Deciphering Traces

Archaeologists retain two fundamental kinds of data by which they look at the past. These are the material remains themselves - the artefacts and their features - and the relationship between the remains - or the context. Context denotes essentially the various situations in which objects are found during an excavation - their spatial position, their relation to one another, their patterning in the site...These elements carry as much information about the past as the material remains alone.

Archaeologists are aware that their work involves quite a paradox: digging to recover data inevitably destroys the original context of the remains. In other words, after a dig, the site is gone and, with it, the context. This explains why such care is taken during an excavation. All information pertaining to context must be well recorded. Notes, drawings, maps, photographs continuously archive the site. Because of the need for such great attention to minute detail, archaeology is a slow, methodical profession, often using delicate tools.

This is why only archaeologists are encouraged to search for and recover remains in archaeological sites. They are trained professionals using specific methods. This is also why newly discovered archaeological sites should always be brought to the attention of archaeologists or to knowledge of a dedicated organization or institution.

In many ways, archaeology can be compared to detective work. When a detective examines a crime scene, he doesn't simply collect the material evidence (weapon, fingerprints...), he also takes extensive notes on where the objects are placed and how they relate to one another on the location of the crime scene. He knows this can reveal as many clues as the objects themselves. Just an an archaeologist, a detective always prefers an undisturbed crime scene, one where the context has not been destroyed.

(You can recreate a similar exercise by carefully observing traces left behind by recent human activity. When you leave a place where you have been for a certain while, a camping area for example, try to remark the traces you are leaving behind just before you go,. Even if they are very subtle, see what they reveal about yourself and the activities in which you were engaging at that site.)