OverviewDaily data collection during archaeological fieldwork forms the basis for later interpretation and analysis. Across the world, we observe a wide variety of digital data collection methods and tools employed during fieldwork. Here, we detail the daily practices at four recent survey and excavation projects in the South Caucasian country of Armenia. As archaeology continues to become ever more digital, it is useful to consider these day-to-day recording processes at a typical field project. We provide details on both the types of data collected and the ways they are collected so as to foreground these topics. Finally, we reflect on how our work is currently impacted by digital changes and how it may continue to change in the future.
The article presents the results of the first joint soil-archaeological investigations on the territory of the Republic of Armenia. The cultural layers of the Sotk-2 site, located on the southeastern coast of Lake Sevan, were chosen as the object of study. The Sotk-2 played a special role in the settlement system in the region, as it is located on the way to the Bronze Age gold mine. A multi-layered settlement has been recorded here, which settled from the early Bronze Age until the early Iron Age (with certain interruptions). However, only the Bronze Age layer was characterized by the presence of anthropogenic deposits, while only scattered artifacts identified other periods of occupation. As part of joint research, samples were taken from the previous excavated trenches at the archaeological site in August 2021 for laboratory analysis. Analysis of the chemical and microbiological properties of cultural layers made it possible, for the first time on the archaeological monuments of this type, to identify periods with the lowest and highest intensity of human activity, as well as to establish the infrastructural features of the settlement. The strongest anthropogenic impact took place during the formation of the Middle – Late Bronze Age layer. Places for cooking and household pits were localized, where an increased concentration of organic phosphorus, copper, manganese, lanthanum was observed, as well as high microbial biomass and lipase activity. In another site of the settlement in the layer of the Middle – Late Bronze Age, an increased concentration of calcium, strontium and magnesium was revealed, which indicates the possibility of butchering fish in this place. The lowest residential load on the Sotk-2 site, according to soil analysis, took place in the early Bronze Age.
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