User:Nathancraig/Sandbox2

Survey is one of the two primary forms of collecting new archaeological data. It is a form of reconnaissance and data recording that can be performed at varying spatial scales and recording resolutions. Areas of interest are defined and generally traversed systematically by means of transects.

The area of interest dictates the spatial scale of a survey. Transect interval conditions the observation and recording resolutions. Narrower transect intervals are more likely to intersect and therefore permit the discovery of relatively small objects. Though they increase the chance of missing small entities, broader transect intervals permit more rapid coverage of large survey areas.

From the broadest to the finest scales of observation, common types of archaeological surveys include: aerial surveys, regional pedestrian survey, site survey, and geophysical survey. These techniques may be employed in a complementary manner at specific points of the research process to help achieve fieldwork goals.

Aerial survey is frequently performed by interpretation and analysis of remote sensing imagery and aerial photographs. The method affords rapid assessment of very large areas of interest to identify anomalies and lineaments that are likely to be of anthropogenic origin. Aerial survey has led to a number of important discoveries. Notable examples include: X, Y, Y. Results from aerial survey are routinely used as a guide or set of expectations for regional survey.

Regional pedestrian survey is conducted to document settlement patterns throughout a regional landscape. It is an important method for locating, defining, and recording new archaeological sites. Regional pedestrian survey is conducted by teams or crews of individuals who systematically walk transect lines of a defined interval carefully observing the ground for any indication of archaeological remains. When remains are recovered, the survey crew will stop to record the site. When sites are large or complicated site recording may require site survey. In American archaeology, the regional survey was pioneered by Gordon Willey in 1949 when he conducted a regional survey of the Viru Valley of Coastal Peru. He demonstrated the effectiveness of the technique by documenting the settlement history and settlement patterns of valley.

Site survey is performed to define the limits of or to identify specific temporal components, features, or activity areas within an archaeological site. Geophysical survey is a form of archaeological geophysics that involves the use of near sub-surface detectors to characterize buried deposits as a means to prospect for and define anomalies that may represent additional archaeological manifestations not visible from the surface.

Due to financial and time constraints, it is often not possible to perform systematic full coverage survey of very large regions, and thus various sampling methods are employed in survey design.