Why is mapping important to anthropological fieldwork?

Question

Why is mapping important to anthropological fieldwork?

Answer 1

Well you will have to grid out the area where you will be digging at and whatever you find in an area on the grid or map you will have to mark the place in which you found that object,and you will have to leave a marker in the ground where the object was found also.So when you observe the artifact or bones you will know where to look next time you excavate there and you might be lucky enough to find other things to.

Answer 2

Two examples:

We did a survey of an area of several acres. We'd walk in straight lines and place pin flags at each surface artifact. The archaeologists would follow and record the location of each item with a GPS. The location was accurate in centimeters. Each night they'd download the GPS and plot each artifact on an aerial photo. We soon soon saw that the habitation sites were on low rises. Things we'd been walking over, but not noticing for days. That gave us where the artifacts were to be found and in what density. By doing this you know where to set up a dig or what area to protect.

We excavated a site where each artifact was surveyed in.We also measured depth, pitch, direction and dorsal or vernal sides. This would later go into a computer to make 3 dimensional map of the site. That would show relationships you wouldn't find on a dig done over several seasons.

Fieldwork is destructive. You destroy a site when you dig it. You can't go back and fix a mistake.

Answer 3

The more info the better chance of success. Mapping shows the location of found objects, It is often possible to locate more objects by mapping the found objects. Mapping often saves a lot of digging.

Answer 4

Mapping shows what locations have already been studied. Anthropologists find out first hand how the cultures lives, and mapping helps us identify what region a ceratin tribe lived. There are sooo many tribes in a continent that mapping is needed to verify which tribes have been discovered and which are still living without outside social contact.