Guidelines for Evaluating and Registering Archeological Properties. National Register Bulletin

摘要

As humans interact with their environment and with each other, they leave behind evidence of their actions. Derived from the common phrase 'archeological site,' the National Register defines an archeological property as the place or places where the remnants of a past culture survive in a physical context that allows for the interpretation of these remains. It is this physical evidence of the past and its patterning that is the archeologist's data base. The physical evidence, or archeological remains, usually takes the form of artifacts (e.g., fragments of tools or ceramic vessels), features (e.g., remnants of walls, cooking hearths, or trash middens), and ecological evidence (e.g., pollens remaining from plants that were in the area when the activities occurred). Ecological remains of interest to archeologists are often referred to as 'ecofacts.' Things that are of archeological importance may be very subtle, that is, hard to see and record. It is not only artifacts themselves that are important but the locations of artifacts relative to one another, which is referred to as archeological context.