c1447d0d_Americans_Prehistoric_Glossary__e_and_or_used_by_human_beings_
[Anthropology] Artifact analysis
Archaeologists search for artifacts. Stone tools and pieces of pottery are common examples of prehistoric Native American artifacts, which also include food remains and evidence of cooking fires and buildings. Relatively few artifacts survive over long periods of time. Usually, only durable artifacts, those made of stone, bone, pottery, or metals, survive. Artifacts made of wood, leather, or other fragile materials rarely remain. As a result, archaeologists have an incomplete view of the past. Some archaeologists specialize in the study of how Native Americans made and used stone tools. Native Americans knew that certain stone such as chert could be shaped by carefully chipping away flakes of unwanted material. They also knew that some other types of stone such as granite could be shaped by pecking-striking one piece of stone with another to remove small bits of stone. Once shaped by pecking, the rough surface was ground smooth with an abrasive rock like sandstone. Because they are durable, stone tools are often the most common artifact remaining where Native Americans once lived. Archaeologists find complete and borken stone tools and waste from tool making. They study the type of stone, where it came from, how the object was shaped, and what it was used for to learn more about everyday life. For instance, we know that the shape of a stone tol is often related to its function.
Native Americans:Prehistoric:Glossary
Anthropology is the study of origins of human beings and their cultures worldwide. In addition to documenting a particular culture, anthropologists are interested in how and why human culture changes. The science of anthropology is divided into several subfields including physical anthropology, the study of the origins and development of human beings; cultural anthropology, the study of human culture or the means by which human beings sustain life; linguistics, the study of human language; and archaeology, the study of human life based primarily on the recovery of artifacts, objects made and/or used by human beings.