlight, which provides the approximate date when the artifact was buried.
rock in the ground) help place artifacts found in chronological order. Strata are counted from the top down, meaning the top layer will be the youngest level of occupation and the lowest layer is the earliest.
Dendrochronology: Dendrochronology also known as 'tree-ring dating', is a method of dating using the rings of growth in
the trunk of a tree. As trees grow, their trunks expand every year because of a layer of growth known as tree
rings.
Radiocarbon Dating: This method measures the amount of radiation (or carbon-14) in an organic or
living object. Carbon-14 is the radiation from the sun that exists in all living organisms on earth. It can used anywhere and it is calculated up to 50,000 years.
Thermoluminescence Dating: This method is used on materials that have no organic matter such as quartz, flint, pottery and bricks that have been buried for a long time. Thermoluminescence dating is used to date materials up to 300 000 years
old.
Optically Simulated Luminescence Dating (OSL): This method determines the time that has passed since
the sediment was exposed to sunlight, which provides the approximate date when the artifact was buried.