Judgmental Sampling Results

Judgmental Sampling Results

When there is no surface evidence upon which to base judgment, archaeologists often use geological and/or topographic features to place judgment test pits. In this case, excavation units were placed in the northwestern part of the project area, adjacent to the swamp, and against the steep slope in the eastern part of the site.

Using the judgmental sampling strategy, artifacts were found in 14 excavation units, marked by the green dots. If each green dot equals five artifacts, such as flakes or projectile points, then a total of 85 artifacts were recovered. However, artifact concentrations in the northeastern and southern parts of the site were missed. Using the judgmental strategy, artifacts were found in 33% of all the test pits, but areas which could have provided valuable information were missed completely! While this strategy had the highest number of pits containing artifacts, it did not locate the highest number of total artifacts.