Debitage: A term meaning the characteristic types of stone flakes produced from manufacture of prehistoric stone tools by chipping (as, for example, stone spear and arrow points). One of the most common types of prehistoric [artifacts], these distinctive flakes frequently alert the [archaeologist] to the presence of a [prehistoric site].
Feature, or Archaeological [Feature]: Many things of archaeological interest are portable, such as fragments of bone, pottery and stone tools. However, archaeological [sites] frequently contain man-made things that are not portable, but are part of the earth itself. Examples of these features are hearths, foundations of buildings, storage pits, grave pits and canals.
Hipped Roof Bungalow: These are square to rectangular dwellings with hipped gable roofs, one or two front doors and four to five rooms arranged in a modular design.
Historic Sites: Archaeological [sites] dating to the historic era, or after about the early seventeenth century in the project area. The distinguishing characteristic of this period is availability of written documents. This era extends from the earliest period mentioned in histories to the present.
Midden: A word (adopted from the Danish language) meaning refuse heap. In many instances, one of the most apparent aspects of an archaeological [site] is “[midden]”, or a soil layer stained to a dark color by decomposition of organic refuse, and containing food bones, fragments of stone tools, charcoal, pieces of pottery or other discards. Archaeologists can learn a great deal about people’s lifeways by studying their middens.
Potsherds (or [sherds]): Pieces of ceramic vessels. Since the making of pottery did not begin in the project area until the first few centuries A.D., the presence of potsherds is a useful index of time. Also, the composition of the sherds and their decorative motifs are a highly useful way of detecting different prehistoric cultural groups, since manufacture and design of pottery varied with cultural groups.
Prehistoric Sites: Archaeological [sites] (see Site) that date to a time prior to European contact (that is, before written history). In the project area that would be prior to the early seventeenth century. Prehistory is a relative concept, varying from one area to another, depending on the first intrusion of Americans or Europeans.
Profiles: Detailed maps of the walls of [test pits] and [test trenches] (see definitions). These are key records in understanding a [site]’s layers ([stratigraphy]) and distribution and age of [artifacts].
Site: A [site], or archaeological site, is the location of past human behavior. Sites vary tremendously in their size and content, ranging from cities to a few flakes of stone indicating the manufacture of a stone tool. As a relative concept, sites are defined in relation to specific research problems and needs.
Stratigraphy: A number of normal processes caused the earth’s surface to be built up over time in layer-cake fashion. Sometimes this is caused by floods or wind-carried soil. In other cases it may result from people piling up refuse of one kind or another. The layering effect here is called [stratigraphy], and is a major interpretive tool of the [archaeologist]. Within a given stratigraphic sequence the most deeply buried layers are usually the oldest, and things found within a given level were usually from the same points in time. Stratigraphy is therefore a means of telling time (in a relative sense) for the archaeologist.