Ch. 7 - Taphonomy, Experimental Archaeology, & Ethnoarchaeology

Question 1

Principle of uniformitarianism

Answer 1

The principle asserting that the processes now operating to modify the Earth’s surface are the same processes that operated long ago in the geologic past.

Question 2

Faunal

Answer 2

In archaeology, animal bones in archeological sites.

Question 3

Analogy

Answer 3

Noting similarities between two entities and inferring from that similarity that an additional attribute of one (the ethnographic case) is also true of the other (the archaeological case).

Question 4

Kiva

Answer 4

A Pueblo ceremonial structure that is usually round (but may be square or rectangular) and semi-subterranean. They appear in early Pueblo sites and perhaps even in the earlier (pre-1300 BP) pithouse villages.

Question 5

Sipapu

Answer 5

A Hopi word that loosely translates as “place of emergence.” The original sipapu is the place where the Hopi are said to have emerged into this world from the underworld. Sipapus are also small pits in kivas through which communication with the supernatural world takes place.

Question 6

Formal analogies

Answer 6

Analogies justified by similarities in the formal attributes of archaeological and ethnographic object and features.

Question 7

Relational analogies

Answer 7

Analogies justified on the basis of close cultural continuity between the archaeological and ethnographic cases or similarity in general cultural form.

Question 8

Bonebed

Answer 8

Archaeological and paleontological sites consisting of the remains of a large number of animals, often the same species, and often representing a single moment in time – a mass kill or mass death.

Question 9

Experimental archaeology

Answer 9

Experiments designed to determine the archaeological correlates of ancient behavior; may overlap with both ethnoarchaeology and taphonomy.

Question 10

Heat treatment

Answer 10

A process whereby the flintknapping properties of stone tool raw material are improved by subjecting the material to heat.

Question 11

Flake

Answer 11

A thin, sharp sliver of stone removed from a core during the knapping process.

Question 12

Core

Answer 12

A piece of stone that is worked (“knapped”). Cores sometimes served merely as sources for raw materials; they can also serve as functional tools.

Question 13

Flute

Answer 13

Distinctive channel on the faces of Folsom and Clovis projectile points formed by removal of one or more flakes from the points base.

Question 14

Channel flake

Answer 14

The longitudinal flake removed from the faces of Folsom and Clovis projectile points to create the flute.

Question 15

Ethnoarchaeology

Answer 15

The study of contemporary peoples to determine how human behavior is translated into the archaeological record.

Question 16

Slash-and-burn

Answer 16

A horticulture method, used frequently in the tropics, in which a section of forest is cut, dried, and then burned. This returns nutrients to the ground and permits the land to be farmed for a limited amount of years.

Question 17

Taphonomy

Answer 17

Refers to the study of how organisms become part of the fossil record. Archaeologists use the term to refer to the study of how natural processes contribute to the formation of archaeological sites.