Excavations at Bartow County's Leake Site

An Archaeologist's Dictionary

A big part of understanding what archaeologists do is understanding the terms they use. In this quiz, you'll match the terms on the left with the definitions on the right!

Terms

Definitions
A. Field Director
to expose artifacts in a wire screen while washing soil off of them
B. excavation units
specific area of human activity, such as a post mold or trash pit
C. water-screened
an opponent
D. adversary
the yellow powder from the inside of a flower
E. silty
condensed vapor collected from a still, used to wash pollen off of trowels
F. loam
archaeologist in charge of an entire project
G. datum
the silica walls of a plant cell
H. Middle Woodland
measured areas that are scientifically dug
I. postmold
known location used to measure depths and/or horizontal distances
J. feature
soil containing large amount of silt
K. bisecting
period of time dating from 100 B.C. to 400 A.D.
L. pollen
a specific type of archaeological feature: a circular stain in the soil left by a rotting post
M. phytolith
a triangular hand tool for brick-laying used by archaeologists
N. distilled water
cutting in half and excavating scientifically
O. trowel
rich, loose soil containing some organic matter