Archaeology Essay -- essays research papers

ArchaeologyThere is a saying that goes One essential first have an understanding of the past in order to proceed into the future. An archaeologists job, therefore, is very important because they have the crucial role of see the past through archaeological finds. How does an archaeologist go about doing this? How does he interpret his findings? How are the artifacts that he finds related to the behaviors of past humans? Concepts such as patterning and middle range scheme are the main tools used for this interpretation of the past. Patterning is the regular relationship between material objects and space, and middle range theory is how the visible archaeological data can be related to past human behaviors or work ons. Patterning is used to interpret past human behavior because the products of human action usually suggest repetitiveness or a pattern of activity that can be discerned by the archaeologist. For example in the Olsen-Chubbuck site in Colorado, a bison graveyard was disc overed of 190 bison. The pattern or relationship between the bones and how they were found gives the archaeologist clues as to how the bison were butchered. Some bones were found with diaphysis points in the bodies, some whole skeletons were found closer to the bottom, and some bones were scattered all over. It can be inferred from the patterning of the bison bones that they were butchered differently. Middle range theory also plays a p...