Base-line information: Data that relates to site context from which comparisons can be drawn.

Context: An artifact's or a site's setting in time and place, its association to others of similar form, and its general relationship to other artifacts or sites in the archaeological record. The potential contribution to the knowledge base of comparable sites.

Curatorial Services: Management and preservation of collections according to professional museum and archival practices.

Disking: The vertical slicing of plowed soil by using a tractor attachment of sharply-edged disks. The disks break up clods into smaller pieces and enable artifacts to be seen.

Ecofact: An artifact that was not altered for human use (e.g., microscopic remains of pollen from edible plants, unmodified animal bone)

Feature: A localized area of human use or modification. Sometimes part of an activity area (e.g., hearth of a cooking area), cluster of artifacts (e.g., flint chips), and/or structures in the ground (e.g., fireplace, drain, post-holes).

Integrity of site: A lack of major disturbance to the original condition of the site during or after its period of use. A lack of horizontal or vertical mixing of artifact layers from various time periods.

Lead agency: The decision-making agency that assumes primary responsibility for approval of cultural resource investigation plans, results, and recommendations for a proposed project (e.g., town planning board, municipality).

Piece plotting: A surface survey system of marking sites with flags and returning to draw a detailed distribution map.

Research potential: The possibility of a site making a substantial contribution to knowledge in the field of archaeology.

Sensitivity: The measure of the potential for the site to contain significant cultural resources.

Significance: An assessment of a site's unique data and research potential within a specific archaeological, cultural, and/or environmental context. This assessment is expressed in relation to a site meeting one of the four criteria for eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places.

Transect: Site testing or sampling conducted along a continuous strip within the proposed project parcel. The strip is used for organization and tabulation of data collection (e.g., frequency and size of artifacts).