Reports about things, people, or conversations being studied in the everyday world, not in a lab or other situation set up by the researcher. The everyday world is the “field.
Written observations on all significant characteristics of an excavated level.
The notes an archaeologist takes while digging to keep track of finds and changes in level. Notes follow a certain format so that other Archeologists, perhaps years later, may also get use out of them.
Archaeologists keep meticulous field notes because they have bad memories (just kidding!). Actually, archaeologists keep a notebook with them when they are digging so they can note when they change levels and what kinds of things they find. When they come across artifacts they need to put them in bags that say what unit they are in and what level they are. When they start a new level within a unit, they start a new bag. Sometimes, archaeologists find stuff that they may not know is important. Archaeologists need to write down the stuff they come across, it's sort of like keeping a journal. Archaeologists always try and write in the same way so that other archaeologists can interpret their field notebooks. It's kind of like keeping another record in case the profile or floorplan they drew wasn't very clear. Later, in the lab, an archaeologist might question the context of an object. If you have notes to go back and look at, it makes it easier to figure out what was going on.
A written record of observations, interactions, conversations, situational details, and thoughts during the study period.
The written notes, sketches and computations of a surveyor taken during and at the site of a survey.
Archaeologists keep a notebook with them when they are digging so they can note when they change levels and what kinds of things they find. They need to keep another record in case the profile or floor plan they drew wasn't very clear. Later, in the lab, archaeologists might question the context of an object. If they have notes to go back and look at, it makes it easier to figure out what was going on. The goal of every archaeological excavation is to document the work so well that anyone could accurately reproduce the site using only the field notes and site maps.