How do archeologists and every day people tell apart rocks and wood debris for ancient artifacts?

Question

For example, [this](https://i.cbc.ca/1.6816670.1682003854!/fileImage/httpImage/1-000-year-old-canoe.jpg) 1,000 year old canoe was found in a North Carolina lake. How did they discover that it was a canoe? To me it looks like every other piece of wood at the bottom of a lake. They can’t study every piece of debris they find at a lake to tell which are artifacts and which arent

In: 17

Answer 1

For a lot of artefacts like you describe looking for tool marks can be a good indicator thst something was shaped deliberately rather than by chance.

A stick that breaks off of a tree, lays on the ground, maybe begins to rot, falls into a river and is bashed about on rocks as it flows downstream will have very different marks and shape (to the trained eye) than a piece that was cut and shaped for a specific purpose by a human hand.