Need help on Archaeology?

Which of the following are the reasons that the written record of history paints an incomplete picture of the past?





Ancient cultures only drew pictures so this cannot be included in the written record.


Much of the written record is inaccurate or false.


There are many gaps in the written record.


written records were produced only by literate societies.








Which of the following would be used by the archeologist as evidences of the human past as opposed to those evidences used by the historian?





letters


journals


artifacts


maps


contextual clues like building walls or fire stains





Which of the following would be considered "high-tech" methods used for locating archaeological sites?





soil penetrating radar


aerial photography


soil-resistivity tests


magnetic surveys











Excavation of a site can be done as many times as is necessary to get the information needed by the archaeologist.





True


False

Need help on Archaeology?
Much of the written record is inaccurate or false.


There are many gaps in the written record.


written records were produced only by literate societies.





artifacts


contextual clues like building walls or fire stains





soil penetrating radar


aerial photography


magnetic surveys


(Okay, I'm not sure about this question, but aerial photography and magnetic surveys are done for sure.)





False








Explanations:





The ancient Greek and Romans wrote about the Celts, for example in Caesar's De Bello Gallico, but they didn't understand everything they saw and they were prejudiced just like we are today. So not everything we read there is true, but it gives an idea.


Also, written records mainly exist about the important people in history and are always influenced by the writer's opinion. So we don't know much about the ordinary people.


A lot of written records have been lost, for example in fires or floods.





Historians use written records: letters, journals, maps.


That leaves the unwritten ones to the archaeologists: artifacts and contextual clues.





I could see soil penetrating radar being able to locate structures like walls, but I'm not a native speaker, so I don't know if such thing exists.


Aerial photography and magnetic surveys can give great results. I've seen pictures.


I've not heard of soil-resistivity tests before.





When excavating a site, you are obviously destroying it at the same time, so this can only be done once. That's why many sites are left untouched in the hope that the excavation and preservation methods will improve.
Reply:A minor addendum:





Aerial photography has been used since early last century. Since many aerial photos are publicly available (from official mapping agencies and the like) they aren't going to break the small budgets unless new photos are needed. It's not as high-tech or high-budget as the other technologies.





I think magnetic surveys include metal detectors.