According to
Fagan (2009:4) defined archaeology as the scientific study of the human past,
of ancient human behavior from the earliest times right up to the present. Most
of archaeology is part of a much wider discipline “anthropology” which studies all aspects of humanity,
ancient and modern. But archaeologists are unique among scientist in that, they
study changes in human culture over long period of time.
Daniel (1981) in
Fagan (1985) defined archaeology as the study of material remains and human culture
using archaeological theory and techniques.
Generally,
archaeology is the study of human culture using past cultural phenomena or
present cultural phenomena.
The main concern
of the archaeologist is to study of the basic categories of archaeological
remains which are artifact, ecofact , feature and structure. The following are
the description of these archaeological phenomena.
According to
Renfrew.C and Paul.B (1996:45) defined
artifact as human made or modified portable objects such as stone tools,
pottery and metal weapons. Artifacts are both inorganic and organic, are
organic in the sense that if human modified bones and used it as a tool. Sharer
R.J and Wendy.A (2003:353-378) groups artifact into two categories. Lithic
tools and pottery, where by lithic artifacts refers to manufactured tools from
stone, and the first stone tool used by
ancestor of modern human were probably unmodified rocks or cobbles used only
once for tasks such as hammering and pounding and lithic technology has its
roots in the first attempt to modify and shape stone to make tools. For example
flake tools and blades
Pottery, originated with human first
attempt to settled life. There were
three basic technique for making pottery from clay, which are mold forming,
hand forming and wheel forming. Through these archaeologist may use the remains
and recognize the past human culture; for example hand forming describe small
scale production and it was for domestic use.
Wheel forming describe potential mass production and produced by
specialist. Pottery are analyzed by using stylistic , form and function as well
as technological analysis.
Metal artifact like gold, silver and
lead survive well, copper and bronze with a low quality alloy are acidic soil
and can become so oxidized that only a green deposit or stain is left.
inorganic material archaeologically survive better ,for example stone, fired
clay such as pottery as well as metal.
Ecofacts,
include animal bones and plant remains but also soil and sediments, all of
which may shed light on past human activities. They can indicate, for example,
what people ate
or the environmental condition under
which they lived. Renfrew.C and Paul.B (1996:55) explain that the organic
material are largely by the matrix (the surrounding materials) and by climate
(local and regional) with the occasional influence of natural disaster such as
volcanic eruption which are often far
from disastrous for archaeologist.
Sharer R.J and Wendy. A (2003:391-400) categorize
ecofacts into flora remains (plant), fauna remains (animal) and soil. Flora
remains include two basic categories, microbotanicals (pollen and rhytolith)
and macrobotanicals (seads, leaves, casts). Indirect evidence of plant used can
also be greened from such sources as pictorial representation, for example
Egyptian murals illustrating wheat. Fauna remains in archaeological context
take a number of forms, from whole specimen such as mummies to partial ones
such as bones. Bones and teeth are the most commonly recovered fauna artifacts.
Ecofact on the
other side usually possess no overt evidence of human activity, or, if they do
such evidence may be difficult to assess. Thus it is certainly possible that
some animal bones , plant remains, pollens and other ecofactual material found
in archaeological situation even when they associated with artifacts and
feature. Taphonomy is supposed to be used to distinguish human from nonhuman
activities, because human acts (culture) such as hunting, butchering and tool
making are reflected in bone and how
they can be contrasted with effects of
other agents.
Once species
have been identified, the analysis of
both floral and faunal sample can yield information on ancient environmental
condition, subsistence technique , diet and other activities (medical, ritual,
mortuary behavior). Human remains provide direct evidence about the nutritional
and hearth status of ancient population , information vital not only to understand
the past but also to modern society (in studies of the origin and evolution of
human disease). Soil and sediments especially the analysis of soil matrices can
yield clues (truth) to the presence or absence of past human activity and information about ancient land use and
environmental conditions.
Features, are non-potable artifact, that is, they are
artifacts that cannot be recovered from the setting in which they are found.
Feature may be composed of artifact and ecofact. In analyzing feature, position
and arrangement are key aspects of features. For this reason they cannot be
removed without destroying their original form. For example, hearths, burial
storage pits and roads. Sharer.R.J and
Wendy.A (2003:121)
Features may be examined into simple and
composite feature such as the remains of building. The latter (whether house
storage, building, temple, palace) are usually revealed archaeologically by the
patterned arrangement of floor, post holes, walls and doorways as well as by
associated simple feature such as hearths and refuse pits. Sharer R.J and Wendy.A (2003:412)
Feature shall be divided into two
somewhat different categories that have possible behavioral implications;
constructed feature and cumulative feature. Constructed feature are those that
were deliberately built to house or facilitate some activity or set of
activity. They may provide an enclosed shelter, such as a house, or they may
simply define or create an area appropriate to specific activities, such as
agricultural terraces or boat-docking pier. Cumulative feature include entities
that do not seem to have a planned structure to them. They may grow by
accretion, as middens or workshop do, or subtraction as quarries do.
Structure,
refer to any constructed remains which were made, used or modified by human, or
any remains which represent construction material. For example, constructed
graves, houses, ceremonial structures, earliest religious structures. Structure
is a complex feature.
Conclusion,
the above were the basic categories of archaeological remains, in classifying
and analyzing, archaeologist should associate knowledge from other discipline
in order to study the material culture of the human past.
REFERENCE
Fagan B. M (1985), In the beginning: An introduction to archaeology. Little, brown and
company. Canada.
Fagan B. M. (2009), Archaeology: A brief introduction, 10th Ed. Pearson
Education Inc.
Newyork
Sharer R.J and W. Ashmore (2003), Archaeology: Discovering our past, 3rd Ed.
McGraw Hill Company. Newyork
Renfrew. C and Paul.B (1996),Archaeology. Theory Method and Practice, 2nd
Ed. Thames and
Hudson Ltd.London
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