--- title: Archaeological Methods description: This topic covers the practical techniques used to locate, excavate, and record archaeological sites. Learners will understand how to conduct surveys, use stratigraphic excavation methods, map sites, and document physical evidence systematically. category: humanities subcategory: archaeology difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/archaeological-methods --- # Archaeological Methods This topic covers the practical techniques used to locate, excavate, and record archaeological sites. Learners will understand how to conduct surveys, use stratigraphic excavation methods, map sites, and document physical evidence systematically. ## Available Resources 4 Books • 1 Courses • 3 Websites • 1 Papers ## Websites ### 1. Digital Archaeological Record tDAR (the Digital Archaeological Record) is a free, searchable digital repository of archaeological site reports, datasets, and images contributed by researchers and institutions, supporting data preservation and reuse for research and teaching. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://core.tdar.org/ **Tags:** archaeology, digital-archive, data-repository, research ### 2. ADS Guides to Good Practice **Author:** Kieron Niven and colleagues Open-access guidance from the UK's national archaeological data archive on creating and documenting fieldwork data: geophysics, survey, laser scanning, photogrammetry, GIS, CAD, databases and images. After working through it you can structure a project archive that stays usable and citable. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/help-guidance/guides-to-good-practice/ **Tags:** archaeological-data, digital-archaeology, data-archiving, gis, photogrammetry, metadata ### 3. archaeological.org The Archaeological Institute of America’s website offers archaeology news and feature articles (from Archaeology Magazine), plus teaching resources, fieldwork updates, and professional opportunities such as grants, fellowships, and events. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://archaeological.org **Tags:** websites, humanities-social-sciences, anthropology ## Papers ### 1. Understanding the Archaeology of Landscapes: A Guide to Good Recording Practice (2nd Edition) **Author:** Historic England field survey teams Historic England's free guidance on non-intrusive field survey, showing how earthworks and landscape features are located, measured, drawn and analysed, with defined Levels of Survey, drawing conventions and field-team case studies. After it you can produce and read an analytical earthwork survey. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/understanding-archaeology-of-landscapes/ **Tags:** field-survey, landscape-archaeology, earthworks, survey-recording, historic-england ## Books ### 1. Excavation (Cambridge Manuals in Archaeology) **Author:** Steve Roskams Roskams draws on excavating deeply stratified urban sites in Britain to explain pre-excavation reconnaissance, site evaluation, excavation process, and the recording of photographic, spatial, stratigraphic and physical evidence. After it you can justify why a recording system is designed as it is. **Difficulty:** Advanced | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0521798019?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** excavation, stratigraphy, site-recording, urban-archaeology, field-methods ### 2. Principles of Archaeological Stratigraphy (2nd Edition, free PDF) **Author:** Edward C. Harris The book that introduced the Harris matrix, released free by its author. It sets out the laws of archaeological stratigraphy and shows how to build a site sequence from recorded context relationships rather than from visible soil layers. Of note, the site also offers ten translations. **Difficulty:** Advanced | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** http://harrismatrix.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Principles_of_Archaeological_Stratigraphy.-2nd-edition.pdf **Tags:** stratigraphy, harris-matrix, excavation, site-sequence, archaeological-recording ### 3. Field Methods in Archaeology (7th Edition) **Author:** Thomas R. Hester, Harry J. Shafer, Kenneth L. Feder A field manual covering research design, sampling, site survey, excavation strategy, mapping, field photography, stratigraphic recording and the recovery of faunal and botanical remains. After it you can plan a fieldwork programme and document what you find systematically. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1598744283?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** field-methods, excavation, archaeological-survey, research-design, site-mapping ### 4. Archaeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice (9th Edition) **Author:** Colin Renfrew, Paul Bahn, Elizabeth DeMarrais The standard university textbook for the discipline, covering how sites are located, surveyed, excavated, dated and interpreted. After reading it you can explain why a given field technique is chosen and what evidence it can and cannot produce. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0500849986?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** archaeology-textbook, dating-methods, excavation, archaeological-survey, archaeological-theory ## Courses ### 1. Introduction to Archaeology: Archaeology as Science **Author:** Molly Morgan Rice University's Coursera course on the scientific methods behind archaeological fieldwork: excavation and recording, sediment and plant analysis, zooarchaeology and stable isotopes, GIS and LiDAR survey, and radiocarbon and tree-ring dating, showing how archaeologists recover and interpret physical evidence from sites. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.coursera.org/learn/archaeology-as-science **Tags:** archaeological-methods, archaeological-science, excavation, archaeological-dating, zooarchaeology, gis --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/archaeological-methods