Excavating a Coconut Cake

In January 2008, the students in ANTH 115 were called to investigate a curious, minature Archaeological Site discovered, oddly enough, in their classroom. To get to the bottom of this, they select their tools and begin a methodical excavation.

Terminology

• stratigraphy (strata)
  artifacts and features
  post-depositional forces
  taphonomy
  grave goods and burials
  intrusive and extrusive features

  Questions to consider:
  
  1. In each layer, who built the various features ?
  2. What forces left the artifacts in the archaeological record ?
  3. How did you decide when to change the numbers of the layers ?
  4. How many layers did you identify ?
  5. List the order that features were created within each layer.
  6. What order should the features be excavatd in ? (how do you take artifacts out in the reverse order from which they were deposited)
• 
  
  Level 1: Junkyard Layer
  1. Which was the earliest portion of this layer ?
  2. Look up "dendrochonology" and come to class with a brief definition.
  3. What did you find within this layer ?
  4. What do you think caused this layer to be abandoned ?
  
  Layer 2: Jamestown Period
  1. What features were visible at the top of this layer ? Did you sketch them on your original map ?
  2. List all of the features from this layer
  3. What do you think happened here ? Why was the site abandoned ?

  For reference, photos of the features and artifacts from Layer 2 are provided below.

  How would you classify the artifacts from this layer ?
  What is the association (if any) among the features and artifacts in this layer ?
  Why do archaeologists dig square trenches ?
  
  Layer 3: Egyptian Tomb
  1. How many layers were within the tomb?
  2. What were the white artifacts ?
  3. Were their any associated artifacts ?
  4. Associated features ?
  5. How could you have excavated this layer to keep track of the various sub-layers ?
  6. What numbering system could you have used to label each associated artifact correctly ?
  
  Layer 4: Paleolithic
  What did you reach in the lowest level ?
  
  What do you do after you dig ?
  1. What is the next step ?
  2. What was missing from the archaeological record ? What behavior could account for this ?
  3. Ironically, what happened to site 24SB595 at the end of the dig ?