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Examples of artifacts

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The great English archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler used to remind his students, "The archaeologist is not digging up things, he is digging up people." Regardless of the changes in methods, archaeological aims remain the same: to illuminate the past and bring back to life the experiences and cultures of people long gone.

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How do archaeologists know where to dig? Often they don't. They know where not to dig — where nothing interesting exists. But how do you tell one from the other? Excavation is expensive, and there is nothing an archaeologist likes less than staring at an empty hole in the ground. The ideal solution is to look underground before you start. Astonishingly, techniques are coming along to do just that.

Most archaeologists rely on buried buildings, bodies, ancient hearths or iron tools having different physical "signatures" that can be seen in the surrounding soil of an area. Ground-penetrating radar, for example, pumps radio waves into the earth, then measures the patterns reflected back. For example, by coupling his scanner to a special computer program, anthropology professor Lawrence B. Conyers has produced striking images of otherwise invisible structures. One day, he promises, he will generate moving 3-D pictures and take us on underground video "tours" of archaeological sites.

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In the late 1940s, the physicist Willard Libby invented C-14 (radiocarbon) dating. It transformed the study of the past. For the first time organic material — charcoal, wood, shell and bone, even clothing — from 500 to 50,000 years old could be reliably dated. Through radiocarbon dating, archaeologists built a worldwide chronology of human activity.

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How do archaeologists find primary sources?

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How do archaeologists find primary sources?

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To find many different types of primary sources, archaeologists dig in the ground. Before starting a dig the first step is to map a site, dividing it into small squares. Careful notes are kept of changes in dirt, and of each object (however fragmentary) found within each square. The idea is to create a 3-D picture of the area — a picture through time. Newer remains usually lie in a position closer to the surface, and older ones lie lower down. Fortunately, archaeologists no longer have to rely on position alone for judging an object's age.

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Historians also use secondary sources. Secondary sources are created long after an event already happened. They are created by people who were not part of the historical event. The information in secondary sources is often based on primary sources. Examples of secondary sources are biographies, encyclopedias, history books, and textbooks. A secondary source has a broad view of an event and contains helpful background information about that event.

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Primary sources are firsthand pieces of evidence. They were written or created by the people who saw or experienced an event. Primary sources include letters, diaries, or government records. Literature or artwork from a particular time and place is a primary source too. Spoken interviews and objects, such as tools or clothing, are also primary sources. Primary sources help historians learn what people were thinking while the events took place. They use the sources to find evidence that explains historical events.

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To learn the answers to the historical questions, historians look for evidence. Evidence is something that shows proof that something is true. Evidence could be in the form of material objects, such as a soldier’s uniform or scraps of pottery from an archaeological dig. Other evidence may appear in documents or written materials that were created during a historical event. Historians use the evidence they read in historical sources to figure out what happened in the past.

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Just like a detective might use fingerprints at a crime scene to figure out the identity of a burglar, archaeologists use artifacts and other objects found at their dig sites (places where evidence from past societies are found) as clues to learn about how people lived in the past. Archaeologists can use stone tools and pottery to determine what types of activities or work ancient people did. Seeds and animals’ bones left behind can tell archaeologists about what people ate in the past. Pieces of fabric or even an old shoe are clues about the types of clothes people wore long ago. Archaeologists piece all of these clues together to understand the lives of ancient people, just like a detective puts together all of the clues to figure out what happened at the scene of a crime.

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What do archaeologists do?

Imagine you had to explain how you live to a visitor from the future without speaking or writing. How would you explain what you do every day, what you eat, and where you live? You could show them objects you use - your cell phone, your house, and wrappers from the food you eat. Archaeologists rely on objects from the past to learn about the cultures of ancient people.

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Learning About The Past: Archaeologists Study Artifacts

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Learning About The Past: Archaeologists Study Artifacts

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By USHistory.org          Grade Level 6

03/21/2017                Word Count 900

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What kinds of clothing did people wear 2,000 years ago? What about this curious object in the picture below? What do you think it is? How was it used? Who made it? Archaeologists ask all of these questions and more.

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Some of these experts are archaeologists. Archaeologists are scientists who study the history of humans by looking at things that people made, used, and left behind. These man-made items are called artifacts. Anything made by humans can be an artifact - clothes, dishes, tools, and much more.

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How do we learn about the past? Scientists and other experts do different types of research to uncover what life was like hundreds, and even thousands, of years ago. The study of history helps humans understand who we once were and who we are today. Historians ask questions like, “What happened?,” “Why did it happen?,” “How did things change?,” “How has it influenced our lives today?,” and “What would have happened if…?” Then, these experts use their imaginations, shared knowledge from other experts, and hard work to put together the puzzle pieces of history.