الثلاثاء، 4 يونيو 2013

How Archaeologists Are Helping To Preserve American Indian Artifacts

By Rena Hudson


One of the ways that archaeologists study the past is by searching for historical remnants. Features, eco-facts, and American Indian artifacts are all types of historical items that can be used by archaeologists to understand Native American culture. These are all items that were left behind by people.

A portable, man-made item that has the same purpose even after it is moved is called an artifact. Tools and weapons are examples of this. A non-portable, man-made item that has a different purpose after it is moved is called a feature. A well or a wall is an example of a feature.

An eco-fact is something that is not man-made but rather it is natural. However, it still holds information about how it was used in the culture. Examples of these include manure, buried pets, and food. The only real difference between an eco-fact and an artifact is whether it is man or nature-made.

Archaeologists generally work at a location called a site. This is where eco-facts, features, and artifacts are found. They may find one, two, or even all three of these in the location. Archaeologists have several ways that they define the site borders; fences are a physical boundary but many boundaries are simply the last place that they found an item.

Archaeologists then consider whether the site has primary or secondary context. Primary context refers to a site that has been undisturbed by humans by subsequent human activity. Secondary context is a site that has been disturbed by humans subsequent to the initial human occupants.

In order to draw their conclusions, archaeologists have to consider the principle of association. This is the relationship that is formed by two items that they find near each other. One example might be finding cooking items in a room that also contained a stove. This might indicate that the room was a kitchen.

The biggest reason that archaeologists need so much information to attempt to understand things in the past is because there are no Native Americans living today that came from that period. They can only draw conclusions by looking at how people lived and what they did. They do this by looking at the items that they used and left behind and then draw conclusions.

Looting is one of the biggest threats to archaeologists that are trying to understand Native American culture. In New Mexico, authorities estimate that 95% of all sites have been looted. The looters took everything they could find, including arrowheads, pottery, pots, pendants, clothing, and figurines. Looters sold 256 artifacts to undercover agents in 2006. The combined worth was more than $325,000. The agents arrested 47 people but they say that there are many more out there.

Most people probably would pick up an arrowhead if they saw it and not even realize they had committed a crime. Most of them, in fact, would consider looting American Indian artifacts a grey area. Under the law, it is not a grey area. The problem is that even if the activity were legal it would still result in a loss of historical knowledge. This is the only thing that archaeologists have to learn about other cultures. It also provides society with valuable historical lessons.




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