3.htm
1: G. Buccellati, November 2002
Version 1a (on development)

Methodology

This is a technical section that addresses questions of procedure. How do we go about doing archaeology? How do we read what is hidden under the ground?      Michelangelo was speaking as an archaeologist when he claimed that in sculpting he only removed the excess marble to expose the form. This is literally true in our case. How do we free an ancient building from the grip of the earth that fully envelops it? Reflecting is as important as excavating. How will we proceed to unveil what still remains unexcavated?      Once brought back to light and re-embedded in our awareness, how do we keep and present our finds? What are the methods of analysis? There are some fundamental issues of theory, that govern the basic approaches to a variety of different types of data. For each, it is indispensable to maintain a clear determination as to the properties of the pertinent approach. We must not confuse the various levels of analysis. The central points which we follow in each of these areas are identified in this section, and discussed in some detail.

The section on principles broaches general questions about the theoretical underpinnings of field work and, at the same time, about the fundamental distinction between techniques and methods bringing to light that peculiar dimension of archaeology that combines highly practical and highly theoretical aspects. The section on techniques provides descriptive and operational details about some of the more distinctive techniques we use in the field. What follows is a discussion of the methods, divided in two parts, excavations and analysis. The section on excavations describes what is most properly, and most commonly, associated with the discipline of archaeology – the dig. We review here the most salient aspects of the entire process, from the uncertainties, expectations and surprises of the moment of retrieval to stratigraphic analysis, a highly theoretical construct within which we encase the physical reality of the mound and what it contains. Analysis provides the theoretical scaffolding for the substantive conclusions that are applied to our data and presented in the section on typology.