X. CLASSIFICATION OF ANTIQUITIES 



CLASSIFICATION of the material subjert matter of arclie- 

 ological research is a necessary first step in its considera- 

 tion. It appears tliat there are several available methods 

 of approaching and treating the very diversified materials as a 

 whole, among which the most practical for general purposes are 

 the following: 



(1) By geographical areas, natural and i)olitical. 



(2) By culture characterization areas. 



(8) By peoples, as tribes, stocks, and luitions. 



(4) By successive geological periods, as Tertiary, glacial, post- 

 glacial. 



(5) By classes of artifacts, as implements, utensils, weapons. 



(6) By the nuiterials employed, as mineral, animal, vegetable; as 

 stone, metal, wood, bone, shell. 



(T) By ai'ts and industries, as hunting, war, agriculture, quarry- 

 ing, mining, building. 



(8) By successive steps in culture development, as savage, bar- 

 barous, civilized. 



(9) By function grouj^s, as practical, ornamental, sacerdotal, di- 

 A'ersional. 



(1) The diversified materials of antiquity may be taken up and 



described by the greater geogra])liical areas, as con- 

 OeoKt-aphicai Areas tiucuts, archlpelagocs, islauds, and political divi- 

 sions, but this is entirely satisfactory for scientific 

 pur]:»oses in cases only where the areas are measurably coextensive 

 with those of the ethnic or culture groups. This happens in America 

 only in the case of the continent as a whole, and in certain minor 

 areas which happen to include well differentiated ethnic or culture 

 units, as the arctic region, the AVest Indies, and the arid Southwest, 



(2) The culture characterization areas, if reasonably well defined, 



are tlie natural and practical units for the presenta- 

 ciassiflcation 1) y ^-^^ ^ their Cultural phenomena, and thev may or 



Culture Ar(>as i _ ' . . 



may not corresi)ond in their boundaries with the 

 ordinary geographical units. The student of antiquity seeks to de- 

 termine the limits of these areas and considers the subject matter 

 included in each as a unit of research, which is to be made available 

 foi- l)uilding into the historic structure as a whole. This method is 



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