AANT 104 Flashcards
(22 cards)
The age of the earth according to bishop usher
4004 BC
What types of environments are good for preservation
dry, cold, anaerobic (with no oxygen)
What is stratigraphy
the
study of the order
and relative position
of strata (cultural and
non-cultural)
What is taphonomy
the study of the processes that have affected organic materials
What is provenience
Three-dimensional location of finds, place of origin, horizontal and vertical
What are the non destructive survey techniques and the destructive survey techniques
non-destructive: Walking the landscape (pedestrian survey),
-Ground penetrating radar (GPR)( shoots signals into the ground to get a reaction out of different things underground),
-Magnetometry (higher resolution version of a metal detector, measures the properties of different things using signals with the capability of sending them deep underground)
-Resistivity (does not use radars it uses electricity, sending it underground to see how fast it moves through, and determine how (Conductive) the object underground is),
-Aerial Photography (vertical view and oblique view (diagonal))
-Satellite view
Destructive: Random (pick out of a hat)
Systematic (choose every other site)
Non-arbitrary (when you’ve been to the cite)
What do we mean when we talk about matrix in an archeological setting
the physical material, which artifacts are embedded/supported
What is unilineal evolution and its issues
the belief (lewis Henry morgan) that everyone develops the same way: Savagery, barbarism, then civilization.
but it doesn’t account for the diversity of cultures or the complex factors that shape how societies evolve. (eurocentrism, Cultural oversimplification, assumptions.)
What is uniformitarianism
and who is associated with it
processes shaping the Earth today, such as erosion, sedimentation, and volcanic activity, have worked in the same way throughout Earth’s history.
Charles Lyell & James Hutton
What is an artifact, a feature, and an eco fact
eco fact: natural findings that have cultural or historical significance
feature: non-portable physical component of a site created by humans
artifacts: any portable object used, modified or made by humans
Whos is the first archeologist in the us
Thomas Jefferson
Who excavated great zimbabwe
Gertrude Caton-Thompson
Who came up with the 3 age system (stone, bronze, iron)
Christian Jurgensen Thomsen
What does insitu mean
In place
Which epochs are archeologist most interested in, which one are we in today, learn the different geological epochs
most interested in the holocene epoch and the one we’re currently in.
miocene (earliest ancestors)
Pliocene (variety of hominims/species)
pleistocene (modern humans, think tools etc.)
holocene (agriculture)
Anthropocene (future, pollution, climate etc.)
Why do we do archeology
to understand human culture and history by studying the physical remains of the past
What are the different ways that cites can be preserved
climate, gentle excavation
absolute dating methods and relative dating methods
What they date and what they can be used on
And know their problems and limitations
Absolute: are expressed as specific units
of scientific measurement
dendrochronology
radio carbon dating
radio carbon dating (Half Life)
Relative: express relationships or comparisons.
traded charge dating:
Thermoluminescence (TL)
Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL)
electron spin resonance (ESR)
dating formation of a layer of a rock:
argon-argon dating (ar/ar)
Potassium-argon dating (K/Ar)
-law of superposition (thing closer to the surface are younger than things that are deeper)
-The index fossil concept (if they’re leveled the same their the same age)
- Time Markers (Diagnostic Artifacts)… using the shape, decoration, or material to figure out how oldthings are.
Whose the guy who made clear connections to indigenous culture
Samuel haven , asian ancestry
Mounds and different ideas of who built them
Ephaim Squier & Edwin Davis Mistakenly thought the mounds were built by Europeans due to Eurocentrism (belief their superior)
BC
AD
CE
BCE
BP
Bioturbation (5 kinds)-
Floralturbation, Faunalturbation, Cryoturbation, Argilliturbation, and gravitation
Bioturbation:the movement of soil by organisms
Floralturbation:a type of bioturbation caused by plants.
Faunalturbation/krotovina: type of bioturbation that involves the movement of soil by animals, such as burrowing
Cryoturbation:the mixing of soil caused by freeze-thaw cycles
Argilliturbation: process that mixes clay-rich soils through repeated cycles of wet and dry
Graviturbation: the disturbance of stratigraphy by gravity
