09/02/2026
When was the last time you used a paper map in this time of GPS? How about drawing one?
Yesterday, our Introduction to Archaeology Lab (ANT 2100L) students ventured outside to produce a 2-D plan view map with a few in situ features/artifacts plotted features for others to view just as archaeologists do with excavation units in the field.
As archaeologists, one of our most important jobs is to accurately describe what is going on at a site. This includes mapping all artifacts and features we find in situ, so that we can draw reasonable inferences about the patterns of data (artifacts, ecofacts, features, etc.) found at a site. Locational information is very important as it reveals to archaeologists the relationships between artifacts and features; hence, the relationships between the people who created and used the artifacts and features. Remember we always want to recreate what people were doing in the past, who was doing it, where they were doing it (location and environment), and why they were doing it.
