Archaeology Equipment: The Tools of the Trade

An archaeologist uses many different tools during the course of an investigation, before, during and after the excavations. The photographs in this essay define and describe many of the everyday tools archaeologists use in the process of conducting archaeology.

This photo essay uses as its framework the typical course of an archaeological excavation conducted as part of a cultural resource management project in the midwestern United States. The photographs were taken in May 2006 at the Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist, with the kind assistance of staff there.