Examining the Effects of Screen Size on Archaeological Data Collection

Archaeology is the study of human history through excavations of sites and the analysis of the artifacts found there. Such artifacts include faunal bones, tools, and pottery. This research looks at the effects of screen size used during data collection on archaeological sites here in Florida. We specifically focused on a midden site found in South Inlet Park in Boca Raton. Middens are the dumping grounds for past human occupation in an area, which makes them full of insight into the lives of those people: what they ate, with whom they traded, and how long and how they used a particular area. All this information and more can be extrapolated from artifacts collected at middens. However, being a dumping ground means that many artifacts are likely to be broken or small in scale, which is why screen size matters. Past research has shown that the larger the screen, the larger the potential for smaller artifacts to be lost. Thus, multiple methods of data collection may be needed (Thompson et al., 2016). The general screen size used in archaeology is a 1/4- inch (0.635cm) mesh. This research hypothesizes that a 1/8-inch” (0.318cm) screen size will be more appropriate for use at midden sites than the standard 1/4”.