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Need help archaeology question

 
 
acedace
 
Sun 27 Mar, 2016 04:05 am
in about one paragraph, describe the daily life of an archaeologists during a dig?
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Type: Question • Score: 1 • Views: 1,539 • Replies: 8
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acedace
 
  1  
Sun 27 Mar, 2016 04:44 am
@acedace,
bump
acedace
 
  1  
Sun 27 Mar, 2016 04:54 am
@acedace,
bump!
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farmerman
 
  3  
Sun 27 Mar, 2016 05:03 am
@acedace,
A "normal day" of an archaeologist may include long hours tracking down relevant documents on site, or a specialist my spend time scanning remote sensing plots .
When a "dig" finally commences, the project usually is developed quite carefully wrt to

1. how much time is available

2 What team members are needed (archeology, pollen specialists, geologists, forensic pathologists, sttatsiticians, surveyors, etc etc)

3 An overall budget needs to be developed so that the directors can see where the available resources need to be provided


4Once the above is taken care of, probably the first step in the field would be to get some remote sensing specialists involved to give the team an idea of where to concentrate(Im talking magnetometry, ground penetrating radar (GPS), LIDAR, hyperspectral imaging)

5 From digs I was on, usually the first product produced is a "contextual stratigraphy map" where they try to depict the environment that existed during the time of deposition qnd/or habitation.

As Timur said in the other thread, in US,Can, UK etc, an archaeological site is more often than not "Stumbled on" when a developement or road building project gets underway.

Years ago, when I was prt of an Archaeology team (I was still in grad chool), I was the second in command to do the contextual stratigraphy. I have to say, watching grass grow is more exciting. Despite what we see in Indiana Jones movies, A dig can be years of "hurry up and STOP" interspersed with a few moments of locating "wonderful things'
I know a husband qnd wife EGYPTOLOGY team at U Penn. Theyve been working on one site for about 20 years an they spend maybe 2 months a year with a team of workers actually digging. MOST of their work is cataloging, and "layering their Kingdom artifacts".

They have been using the newer LIDAR tricks and they will soon publish a book about the detailed use of specific remote sensing tools .

Are you planning a career in archeology? I think first you should look at the jobs available and the size of the market of, say, applied archeology, or contract science (where youre a consultant working for a developer or a govt agency)
Good luck. We used to have 2 real archaeologists on A2k years back. I wish they would pop in from time to time.
acedace
 
  1  
Sun 27 Mar, 2016 05:08 am
@farmerman,
No I am not considering a career in archaeology Its just a question I received "In approximately one paragraph, describe daily life for archaeologists onsite during a dig process"?
farmerman
 
  2  
Sun 27 Mar, 2016 05:11 am
@acedace,
I think its a wise decision because an archaeologist often has to work without a net and generally needs to be a bit more creative ..
acedace
 
  1  
Sun 27 Mar, 2016 05:14 am
@farmerman,
What is a wise decision? Also what are some differences between a historian and archaeoligist.
farmerman
 
  2  
Sun 27 Mar, 2016 05:18 am
@acedace,
many arcaeologists ARE hitorians, with additional focused training in several specialized fields (like ceramics chemistry, linguistics of extinct laguages, remote sensing, pallinology, etc)

I guess we are helping you with homework eh?
I feel so violated ,.
acedace
 
  1  
Sun 27 Mar, 2016 05:20 am
@farmerman,
I'm studying an online course. on ancient history
0 Replies
 
 

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