Archaeological site

“ The future investigation of archaeological remains in high mountain districts may reveal at considerable elevations the oldest and hence lowest strata of prehistoric development, strata which, in the more attractive valleys, have been obliterated or overlaid by later invasions of peoples and cultures. ”

“ So in regard to the buildings of greater antiquity: in those ruins which have long survived the wear of time, simplicity of construction, and an adaptation of the design to the locality, as well as to the materials with which they are built, are strikingly characteristic. The antiquary may derive most profitable information from the distinguishing characters of the different rocks, and may thence frequently determine the age and other circumstances connected with the erection of the structure he is investigating, more accurately than by tradition and imperfect records. ”

“ This active area of migrating barchan dunes and partially stabilized transverse dunes rises 10 to 16 feet above the ground, creating sandy habitats ranging from 2 to several hundred acres in size.
The monument also contains important archaeological and historic information. More than 10,000 years of human activity in this largely arid environment have left extensive archaeological deposits. Areas upland from the river show evidence of concentrated human activity, and recent surveys indicate extensive use of arid lowlands for hunting. ”

“ Our historical horizon has been pushed back very considerably, and every year adds new knowledge concerning the Palæolithic and Neolithic races, and the first users of bronze and iron tools and weapons. We have learnt to prize what they have left, to recognize the immense archæological value of these remains, and of their inestimable prehistoric interest. ”

“ Archaeological and historic objects such as cliff dwellings, villages, great kivas, shrines, sacred springs, agricultural fields, check dams, reservoirs, rock art sites, and sweat lodges are spread across the landscape. More than five thousand of these archaeologically important sites have been recorded, and thousands more await documentation and study. The Mockingbird Mesa area has over forty sites per square mile, and several canyons in that area hold more than three hundred sites per square mile. ”

“ If at one time the monuments of Greece and Rome claimed the almost undisputed attention of the archaeologist, that time has long since passed. For the most important historical records that have come to us in recent decades we have to thank the Orientalist, though the classical explorer has been by no means idle. It will be sufficient here to point out in general terms the import of the message of archaeological discovery in the Victorian Era in its bearings upon the great problems of world-history. ”

“ The first edition of this important work was issued in 1862, at a period when the public mind was startled by the rapid progress made in archæological discovery, and by the evidence it afforded of the great antiquity of man upon the globe. Vast collections of implements and ornaments had been made by the museums of Northern Europe, and by private collectors, from caves, mounds, lake-borders, and drift-gravels, but their value as a record of the prehistoric races was a subject of animated discussion. ”

“ We continually hear of finds of ancient coins made by peasants during the rainy season; but the author is careful to point out that what is now wanted is systematic exploration, like that of Mr. Petrie in Egypt. The present volume is based rather upon printed documents than upon original research, though it shows everywhere the traces of personal knowledge. Its object is to carry out the orders of the Government, by placing on record a catalogue of the existing monuments, classified according to their archæological importance, their state of repair, and their custody. ”

“ Before launching a large-scale capital construction project, the construction unit shall first request in a report the administrative department for cultural relics under the people's government of the relevant province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government to make arrangements for institutions engaged in archaeological excavations to conduct archaeological investigation and prospecting at places where cultural relics may be buried underground within the area designated for the project. ”

“ But when such knowledge has been once accumulated, it is the first duty of any excavator to make himself well acquainted with it before he attempts to discover more. At present the archaeological experience that should be acquired before doing any responsible work in any country ought to cover the history of the pottery century by century, the history of beads, of tools and weapons, of the styles of art, of the styles of inscriptions, of the burial furniture, and of the many small objects which are now well known and dated, better in Egypt than perhaps in any other country. ”

“ The incredulity and even contempt with which the application of a system of archæological periods to the antiquities of Britain was received, in recent years, by a certain class of critics, was inevitable, from the exclusive attention previously devoted to Roman and medieval remains. But the attention of the antiquary, as well as the geologist, is now being directed to conclusions forced on both by the traces of man in the stratified gravel of post-pleiocene formations. ”

“ Again, it has been conclusively proved that, by a subsidence of the land in South Britain, archæological materials of the highest significance have been for a long time submerged, and, so were concealed from the immediate cognizance of modern antiquaries. We now know that man's handicraft-works have been found in widely separated localities which were formerly inhabited as ordinary land-surfaces, but which are now more or less under the level of the present-day sea. ”

“ The first requirement for systematic work of study is material sufficient to work on. And to provide this there must be both discovery and conservation. During the last century there has been a gradual growth of archaeological perception; and in place of only caring for beautiful and striking objects there has arisen some interest in whatever can throw light on the past civilisations. But unhappily the ideas of conservation have not kept pace with the work of discovery. The present system of museums is the most serious bar to the progress of archaeology. ”

“ Many other implements also are found in neolithic times with no trace of grinding and yet with every appearance of being complete.
The most trustworthy evidence with regard to this and the succeeding archaeological periods is to be found in the grave-mounds. For the earlier part of the neolithic age, however, these are by no means fruitful of relics. From their shape they are called in England “long barrows” to distinguish them from the round barrows which belong to a succeeding time, though evidence is being accumulated to show that this division is not of universal application. ”

“ Nevertheless it was the insertion of the point of the wedge. All that followed was easy in comparison with it. What has since been accomplished by the scholars of Europe in this old field of archæological investigation, where they dealt with written though unread materials, is now being attempted for the whole compass of its legitimate operations by a similar union of learning and zeal, and Archæology at length claims its just rank among the inductive sciences. ”

“ In our islands, as well as on the Continent, as antiquarian zeal became more widely diffused, the need of organized effort was felt; and, side by side with the leading academies—the Society of Antiquaries, the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, the Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, the Royal Irish Academy, the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, and the Cambrian Archaeological Association—local societies were gradually formed in every important provincial town. ”

“ During the last forty years, and especially during the last twenty, the steady growth of archaeological study and increased attention to excavations have enormously increased both the material at command and the power of utilising it with scientific method. ”

“ Travellers are more likely to make new discoveries elsewhere than on the actual sites of ancient towns and villages. In many cases the site is found to be entirely bare of all remains except sometimes small fragments of pottery. In general, inscribed and other stones have been carried away to serve as building material for mosques, houses, fountains, bridges, &c., or as headstones for graves in cemeteries or for other utilitarian purposes. ”

“ Other good spots for antiquities than tells are rare. In the mountainous and stony country of the North we may meet with rock– sculptures, as at Bavian, and these should always be recorded by a traveller, even if he is not certain that they have not been remarked before: something new may turn up at any time. Antiquities acquired in the neighbourhood of such monuments should be noted, and their precise place of origin ascertained, if possible, as in this way the site of some ancient settlement adjoining the monument may be identified. ”

“ Pottery is not found in the heart of the area, but stone vessels of original form are rather numerous. These are often crude, suggesting hollowed-out boulders, though some are dressed to the shape of an egg, while others are roughly pyramidal. All these data lead us to suspect that a more systematic survey of the true archæological center of the Plains will clearly define a distinct type of prehistoric culture. ”

“ It is unnecessary to adduce other examples of the nature and extent of the deposits which are in progress at the bottom of the present seas; but in passing to the next topic, I would solicit particular attention to the fact, that vast subaqueous accumulations of the relics of man and his works, must have been going on for ages, and imparting a character to the strata of the human epoch, of which no traces whatever are observable in the ancient formations.
II.—On the Occurrence of the Remains of Man and Works of Art in modern superficial Deposits. ”

“ History.—The most striking archaeological monuments of the prehistoric period are the sepulchral mounds, which are found by thousands in various parts of the country, especially in the neighbourhood of the ancient towns. ”

“ Peter’s, as at so many other ancient sites, what the archaeologist digs up is not things but people. The remains in the niche under the Red Wall are not dry bones; they are live history. The breathing of life into that history is a major and largely unsung triumph of the modern science of archaeology, patiently at work over the last eighty years. To come to know a fragment of our past is to recognize a piece of ourselves. Perhaps, as archaeology interprets history, making the mute stones speak, we may come to know our past so well that we shall not be condemned to repeat it. ”

“ The procedure in scientific excavation is directed to collecting and interpreting all the information that can be obtained from the excavation as to the history and nature of the site explored, be it town, temple, house, cemetery or individual grave, wasting no evidence that results from it touching the endless problems which scientific archaeology affords—whether in regard to arts and crafts, manners and customs, language, history or beliefs. ”

“ It is these modern deposits that constitute the fields of research which the antiquary and the geologist may explore with mutual advantage; for they abound in objects of the highest importance, relating to the interesting problem as to the contemporaneous existence of the human race, and certain species and genera of animals now only known by their fossil remains. ”

“ Within a comparatively short time they also would be the victims of some wandering conqueror, and once again the wrecked habitations of men would be repossessed by the drifting sands of the desert. It is not uncommon that in the course of a thousand years such an experience would be repeated from three or four to a dozen times upon the same site.
When the archeologist finds such a mound or hill, he has a treasure indeed. By excavating this deposit one stratum at a time, he builds up a stratographical record which is highly important in reconstructing a consecutive history of this region. ”

“ It will be well at this point to give a brief summary of the modern classification of the Palaeolithic implement-bearing deposits of Europe. From the labours of many geologists and prehistoric archaeologists, especially in France, a definite succession of types of implement has been established, and in some cases it has been found possible to correlate these with actual human remains and with certain well-marked events in the physical history of Pleistocene times, especially with the advance and retreat of ice-sheets. ”

“ PLANS FOR AN ARCHÆOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION There are something like three hundred museums or institutions in the United States that contain archæological collections. These exhibits range from more than a million objects, as in the case of the Smithsonian Institution, or Field Museum of Chicago, or the American Museum of Natural History, to private collections of one to ten thousand specimens each. I have roughly estimated the number of prehistoric artifacts available for study, or those of aboriginal manufacture that show little influence of European culture, at about eight million objects. ”

“ When European savants had established the science of Archæology, and shown the existence of separate stages of culture, it was but natural that those interested in the matter on this side of the Atlantic should turn with renewed energy to investigate the archæology of this country, to see if here, too, they could find evidence of a Paleolithic Age. ”