Post excavation

In archaeology once the archaeological record of given site has been excavated, or collected from surface surveys, it is necessary to gain as much data as possible and organize it into a coherent body of information. This process is known as post excavation analysis, and is normally the most time-consuming part of the archaeological investigation. It is not uncommon for the final excavation reports on major sites to take years to be published.

At its most basic, the artifacts found are cleaned, catalogued and compared to published collections, in order to classify them typologically and to identify other sites with similar artifact assemblages. However, a much more comprehensive range of analytical techniques are available through archaeological science, meaning that artifacts can be dated and their compositions examined. The bones, plants and pollen collected from a site can all be analysed (using the techniques of zooarchaeology, paleoethnobotany, and palynology), while any texts can usually be deciphered.

These techniques frequently provide information that would not otherwise be known and therefore contribute greatly to the understanding of a site.

Post excavation analysis of the stratigraphic sequence

Since the end of world war two there has been a growing understanding and consensus that good practice treats all the deposits and layers of the site representing a history of activity as discoveries of importance on par with artifact and structures. One task of post excavation work will be to examine this recorded sequence of deposits and contexts by stratigraphic analysis aided by the sites' Harris matrix. This role is usually undertaken by the senior archaeologist who was in charge of the site as his anecdotal knowledge is invaluable to interpret the information and help logically phase contexts into patterns of changing land use. To support this task a different matrix may be created "post ex" called a plan matrix by overlaying Single context plans. This plan matrix is often compared to the harris context matrix for discrepancies and insights. During this process other post excavation disciplines will be brought to bear on the constantly refining model of the sequence to test its validity, mainly using dating evidence cross referenced with a phased model of the site. The goal at this stage is produce a solid dependable body of data and identify areas of the sequence that are less understood of have a higher degree of error so poorly supported or false conclusions are not drawn from unreliable data. Once this is achieved to a satisfactory level this model is available to support other disciplines concerned with information and artifacts gathered during excavation.

Finds Analysing

To process a find depends on what the find is; there are many types of material to analyse, these can include organic materials such as plants and animals. Or could be artifacts such as ceramics or metals.
The techniques for analysing can also range extremely depending on what the find is.
For plant remains the find can fall into 2 sections, microscopic e.g. pollen and macroscopic e.g. large timbers.
Pollen is found within soil sampling or cores taken, these are studied by a Palynologist. Pollen found is individual for each plant speicies and so can be used to identifiy the plant types around at the period found, this can be applied to archaeology due to many things such as mans uses for plants, e.g. food, decoration - imprints in pottery. This can be seen in the study of Lindow Man within his stomach remains there was pollen found. Pollen is mostly found in the bottom of waterlogged ditches. The pollen found is counted and drawn into a Pollen Diagram. Other microscopic finds include Diatoms and Phytoliths.
Macroscopic remains range from the smallest seeds to large timbers, and they generally only survive in Anaerobic conditions, however carbonised wood and seeds will also survive; these are wood and seeds that are burnt. Seeds are generally only burnt by accident, which has been studied at Butser Ancient Farm project, who discovered spelt and emmer wheat used at the period studied (Iron Age), which were identified by the study of carbonised seeds.
Timber remains only survive in anaerobic conditions, however the are several examples such as Seahenge, the Sweet track and Flag Fen, there is also many shipwrecks such as Mary Rose and Ulu Burun. A large timber remain can show many things it can identify the species of wood, exotic examples could indicate trade, and others could identify climate change, they can show the tools used in axemarks which can indicate technology. The remains can also show woodland management, such as the understanding of properties of different tree species, which were selected for different uses like in the Sweet track, they also controlled the growth of trees with techniques such as coppicing and Pollarding.
The main way of dating timbers is Dendrochronology which is one of the most accurate dating methods, it works on annual growth of trees. However this means that is will only work on sensitive trees which are effected by moisture and temperature, this method will also only go back until 5000B.C. and a minimum of 50 tree rings are needed so it will not work on small wooden artifacts. Also it only gives a 'felling date' and so will not indicate the date of a structure as wood is left to dry after being felled.
Animal remains can be used to study how humans used animals in their time, whether a Haulage animal, seen in wear on sholder bones, or a hunted animal, seen in impact points and cause of death. It shows mans diet, status, technology and periods of settelment, it may also be an indicator of ritual such as feasting or sacrifice.
The NISP can be found along with an MNI when studying bone assemblages. From the study of animals alongside humans, the bone profiles can be studied, to show hunting stratagies. A natural herds profile can be seen in a catestropic kill, where the whole herd is killed at once, such as stampeding off of a cliff. When studying animal remains as an indicator of mans diet, careful considerations must be taken, such as the meat carrying capacity, e.g. if a cow gives us 5 times more meat than a sheep than the cows importance is greater than sheep even if the number found is less. Also Beast Year Ratio must be considered, as some animals take longer to rear before being butchered.

Following excavation all the artifacts recovered must be cleaned and catalogued in some archive. this work involves disciplines form archaeological science and conservation techniques.

See also

*Archaeological sub-disciplines
*Archaeological science
*Archaeological field survey
*Excavation
*Archaeological plan
*Dendrochronology
*Single context recording
*Harris matrix
*Geoarchaeology
*Geomatics
*Dating methodology (archaeology)
*Archaeological illustration