How does an archaeologist decide where to dig?

Answer 1

they don't!, its pretty much trial and error , if someone finds AA artefact or dinosaur bone then the archeologists will set up a dig and try to find more .and if they get lucky ,the get lucky. its as smple as that!

Answer 2

Sometimes the sites are obvious: tumuli and other obviously-artificial earthworks, ruins, human bones or artefacts in caves etc.

Some sites' traces show on aeriel photographs, perhaps by abrupt, small-scale vegetation changes, faint shadows or other evidence.

A few are found underwater by divers (often amateurs) or by sonar profiling not necessarily searching for archaeological remains.

Many are found by chance, such as in building excavations. This is common in cities like London, an area occupied since at least Roman times if not before.

A few are revealed by metal-detectorists. In the UK at least a combination of laws and hobby ethics mean significant finds have to be reported, though most are individual items such as bits of lost Bronze Age jewellery or Mediaeval coins, rather than sites of habitation or industry.

In many older towns and cities, archaeological sites are common and expected. There is a discipline called "Architectural History", which examines old buildings to reveal past uses, building styles and methods, alterations etc: this can help shed light on past ways of life because buildings have purposes right from new.

A classic example of the building-site find occurred only a year or two ago when a new road cutting being excavated between Dorchester and Weymouth, in Southern England, revealed a mass grave with the rather grisly detail that all the bodies had been decapitated. Adding insult to injury (fatal or post-mortem) the heads were buried to one side, away from the bodies. Forensic & and other research suggests that the victims had been a Viking landing-party slain by the Saxon residents: the coast is only about 4 miles to the South of the site.

Answer 3

Archaeologists study the ground to see if they can see any evidence of remains. They draw conclusions based on information they gather and then dig.

Answer 4

they find a big blob of shi