Video Test, The Archaeological Survey

Video Test, The Archaeological Survey

Buffalo, New York, USA

August 27, 2007

http://canciondelvagabundo.googlepages.com/

I noticed a new feature on my blogger toolbar- a video upload button! Is this not perfect? So I am trying it out right now. Below are two videos that I took at work today. One is of Mira screening for artifacts, the second is of the crew digging shovel test, and the last is of Mira demonstrating the process of completing a shovel test. Please ignore the low resolution; it is because of the setting that I was using on my camera and has nothing to do with the Blogger system.

In the United States archaeological investigations are generally divided into three phases:

Phase I- Shovel testing to locate sites. Shovel test are usually 30X30 to 50X50 centimeter holes that are dug 10 to 15 centimeters into sterile subsoil at intervals of 5 to 15 meters. The removed soil is then processed through a screen to find any possible artifacts.

Phase II- Identify site boundaries. This is usually done through excavating test units (1X1 meter is typical) to discover the boundaries of a site.

Phase III- This is the most intense data recovery phase of an excavation in which artifacts are generally point provienced, and testing methods are the most accurate. This is generally the final portion of an excavation, and the emphasis is on collecting de-facto information.

Mira screening a shovel test searching for artifacts.

This is a only test run for videos. Please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions.