WORD FIND CLUES:

ALEXANDRIA

An historic city in Virginia; the place where Alexandria Archaeology is located!

ARTIFACT

An object made or modified by people.

BUCKET

The container used to hold excavated soil on a dig.

EXCAVATION

An archaeological dig.

MAP

A measured drawing of the site, showing the excavated areas and the features that were found.

PRIMARY SOURCE

An original written document from the time period being studied. Examples include newspapers, deed, photographs, diaries and maps.

MUSEUM

A place where artifacts are housed and displayed.

REPORT

A document that explains what archaeologists learned from an excavation.

SITE

An area where artifacts and other remains of past activities can be found in the ground.

SQUARE

A portion of the site which is excavated separately, so that artifacts can be recorded from a precise location on the map. Often sites are divided into a grid of one meter squares.

SURVEY

To lay out the site grid prior to excavation and create a base map on which to show the excavated remains. Special survey equipment is used to make exact measurements and to relate the archaeological site to U.S. Geological Survey maps.

TRANSIT

The tool used to survey the site.

TROWEL

A hand-tool used to scrape away layers of earth during an excavation.

WASH

To clean the artifacts in the laboratory after the excavation.