Did you know that archaeologists work in Carlsbad?
Whenever a new housing development, golf course, business park or road is built in Carlsbad, Archaeologists have to investigate the area first. Depicted on the right are objects and a site in Carlsbad.
What is Archaeology and why do archaeologists investigate new building sites?
Archaeology is the study of the buildings, graves, tools and other objects which belonged to people who lived in the past, in order to learn about their culture and society. Archaeologists study the sites where these people lived and, the artifacts they left behind in order to put the puzzle pieces together and understand the cultural past of a certain area.
Where would an Archaeologist look for a site?
Archaeologists look for sites in places where people would most likely have lived, near water, or a place that was protected or near food sources. Archaeologists have the help of geologists, biologists and other scientist to find areas that might contain likely sites. Sometimes old maps, airplane photos, and even space shuttles images can help pinpoint a site.
Once they find a site what do archaeologist do?
They Dig! Or in other words, they excavate. Archaeologists first ask for permission from whoever owns the land. Then they make a few test digs to determine where the best place to really investigate is. Once they find their site, they pick an area, and rope it off and mark it into grids, with each grid having a number. They gently remove the dirt, sieve it through strainers, and then label each artifact they find, with a description of location, condition and any other artifacts that it was found with. All of these artifacts are taken to the lab and analyzed, then stored. To finish the project the archaeologist writes a report on what he discovered.
