Open smrgeoinfo opened 3 years ago
smrgeoinfo
commented
3 years ago In the decision tree, the 'bulk finds' as described would end up in the 'aggregation' bin. I propose adding a subclass of aggregation for 'anthropogenic aggregation' to include "pottery in an excavation unit [that] gets an aggregate description", or "Production waste, production raw-materials, or other residues (broken bits of plaster from a destroyed wall)"
smrgeoinfo
commented
3 years ago recommendation: rock powder, crushed rock are not considered anthropogenic because the bits in the aggregate are natural material, not human-made. sample description --> specimen type rock powder (made as an analytical preparation) --> research product crushed rock (industrial materials, well cuttings, mine waste...) --> aggregate bucket of pot sherds --> anthropogenic aggregate
(from 'rupert') On the archaeology side, there may be some value to consider categories of:
(1) Bulk finds: These can be ecofacts (biogenic) , artifacts, or other human residue (like residue from some sort of industrial process or construction debris) that are characterized in "bulk". For example, in some urban sites (like a Roman city) there may be so much pottery in an excavation unit that each fragment does not get uniquely named, rather the pottery in an excavation unit gets an aggregate description "100 fragments of amphora, 50 of fine-ware, 20 lamp fragments). Bulk / aggregate recording is common in archaeology, usually to characterize some excavation or survey unit (a specific named context).
(2) Relating to the above, and to the category of "synthetic material" that I added. Production waste, production raw-materials, or other residues (broken bits of plaster from an destroyed wall) are all anthropogenic materials, but not artifacts.
(3) In practice, there's not a hard/sharp line between bulk/aggregate recording and the recording of individually named specimens. It's mainly about time/effort who does the recording, and rarity / ubiquity of certain types of materials. At one site, a piece of glass slag may be considered very specially, and will be individually named and described, and in other places, say and ancient industrial site, glass slag would only get characterized in bulk.