Materials and Methods in Historical Archaeology

3.0 credits · Undergraduate

This course explores the methods and materials used by historical archaeologists to interpret historic sites and their artifact assemblages. It is organized around two primary themes: 1) the analysis of commonly recovered artifact types from historic sites, and 2) the identification and interpretation of archaeological patterns on historic sites over time and space. The first half of the course will introduce students to techniques used to identify artifacts such as ceramics, bottle glass, nails, pipes, and other artifacts. In the second half of the course, students will learn quantitative approaches to identify and interpret archaeological patterns over time and space.