Classification and theory exercise

One of the key areas where the “rubber meets the road” in method and theory in arch(a)eology is in the apparently simple process of structuring the observations made about artifacts and features recovered in arch(a)eological excavation. 

Here are photographs of eleven common modern objects. As part one of this exercise you should “design” a data recording “form” to record the observations you think pertinent. Generally this takes the format of a spread sheet where the object is the row (across) and the categories of observation (attributes) are the columns. You may design one master structure that covers all the objects or (at the other extreme) eleven different forms for each object. The key thing is to decide “what to observe.” You should have four (or more if you like) columns/attribute categories that do NOT including length, weight and height (that would be too easy). You should populate the columns with quickly estimated values

Additional information on this exercise is provided on the class web page

CLICK on the red X (don't ask) to see the object

1	2
3	4
5	6
7	8
9	10
11