Archaeology - July/August 2011

When I studied archaeology as an undergraduate, one of the things that impressed me was the underlying methodology that supports archaeological discovery and analysis. Before anyone digs a site, a grid has to be carefully established using surveying instruments. The find spot for each artifact can then be pinpointed, in three dimensions, as the dig proceeds. I automatically associated this meticulous protocol with the open-air sites that one finds in the more remote areas of the world. But how does archaeology proceed in a dynamic area such as a modern city? In this issue, we have reports from three places-Beirut, Assisi, and Pittsburgh-where the environment in which archaeological discovery is being carried out is constantly changing.