xxvi IntroductionBurials and cemeteries are another important category of
ancient site. Th e skeletons of ancient people impart informa-
tion about their diet and health, and the ways in which they
were buried can tell a lot about how the society was organized.
Sometimes burials are found within settlements, while at other
times they are located in separate cemeteries. Th e corpses may
have been buried intact, or they may have been cremated. Some
burials are in simple pits, while others are in elaborate tombs. In
many societies it was traditional to bury objects with the corpse
that refl ected the individual’s status in life, while in other societ-
ies little or nothing is found in the tomb other than bones.
Another important type of site is the ritual or ceremonial
site, sometimes called a “monument.” Stonehenge in England
is perhaps the most famous, but other examples include the
mounds in Ohio that are shaped like animals when viewed
from the air, the Nazca Lines in Peru, and the Sphinx in
Egypt. While we do not know the exact purpose such monu-
ments served, it is clear that they were not primarily the lo-
cations of settlements or cemeteries, though these sites may
have been located nearby.
Finally, any location of ancient human activity quali-
fi es as an archaeological site. Th ese might include roads, boat
landings, or even the boats themselves, buried in the mud. In
Boston subway construction found the remains of an ancient
fence that was used for catching fi sh by Native Americans
around 2000 b.c.e. At high tide water and fi sh would pass
over it, while at low tide the water would fl ow out and leave
the fi sh stranded. Th is is an unusual and important type of
site. Ancient sites are everywhere, and many more await dis-
covery under our feet.
How Sites are Found and Studied Archaeologists are
oft en asked how they fi nd ancient sites. With the exception
of well-known sites that are visible above the ground, like
Stonehenge or the Mayan pyramids, the most common way
that sites are discovered is by accident. A farmer plows up a
stone ax, people digging a foundation fi nd an ancient burial,
a road construction crew discovers a prehistoric settlement—
many sites have been uncovered by ordinary people who
have the good judgment to alert scholars who can properly
study the site. Sometimes, researchers search for sites using
aerial photography or other scientifi c methods of detecting
buried structures, and these techniques have also been very
successful in discovering undisturbed sites.
When a site is found, it normally has to be excavated,
which means digging away the soil to expose the structures,
burials, and other fi nds and then measuring their exact lo-
cation and documenting the discovery with drawings, pho-
tographs, and videos. Th is is the activity that most people
associate with archaeologists, though it is only part of their
job. It has to be done very carefully, because the act of dig-
ging up a site destroys it, even if the fi nds are removed or re-
stored for display. For that reason, archaeological excavation
must be done by trained and experienced investigators who
know the proper techniques. Sites that are above the ground
still need to be measured and mapped as a way to understand
their original size and their position in the landscape.
Archaeologists use many diff erent techniques to deter-
mine the age of the remains that they fi nd on sites. Th e most
important scientifi c technique is carbon-14, or radiocarbon,
dating, which is based on the decay of a radioactive isotope of
carbon that is absorbed by living plants and animals and its
measurement in charcoal, bones, and other organic remains.
Carbon-14 dating is eff ective for artifacts between about 1,000
and 60,000 years old. For artifacts dating to before that time
other methods are employed, depending on the circumstanc-
es. A very precise method of dating involves the counting of
tree rings on sites where wood is preserved, and tree-ring
chronologies that cover the last several thousand years have
been established in many parts of the world. Archaeologists
and ancient historians also can use artifact styles to date sites,
especially when these styles can be correlated with historical
events for which dates are known.ARTIFACTS
Archaeological sites generally contain the objects made by
ancient people and left behind as rubbish or as deliberate
deposits in burials or simply lost. Researchers call these ob-
jects “artifacts,” which refers to any portable object made by
humans. If you look around you, you can see many types of
artifacts. Th ose that are made from plastic, metal, and glass
will probably still be around, if only in a landfi ll, in a thou-
sand years, but those made from paper, leather, cotton, or
wool probably will have decayed. On ancient archaeological
sites, investigators usually fi nd artifacts that might be made
from stone, pottery, bone, or metals like bronze and iron
if those were used by the ancient society. Th ey might have
served as tools, containers, ornaments, or symbols of rank.
In very wet or very dry conditions wood, cloth, and netting
might also be preserved.
Artifacts are studied closely by archaeologists and histo-
rians of the ancient world. First they are classifi ed by material,
form, and decoration. Th en they are compared with other ar-
tifacts from other sites to see whether they are unusual or fi t
into a broader pattern of style shared throughout the region.
Scientists also study the physical composition of artifacts to
fi nd trace elements that might point toward the source of
the raw materials or which might show that the artifact was
used for a specifi c purpose. For example, one of the most im-
portant recent breakthroughs in prehistoric Europe was the
discovery of traces of fats associated with dairy products on
pottery fragments, showing that animals were used for their
milk as early as 5000 b.c.e.DOCUMENTS
Toward the end of antiquity in many parts of the world people
began to express themselves using systems of symbols to rep-
resent sounds, things, people, or ideas. Some systems of writ-
ing are tied to spoken language, such as the scripts used in
the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean world; others,