The Discovery of Archaeological Materials by Survey

Abstract

Once we have identified the goals of an archaeological survey and decided on the general type of survey most appropriate to those goals, we need to identify specific factors that may affect the survey strategy's effectiveness at intersecting, detecting and recognizing the archaeological materials we seek. Characteristics of those materials and of the environments in which they are found are among these factors. Others are post-depositional factors that affect patterns in the distribution of those materials, or are inherent in our methods or sensors and the way we deploy them.