1 - Introduction to Archaeology Flashcards
(84 cards)
Anthropology
the study of humanity is holistic; studies human culture and evolutionary aspects of human biology; broad discipline
Subdisciplines of Anthropology
archaeology, cultural anthropology, biological anthropology, linguistics
Cultural Anthropology
contemporary and modern cultures
ethnology
studied through comparison
ethnography
studied by living/observing a culture
archaeology
the study of the human past through the examination of its material remains; remains can be used to reconstruct the past
prehistoric/precontact
time period before written words; precontact used more for north america
Biological anthropology
focuses of humans as biological organisms, examining human evolution and human variation
What is emphasized in biological anthropology?
interaction between culture and biology, they affect one another (ex: development of cooking tools results in change of diet, teeth shape, etc)
Specialties within bio. anth
paleoanth, osteology, primatology
paleoanthropology
study of human evolution; fossil remains
osteology
study of skeleton
primatology
study of non human primates, out closest living relatives
culture
all aspects of human adaption, including tech, traditions, language, religion, social roles; transmitted through learning not biological/genetic means; one of the reasons we can adapt so well to the environment is our ability to use culture
first scientific excavation on record
mid 1500s
antiquarians
people interested in the past, dig up artifacts unscientificl rich people would travel the world to collect artifacts for their personal collections; developed as a popular hobby until the late 1600s
Christian J Thomsen
3 age system; recognized that material culture changed over time; marked beginning of shift to scientific understanding of artifacts
Jens Worsaae
Christian Thomsen’s assistant, tested theory of age system
Thomas Jefferson
one of the first people to have archaeological excavtion in NA; wanted to understand construction/origin of burial mound on his property; took careful notes (stratigraphy); found that the mound builders were native Americans
burial mounds
mounds and native americans were not inked; lots of myths to explain the mounds (ex: lost tribes of Israel, vikings, garden of Eden), well known one is the Serpent mound in Ohio
Establishment of the antiquity of Earth
the idea that the earth is super old is relatively new; universe = 15 bill. yrs old; earth = 4.5 bill. yrs old
Archbishop James Ussher
Analyzed Bible (particularily Genesis) to determine that the Earth was created in 4004 BC; the idea that the Earth is young was major obstacle encountered by theory of evolution
James Hutton
Estimated the earth was few hundred thousand years old; developed uniformatiarianism
Uniformitarianism
the theory that Earth’s features are a result of long term processes that continue to opperate in the present as they did in the past