Anth 101 - Not Sure, Sites, Provenance, Matrix Flashcards
(34 cards)
What are the four types of objectives that have guided archaeology over its history?
-Reconstructing material remains of the past (e.g. putting together pots, restoring houses, etc.)-Reconstructing the lifeways (culture)-Explaining the cultural processes (processual archaeology)
What did processual archaeologists try to do to archaeology?
Make it an objective, empirical science in which hypotheses about all forms of cultural variation could be tested-As sciencey as possible, basically-Wa wa we want to be recognized-Used math and statistics-downplayed role of individual
What have modern anthropologists concluded about processual archaeology?
-Neglected human agency-Neglected power of ideas and values in the construction of ancient cultures
Post-processual or Interpretive Archaeology
-Stresses the symbolic and cognitive aspects of social structures and social relations
Site
Precise geographical location of the remains of past human activity
Artifacts
objects deliberately and intelligently shaped by human activity
Features
Non-portable remnants from past, such as housewalls or ditches
Ecofacts
Presence of remains such as plant residues or animal bones connected with food provisioning, which are not themselves artifacts but are by-products of human activity
Matrix
The immediate ground in the site, e.g. clay, sand, gravel
Provenance
Precise 3d position of the find in the matrix.
Ethnoarchaeology
study of the way present-day societies use artifacts and structures and how these objects become part of the archaeological record.
Survey
Physical examination of a geographical region in which promising sites might be found.
Survey technology/methods
-Just walking over a field and examining-Aerial surveys, inexpensive, high res-Satellite surveys, expensive and lo res-Echo sounding-Measuring electrical resistivity of soil-Metal detectors-ground-penetrating radar (GPR), 3d image of underground-Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Ground-penetrating Radar
Radar, passes through different materials at different rates.Can create a deep 3d model of the ground.
GIS
Geographic Information Systems-computer-aided system for the collection, storage, retrieval, analysis, and presentation of spatial data”-Basically a giant database of tons of different kinds of info about anywhere on earth-Like google search for the earth…-Good for geo info, not so good for social or cultural modifications of environment
Excavation
systematic uncovering of archaeological remains thru removal of soil and other material covering them or accompanying them
What is bad about excavation?
A form of destructionA site, once excavated, is gone forever
Archaeological culture
when surveys/excavations at several sites turn up the same assemblages. v helpful.
subsistence strategy
different ways different societies go about meeting their basic material survival needs
What are the two types of subsistence strategies?
-Food collectors or foragers (gather, fish, or hunt)-food producers (depend on domesticated plants and/or animals)
Pastoralists
food producers (depend on domesticated plants and/or animals) that depend on herds
Three types of agriculture
Extensive agriculture - Clear land, burn bush, plant crops in ash-enriched soil. Exhausts soil after two or three seasonsIntensive Agriculture - Use plows, animals, irrigation, fertilizer. Better and crop surplusesMechanized Industrial Agriculture - farming or animal husbandry organized along industrial lines
What are the five formal categories used by anths to classify forms of human society?
BandTribeChiefdomStateEmpire
Band
-Form of social org. found among foragers-Small, no more than 50-Labor divided according to age and sex-All adults had equal access to material/social valuables that were locally available-aka no classes or chiefs-“Egalitarian” equality
