Glossary:Site

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Site
The "site" is generally used in archaeology to identify archaeological units for excavation, archival or management purposes. The definition, nature and extent of an archaeological site can vary widely but in its braodest sense refers to a place where evidence of past human activity has been preserved.

The Arizona State Museum defines site as follows. All sites should contain: Additionally, sites should consist of at least one of the following:
 * physical remains of past human activity that are at least 50 years old.
 * 1) 30+ artifacts of a single class (i.e., 30 sherds, 30 lithics, 30 tin cans) within an area 15 meters (50 feet) in diameter, except when all pieces appear to originate from a single source (i.e., one ceramic pot, one core, one glass bottle).
 * 2) 20+ artifacts which include at least 2 classes of artifact types (i.e., sherds, groundstone, nails, glass) within an area 15 meters (50 feet) in diameter,
 * 3) one or more archaeological features in temporal association with any number of artifacts.
 * 4) two or more temporally associated archaeological features without artifacts.

Source
Adapted from: Arizona State Museum, AZSite: Site definition. Available online at http://www.statemuseum.arizona.edu/crservices/azsite/sitedef.shtml, last accessed 23.02.2007.

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