1. Evaluation
Real Archaeology

2. Phases in historic preservation archaeology
Phase “0”: Background research, predictive modeling
Phase 1: Identification=survey
Phase 2: Evaluation=test excavations
Phase 3: Data recovery (“mitigation”) = research excavations
The numbering of the phases is a convention, but is not part of any law or regulations

3. Evaluation
When we perform a Phase 2 “evaluation” of a site, what are we evaluating?

4. Answer
We are evaluating whether the site is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places
How might you do this?

5. Answer
Determine
Whether it meets one or more of the National Register criteria
Which are?
AND, what else?

6. Integrity! How do you evaluate integrity
And how does that help evaluate the NR criterion most commonly applied to archaeological sites?

7. Information and Integrity
So, how do you think you can evaluate whether a site has integrity and has the potential to yield information significant in history or prehistory?

8. Information and Integrity
A site is usually considered to retain information and integrity when:
It still retains internal spatial organization,
Which means that artifacts and features have maintained some spatial coherence
And therefore their contexts are somewhat intact
But note, this is not a black and white issue
No site has perfect integrity
So it is useful to evaluate the degree of integrity

9. Therefore, In Practice
We look for features, which by definition have integrity
We look for intact stratigraphy, in contrast to mixed deposits
We study the spatial distribution of artifacts to see if they are random or not
Randomness is interpreted as “no information or integrity”

10. How? Additional testing and data collection through:
Excavation of small test pits (common)
1 x 1 m
1 x 2 m
Excavation of additional shovel tests (common)
Systematic surface collections (common)
Coring or augering (uncommon)
Geophysical prospection (uncommon)
More detailed mapping
More detailed artifact analysis
Spatial and statistical analysis of artifact distribution

11. Spatial and statistical analysis
What is the null hypothesis if you want to test for spatial structure?
What is its underlying logic? (See above)

12. Null hypothesis
That artifacts are randomly distributed, either horizontally or vertically
Underlying reasoning:
If the distribution is random, it has no structure and therefore carries no information

13. What tests can be used?
For spatial tests in 2 or 3 dimensions, a nearest neighbor analysis will test the null hypothesis that a spatial distribution is random
You can also use chi-squared tests of independence to evaluate whether the frequencies of artifacts differ among excavations squares, strata or levels