The idiom entitling this post is the literal truth in the field of archaeology, and it perfectly articulates how worthless items from past societies can offer valuable information to today’s archeologists. When hearing the word artifact, items that immediately come to mind are golden idols and jewelry, pottery, and arrow heads. Though it is true that these items are all artifacts, they represent the stereotype that an artifact has to be something ancient, valuable, and either buried in the ground or hidden in a booby-trapped cave. There is also the misconception that the point of finding an artifact is to get money and put it in a museum. In reality, the point of finding an artifact is not the artifact itself, but what it can tell you about the culture it came from. When found in context, artifacts can relate important information especially about the date of a site. A variety of techniques can be used to determine an artifact’s relative date, for example radiocarbon dating. Also a set of artifacts can often be put into a chronological sequence based on their style and frequency. This technique can help archaeologists observe changes and patterns in human behavior over time. Artifacts are not necessarily ancient either; any item from any past time period can potentially be an artifact depending on what is being studied.

In class this past week my professor and a couple of classmates discussed surveying a site at the Ashokan Reservoir in the Catskill Mountains of New York. Though they did not dig at all, they found numerous artifacts on the site that provided a lot of information about the past people who had been there. Most of the so-called artifacts were just beer cans and old glass bottles.The general public would consider these items trash and probably not realize their archaeological relevance. However, this litter actually contained a lot of information about the past society of the site. The beer cans, due to the style of can and brand, made the site easily datable and provided insight into what kind of people were there.

The fact that so much can be learned from the discarded trash of the past is amazing. There are archeologists who focus solely on the study of landfills and garbage to discern the past. For example, archeologist William L. Rathje, once a professor at the University of Arizona, conducted a project beginning in 1973 known as the Garbage Project.

William L. Rathje in the Field

He studied the waste of residents of Tucson, Arizona in order to observe patterns in human consumption (Harrison). Items of garbage hold some of the most reliable information about what past cultures were really like. Sure a golden idol is pretty cool, but how much can that idol alone tell you about the daily life of a population?  Think about all the litter seen every day and how much information it could relate to future generations. I am not in support of littering, but if you ever do litter and someone calls you out on it you can just tell them that you are actually providing future archaeologists with artifacts.

Archaeology may be one of the most misunderstood fields. By encompassing aspects of history, science and anthropology, archaeology helps explain past communities and their adjustments to cultural and environmental changes. In class we examined the Ashokan Reservior. The Ashokan Reservior is located approximately 70 miles north of New York City and holds 123 billion gallons of water. It was placed into service in 1915 and currently supplies 40% of New York City’s daily drinking water. However, New York City’s thirst for drinking water has caused the displacement of thousands of people. These changes have distorted the balance of communities but also the culture and economics surrounding them. One area severely affected was Ulster County where during the turn of the century, many residents were unfairly compensated for their homes. For an archaeologist this may not seem like a relevant issue, however, archaeology especially in this case is essential. As we have discussed in class the many stereotypes surrounding archaeology and the fact of the matter is, the recent events involving the Ashokan Reservior are not typically considered ‘ancient’ or ‘glamorous’ enough to be further researched by an archaeologist. However, by researching the areas affected by New York City’s desire for water, useful information about the culture as well as environmental changes can be studied so we are more adequately prepared for the future.

The snowball effect created by the displacement of a single person can lead to socioeconomic changes that can affect entire communities. An archaeologist is able to study artifacts from these sites in order to complete the story of how much the Ashokan Reservior has affected the surrounding areas. Moreover, archaeologists, through these sites may be able to uncover social class differences that may lead to further understandings of cultural effects of the Ashokan Reservior. It may seem strange that archaeology can be used to solve these issues. However, for people who are unaware, archeology is an excellent median to publicize this information.

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

The recent events of hurricane Katrina caused a similar snowball effect like the one examined in the Ashokan Reservior. In class we briefly discussed how socioeconomic factors can be seen on a larger scale. For instance, hurricane Katrina was on the radar of the entire nation while hundreds of cameras documented the disaster. Even though the hurricane is still considered recent in history, a plethora of “environmental conditions, politics, and economic forces” can be examined to shape the archeological record of New Orleans (Toner). The article examines the artifacts collected by Professor Dawdy that included “Native American pottery, French cosmetic jars and wine bottles” that were lost in the wake of the storm. From these artifacts, cultural and environmental changes can be understood about the communities destroyed by Katrina. By using the techniques and approaches referenced on pages 76-82 of Wendy Ashmore’s Discovering Our Past, the hope is that New Orleans may begin a more concerted effort to protect the culture that it represents. With the use of archaeology to understand the communities involved in devastation of Katrina, more questions can be answered to further the shelter New Orleans in the future. Furthermore, the hope is that the similar techniques used in New Orleans can also be implemented in the areas affected by the Ashokan Reservior. Archaeologists can understand the communities involved with the Ashokan Reservior to help understand the affects of relocation on culture and environment. Therefore, the use of archaeology is a multifaceted tool changing the way people view the world.

There is a game that I have been playing for a few months now called The Sims 3: World Adventures that, while there is no mention of archaeology in the description, still manages to perpetrate misconceptions about what archaeologists do.

In this game, the player can send their Simulated people to China, Egypt, or France. Egypt has pyramids, the great Sphinx and Abu Simbel. The Chinese town is located right next to The Great Wall, and has its fair share of famous tomb sites. France has mausoleums and a Celtic circle. While at these locations, players are prompted to complete quests given by the locals, the majority of which require that players explore the tomb of so-and-so to retrieve a Relic of a certain value. Along the way, the player is encouraged to pick up any artifacts or relics that they can find.

This game pays homage to Indiana Jones, and looks like a combination of Indy and the Lara Croft Tomb Raider series. A lot of the tombs require that you first locate a key before you can gain access. One feature that might amuse true archaeologists, is that you can Analyze a relic you found no matter your current location. Your Sim will stand there for a few seconds and ponder the item in question, after which they will have narrowed down its age to ‘Very Ancient’, ‘Ancient’, ‘Very Old’, ‘Old’, or ‘Contemporary’, and also how much more or less the relic is worth than their initial appraisal. And of course, the older something is, the more it is worth. There are also a variety of dig sites scattered throughout the world in which you can dig up items of varying worth, including trash. Broken artifacts are worth less than whole or complete artifacts. The trash has no value at all, other than to disgust your Sim and prompt them to say, “Who put that there??”

As we have all learned in class this week, an item’s ‘worth’ is derived from what an item can tell us about our past, not on how much money can be made by selling it. This makes trash just as important as artifacts. On pages 71-75 of chapter 4 of Wendy Ashmore’s Discovering Our Past, we learned that an important aspect of analyzing an artifact has to do with the context in which the artifact was found. There is much more to analyzing an object than just looking and contemplating; one has to consider the composition of the Matrix, the layers in Provenience, the Association with other objects in the Matrix, and the Context in which all this information is found.

While The Sims 3: World Adventure seems to promote and encourage looting and gives misinformation on the true process and worth of analyzing artifacts, it is nevertheless a fun game to play with. The Features and monuments are beautifully crafted and designed, and if you don’t take the looting and pseudo-archaeology in it too seriously, then it is a game worth checking out.