Archaeology Glossary
Glossary of Terms
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Administrative jurisdiction – the
municipality or regional district containing the
site.
Archaeological impact assessment – a
process where a trained professional looks at an
archaeological site and development plans to
determine what impact the proposed development will
have on the site.
Archaeological overview assessment – a
review by professional archaeologists to map out
zones of archaeological potential and distribution
for an area where there may or may not be known
archaeological sites.
Archaeological site – a location where
there is evidence of past human activity.
Archaeology – the study of the physical
remains of past human activity.
B.C. Archaeological Site Inventory – a
database of information on known archaeological
sites in British Columbia.
Borden number – a site designation system
widely used by archaeologists that uses codes to
indicate particular locations in Canada.
ESRI shapefile – a popular data format for
geographic information systems software.
GIS – this acronym stands for geographic
information system, a computer system that
integrates, stores, edits, analyzes, shares and
displays geographically-referenced information.
Heritage inspection permit – a permit
issued by the branch to enable an archaeological
impact assessment to go ahead.
Kwaday Dän Ts’inchi – the name given by
the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations to an
ancient person, whose frozen remains were found in
1999 by three hunters at the edge of a glacier in
Tatshenshini-Alsek Park.
Map number – the number of a particular
National Topographic Sheet map.
Parcel identifier – often referred to as
the PID number, this is a number used in land titles
systems to identify a particular property.
Preliminary field reconnaissance – a field
visit by a qualified consulting archaeologist to
help determine whether an archaeological impact
assessment is required for a particular site.
RAAD (Remote Access to Archaeological Data)
– a web-based application enabling authorized users
to view, select and download information about
archaeological sites.
Site alteration permit – a permit required
to undertake development activities within the
boundaries of a recorded archaeological site.
Systematic data recovery – the process of
excavating an archaeological site to retrieve
information that might otherwise be destroyed by
development.
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