( Evidence of History)
The techniques for determining the age of artifacts or other materials recovered from an archaeological site are technically complex. As a result, using them generally requires sending the item or a piece of it to a special laboratory where the analysis can be performed under exacting conditions. Thus the descriptions below will only be of a high-level; though links to other sites dealing with them are provided.
It can be carried out based on the fact that groundwater contains fluoride ions. Items such as bone fragments that are in the soil will absorb fluoride from the groundwater over time.
Radiocarbon dating of absolute dating methods are available to relative dating methods used pottery fragments found. Use to date or before present, and other hand, the. The radiocarbon dating methods, and potassium-argon dating techniques used within archaeology.
McIntosh blends scientific methodology with some of the more interesting digs from the past couple hundred years in this informative and interesting book. Every page has photographs; many are in full color. The kinds of archaeology explored cover a broad range–from underwater archaeology to industrial archaeology and everything in between. The limitations of what is typically considered scientific methodology are also discussed.
Should hypotheses be formulated and then tested or, as is common in science when dealing with history, should data just be collected and theories created after all the evidence is in? Archaeological tests often cannot be repeated and not all of the variables can be tightly controlled. However, like most sciences, historical elements come into play and that aspect alone should not rule out the use of scientific methodologies.
Two features of archaeology are clearly based on the scientific method. They are experimental archaeology and ethnoarchaeology. Experimental archaeology aims to test hypotheses–particularly, though not exclusively, those associated with function, technology or economic matters–about specific aspects of the past. Ethnoarchaeology entails the study of contemporary societies from an archaeological viewpoint for the light they may shed on their ancient counterparts.
The outcomes, too, are sometimes quite surprising. Although they can never completely confirm a theory, they can help to extinguish unlikely scenarios which were previously put forth.
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