Archaeologists use typologies to classify artifacts. Typologies are a tool that permits archaeologists to study artifacts in useful groups rather than as thousands of individual finds.

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Classify these 4 items, then as if you were an archaeologist looking at them in the year 3022.

Your classification should include the following: An explanation of how you define the type of typologies for the 4 items.

Once you have broken your artifacts into types, answer the following questions:

1) Do you think that in 1,000 years, an archaeologist would create the same

typology you did? Why or why not (for this, think about how an archaeologist

would know the necessary information to identify and group the artifacts)?

2) How did you decide on the names you gave to each type? Do you think an

archaeologist would have the same name?

3) Do the types you created match the categories living people today use for these

artifacts?

4) What type of categories do you think people today generally use to group

material culture (e.g. style, function, material)? How would this compare to archaeologists?

Some things to consider while defining types:

1) It is helpful to start by looking over the artifacts you have before making types.

This will give you an idea of what sorts of variation are present.

2) It is a good idea to fully define your group before classifying artifacts.

3) Try to compare apples to apples (not apples to waffles). This means that if you

are building a functional typology (what artifacts are used for) you only use

function. You don't compare function to style (e.g. one group cooking utensils and the other group is red items)