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The ultimate goal of the archaeologist is to understand the relationship between a particular culture and its environment through time. It takes many pieces of archaeological data to shape this picture. Methods used to reach these goals is the process of science: observation and questioning, hypothesis formulation, description and recording of data, sorting and classifying data, analysis, and formulating conclusions. It encourages the use of problem-solving and critical thinking skills and strategies. Mathematics is also an integral part of the process. The preciseness of archaeology demands the skills of measuring, computation, setting up grids, plotting coordinates, graphing, mapping, and knowledge and use of the metric system. The
more precise the data collection, the better able we are to tell
the stories of who we are.
Lubbock Lake contains an archaeological record unique in North America, recording the entire span of human occupation from the earliest (Clovis) hunters and gatherers up to and including Anglo-European settlers and the modern economic development of the area. Moreover, this cultural record is stratified, well-dated, and has similarly complete and complementary geologic and natural history records. The geologic and natural history data record both local and regional environmental changes beginning with the cooler, wetter, less seasonal contrasts of the latest Pleistocene that evolved into the drier and warmer continental conditions of the Holocene. The interdisciplinary nature of the data gathered from Lubbock Lake permits the coordination of these environmental changes with the cultural record so that man's adaptation to the environment can be monitored throughout the record. |
