T HE D IMENSIONS OF A RCHAEOLOGY : T IME, S PACE, AND F ORM Archaeology, 6 th Edition

This chapter will enable you to answer these questions: 1. What are the principles of archaeological typology? 2. What is the strength of archaeology? 3. What role does typology play in archaeology’s strength? 4. What are archaeological cultures, site components, and phases?

Outline  After the Excavation: Conservation and Cataloging  Archaeological Classification  Space-Time Systematics  Conclusion

Introduction: Time and Space  Archaeology’s major strength is its access to tremendous quantities of time and space, addressing the entire history of humanity.  Archaeologists document patterns of human behavior across vast reaches of space.  The first goal is to gain a firm grasp on artifact patterning in time and space.

After the Excavation: Conservation and Cataloging  As a rule of thumb, for every week spent excavating, archaeologists spend 3 to 5 weeks or more cleaning, conserving, and cataloging the finds.  Cataloging is essential.  Without the catalog, provenience is lost, and without provenience an artifact’s value to future researchers is greatly reduced.

Artifact Classification  Typology, the systematic arrangement of material culture into types.  The archaeologist’s first responsibility is to simplify.  Meaning lies in patterns within the data, not in the data.

Artifact Classification  Patterns appear when you isolate some aspect of the variation and deliberately ignore the rest.  Space-time systematics, the delineation of patterns in material culture through time and space.  These patterns are what the archaeologist will eventually try to explain or account for.

Artifact Classification: Types  Archaeology’s basic unit of classification is termed a type, a class of archaeological artifacts defined by a consistent clustering of attributes.  Types are abstractions imposed by the archaeologist on a variable batch of artifacts.  We formulate a classification with a specific purpose in mind.

Artifact Classification: Morphological Types Morphological type, a descriptive grouping of artifacts whose focus is on similarity rather than function or chronological significance. – Purely descriptive – No function ascribed, no chronological significance – No set rules for creating these types, although basic raw material (pottery, stone, shell, bone) normally serves as the first criterion A clay type A-2 figurine from Pecos Pueblo

Artifact Classification: Temporal Types  Temporal type, a morphological type that has temporal significance;  Also known as time-marker or index fossil  Demonstrable and specific chronological meaning within a particular region.

Artifact Classification: Functional Types  Functional types, a class of artifacts that performed the same function, these may or may not be temporal and/or morphological types.  Reflect how objects were used in the past.  Often crosscut morphological and temporal types.

Artifact Classification: Doing Typology A good typology possesses two crucial characteristics: 1. Minimize the differences within each created type and maximize the differences between each type. 2. The typology must be objective and explicit. This means that the result should be replicable by any trained observer.

Artifact Classification: Attribute  Attribute, an individual characteristic that distinguishes one artifact from another on the basis of size, surface texture, form, material, method of manufacture or design pattern.

An unsorted batch of stone projectile points recovered at Gatecliff Shelter (Nevada.)

A Great Basin Projectile Point and Some Data Recorded From It

What do Typologies do?

Projectile Point Key: Central Great Basin

Space-Time Systematics: Archaeological Cultures  Archaeological culture, a regional manifestation within a culture area marked by a particular set of material culture traits.  Archaeological cultures are not ethnographic cultures, simply spatial differences in the kinds of artifacts found in regions.

Periods: Dividing Time  Period, a length of time distinguished by particular items of material culture, such as house form, pottery, or subsistence.  Periods change over time  Knowing how and when material culture changed over time and space is a first step toward explaining why those changes occurred.

Phase: Combining Time and Space  Phase, an archaeological construct possession traits sufficiently characteristic to distinguish it from other units similarly conceived;  Spatially limited to roughly a locality or region and chronologically limited to the briefest interval of time possible.  Phases are defined by temporal types, items of material culture that show patterned changes over time.

Assemblages and Components Archaeological sites consist of assemblages:  collections of artifacts of one or several classes of materials (stone tools, ceramics, b ones) that comes from a defined context  such as a site, feature, or stratum.

Assemblages and Components  We might then cluster these assemblages into components:  archaeological constructs consisting of a stratum or set of strata that are presumed to be culturally homogeneous.  A set of components from various sites in a region will make up a phase.

Relationship of Archaeological Sites to Concepts of Component and Phase

Time-Space Systematics Phases are defined provisionally and are divided into subphases when divisions are recognized.

Conclusion  Space-time systematics is a means to an end.  Only after documenting temporal and spatial change in selected artifacts can we reconstruct what people actually did in the past.

Summary 1. What are the principles of archaeological typology? 2. What is the strength of archaeology? 3. What role does typology play in archaeology’s strength? 4. What are archaeological cultures, site components, and phases?