Photograph of Excavation at Hamoukar
Photographic Paper
Hamoukar
CR001
Oriental Institute Museum
Photograph of Excavation at Hamoukar
This photograph of the excavation at Hamoukar in northeastern Syria was taken by archaeologist Clemens Reichel in 1999. It shows skilled workmen cleaning a step trench, which extends from the top to the bottom of a multi-layered site. Step trenches such as this one are dug in order to establish a basic timeline, or chronology, which enables excavators to place finds in their proper cultural context.
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Suggested Readings
McIntosh, Jane. Archaeology. Eyewitness Books. New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1994.
Renfrew, Colin and Paul Bahn. Archaeology: Theory, Methods, and Practice. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1991.
Wenke, Robert. Patterns in Prehistory: Humankind's First Three Million Years. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.