Archaeology FAQ
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    What is Archaeology?

  • It is one way of knowing the past.
  • It is the study of past human behaviours through the analysis of material remains.
 


Excavation
 

What do archaeologists try to understand?

  • How cultures change through time.
  • Ancient Diet: What people ate, who ate what, where food was harvested, how food was prepared. See Shell Middens and Herring


    Fish Trap

  • Ancient Tool Use: What tools were used, what they made from, where they came from. See Stone Tools
  • Ancient Settlements: Where people lived, what they lived in. See Kleh Kwa Num

 

 ©2009 SFU Archaeology &
Tla'amin First Nation
How do Archaeologists accomplish their work?
  • Archaeologists study all the “stuff” people leave behind. This can include artifacts like tools and jewellery, animal and plants parts like bones or seeds, or features such as the remnants of houses or hearths.

 


Stratigraphy showing house floor layers

 

  • They discover sites by ground searches, studying documented histories, doing interviews with people and dig to discover what lies beneath the surface.

 


Lab work!

Floatation

Excavation

Taking a sample from the bottom of a pit

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