Archaeology Exam 2 Flashcards
(122 cards)
1
Q
What does a collapse mean?
A
- the political regime fails
- cities die and complex economies fall
- societies become smaller, simpler, and more egalitarian
2
Q
Archaeology of “ecocide”
A
- over exploitation of your environment
Ex. Dust bowl
ex. Rapi Nui
3
Q
The ecocide hypothesis example
A
- 1786, La Perouse- deforestation of the island
- Jared Diamond: islanders overused trees for boats, fuel, houses and moving statues
- Ran out of timber, stream dried up, led to warfare, then collapsed
4
Q
Lipo and Hunt response
A
- Subsistence relied more on fish and sea mammals
- Palm trees on the island wouldn’t make for good boats
5
Q
Rapi Nui “stone mulching”
A
smashing up nutrient rich volcanic stones
- retains moisture in soil
- protect rocks from damage
6
Q
Deforestation to move the Moai statue
A
- abandoned, found face down
- used a lot of trees to make logs and roll it
7
Q
Archaeology survey
A
documentation of archaeological sites across a landscape
8
Q
walking survey
A
Simply walking and recording what you see
9
Q
Shovel test pits (STPs)
A
digging a hole in the ground
10
Q
The Maya (600-800 AD)
A
not ruled by a single person
- intense competition between cities and their rulers (caused city to spiral)
- city starts to fall ~800 AD
11
Q
resilience theory
A
how much can society endure, absorb, adapt to outside forces? Flexibility re-organization
12
Q
Sustainability
A
how long can a society maintain a single system or practice(1) without negative consequences and/or (2)through periods of stress
13
Q
“Christmas in the Kalahari”
A
- Bought a cow for the family he was working with to feast for christmas
- They told him the cow was sick and skinny
- The cow came and he was fat and healthy
- They told him this to bring him back down to everyone else’s level
14
Q
Egalitarian society
A
societies that lack persistent / hereditary inequality of “wealth” and/or status
15
Q
leveling mechanism
A
bringing someone back down from being better than others
16
Q
achieved status
A
status or authority gained by an individual through their life, not passed on
17
Q
ascribed status
A
status or authority inherited from parents, lineage, social class
18
Q
settlement pattern
A
the organization, location, size, and proximity of villages, towns, and cities
19
Q
Landscape Archaeology
A
analysis of settlement pattern, resource use, and other human activity over a broad region through time
20
Q
Geographic information systems (GIS)
A
- Computer mapping and analysis software
- Analyze spatial patterns, settlement patterns, spatial statistics
- Site type and density
21
Q
Proto-urbanism
A
larger denser settlements but lacking planning or organized rule
22
Q
“tell”
A
a large mound formed by continuous overlying dense human settlements
23
Q
4 forms of societal organization
A
- bands
- tribes
- chiefdoms
- states
24
Q
political hierarchy
A
- Differences in wealth between families
- Better goods or foods
- Burials
25
evidence of hierarchy
- Settlement patterns
- Site size hierarchy
--- large cities where ruling class lives
26
Indus valley civilization (3000-3000 BCE)
- pre-planned cities
- plumbing and sewage
- advanced
27
traditional "first generation" statesq
merge independently
28
secondary states
require people surrounding them
29
Jenne archaeological survey
42 sites surveyed and excavated
- radiocarbon dates for urbanism (250-800 BCE)
- early sites are more equal in size
30
findings at Jenne Jeno
- Farming only important later
- Specialization of labor appears early on
- Metallurgy from the initial city
- Long distance trade
31
Heterarchy
Multiple forms of organization, shifting power structures, different axes of power/influence shared among segments of a society
32
2 types of mounds
- structures built on top
burials
--- in large groups or with others
33
hopewell tradition
hierarchical burials
- grave goods
- copper ornament
- carved stone pipes
34
The Mississippian (700-1400 AD)
associated with warfare and status
35
Cahokia, IL (1050 AD)
largest city in north america
36
monks mound
massive earth construction
on top of mound
37
mound 72
Burial mound
- trade in thousands of beads for the burials
sacrificial burials
mass feasting
- thousands of pots are thrown together after the ceremony
- lots of deer bones (wild)
- tobacco seeds
- ceremonial drinks
38
inca textiles
patterns they wore to demonstrate wealth and status
39
inca military force
- slings
- storehouses allowed military forces to expand
- road construction also allowed expansion
40
inca tambos
- house goods
- primary function was relay station for runners
--- pass news or information along road systems
41
inca ideology and religion
- Inca descendants of the sun
- Assimilation of older religions
- State ritual and large scale ceremony
- Ritual child sacrifice
42
Dahomey Kingdom and the Atlantic slave trade
depiction of captured peoples at Dahomey, 1725
43
Savi (1660-1727)
- local-made replicas of European style pipes
- locally made pottery
- Maize, yam, foraged snail, and diverse fish resources important for enslaved people
--- Still trying to live a normal life
44
plantation excavations
- locally producing goods
- glass bottles, pipes, metal guns
--- hunting and gathering
45
Watoro
runaway slave settlements
46
Archaeology of enslaved people in America
- Spatial patterns of segregation
- Material culture differences
- Evidence of African cosmology
47
Monticello, Virginia
- compressed into limited spaces
--- family units
48
Dr. Anna Agbe-Davies
lots of variation between sites
49
Creolization
the process by which elements of different cultures are blended together to form a new culture
Ex. The Oval Site
50
NYC African Burial Ground
- People interred with linen wrappings, well made wooden coffins, with precious goods
51
Rediscovery of African burial ground
- small fraction
- individually in wooden boxes
- high mortality rate
- half of children under 12
52
African Bural ground major findings
- Most adults african born, children likely born in New York
- High stress, prevalence of illness associated with enslavement
- High mortality rates, especially for children
- Upper spine stress in women, lower spine stress in men
53
Environmental reconstructions
set of approaches to reconstruct past environments
54
Geoarchaeology
application of geology and earth sciences methods to study site formation process
- focus on stratigraphic sequence
55
Munsell soil color chart
different colors are different materials or substances
56
determining size and shape of particles
- jar of water test
- field test
57
sediments
deposited, come in from somewhere else
ex. river flood, wind blown, downhill erosion
58
soils
develop in place
- need organic matter
59
Paleosol
dark layer in the middle of the ground
- was a living surface at one time, then got buried
60
Soil geochemistry
- measurement of elemental composition of soils and sediments
--- soil quality
--- evidence of human occupation
Ex. ethnoarc. of aguateca, Guatemala floor
- they knew where people ate, cooked, sharpened knives etc.
61
Paleo-malacology
study of archaeology mollusks
62
anthracology
study of charcoal
- find what species a tree or plant was
63
Isotopes and environmental reconstruction
carbon and nitrogen
C3 and C4
64
Oxygen isotopes
O16 and O18
- O16 evaporates more easily
65
Yellow River floods
When it floods, the water is not constrained and can flood over other areas
- getting massive amounts of sediments over other landscapes
66
Han Dynasty agricultural expansion
- good farming
- wind blown sediments
- prone to erosion
67
Levees
keep water in specific channel
Ex. Sanyang Zhuang
- preserved by a major river flood
68
1642 AD flood of Kaifeng
- the city was at a lower level than the Yellow River
- all the flood water went into the city and caused a massive catastrophe
69
Niche construction
humans modify their environments in a way that impacts theri own genetic evolution
- invoked in domesticated studies
- intensity of human impacts on the world
70
example of niche construction
Lactase persistence
- we stop producing lactase as we get older and it's harder to digest milk
--- back in time, there were gene mutations to help digest milk longer
71
irrigations
adaptations to extreme environments
Ex. Ancient Canals
- divert water supplies
72
Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC)
- developed massive bronze age cities
- lots of labor, populated cities
73
BMAC water management
artificial channels, irrigation networks, filter and check-dams, piping of water into the city
74
MGK, China (300-400 CE) had...
complex system of canals and fields
75
Hohokam Culture (200-1400 CE) (Case Grande Ruins, Arizona)
- complex systems of massive irrigarion channels off of rivers
- able to support the largest population and agricultural fields
- heterarchical system
76
Canal
artificially shaped
77
Channel
natural irregular shapes
78
Terrace agriculture
"land staircases"
- represent niche construction
Ex. Wari Empire (600-1000 CE)
Ex. Ayawiri, Peru
- settlements on top of mountains
79
Archaeology at Ayawiri
radiocarbon dates to see if they match the settlements
80
Findings at Ayawiri
- terraces date to the same time as the Pukara (radiocarbon dating)
- only quinoa and related crops grown locally (archaeobotany)
- Llama dung contains only agricultural weeds (archaeobotany)
81
African Savannnah grasslands
- nutrient poor
- central enclosure for livestick
--- produced a lot of animal dung in the middle which made the soil enriched with nutrients
Ex. Luxmanda, Tanzania (1000 BCE)
82
Anthropocene
viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment
83
Paul Crutzen (2000)
proposed that humans were now the most powerful force impacting climate
84
Golden Spike
when we see the start of anthropocene
85
mass extinction hypothesis
Was mass extinction caused by humans or climate change
- originally thought because of humans
86
Anthrosols
anthropogenic soils
- formed by human activity
- amazon basin soils
87
Jemez Villages (1300-1700 AD)
- high number of trees established
- many old growth trees directly related to Jemez village site
- humans had a direct impact on planting these trees
- low rates of fires
- once the sites are uninhabited, intensification of fires
88
Global sea level rise
more water entering the oceans
89
Otzi the ice man
-discovered in 1991 in the Alps
- 61 tattoos
- eating 3 different meals
- died at 45 years old, lymes disease, plaque build up around heart
- Shot in the back with arrows (murdered)
90
risk to permafrost sites
when it melts, it washes away everything preserved in it
91
Geoarchaeological coring
put cores in the permafrost
- measured PH, Conductivity, heat production, CO2 production
92
recovering sites "melting" from permafrost
Building “ramps” to let materials flood into
93
excavating permafrost steps
1. Removing overlapping deposits
2. Preparation of 1m strip for excavation
3. Excavating thawed sediment in 1m blocks
4. Moving sediment for screening
5. Recording exposed artifacts
94
glacial archaeology
looking at glacial patch
95
ice patch example 1
Ex. Mongolia
- Early reindeer herders
--- Kept animals cool during warmer seasons
--- Ice patches are now gone
Found
- Preserved reindeer dung
- Trade goods
- Bows and arrows
- Fishing tools
96
Watoro ex slave settlement
runaway slaves forming their own societies
97
Panga ya saidi
early human site showing transition from foraging to farming
98
Kakapel Rockshelter
rock art site, evidence of early herders and farming
99
Benin Bronzes
royal artworks looted by the british
100
Inland Niger Delta
early urban center, no clear political hierarchy
101
the oval site
enslaved peoples, evidence of creolization
102
killkenny union workhouse
workhouse during the irish famine, archaeology of poverty, suffering and migration
103
New york city african burial ground
burial site of free and enslaved africans
- high child mortality
104
sanyangzhuang china
ancient han dynasty farming village
- preserved by yellow river flood
105
fort center
early native american earthworks and ceremonial center
- maize farming
106
cahokia illinois
massive mississippian mound city
107
Jemez village
human reforestation impact
108
hohokam
prehistoric desert farmers
- huge irrigation canal systems
109
atari video game burial site`
dump of thousands of unsold atari games
110
kennewick man "The ancient one"
9000 year old skeleton
- important to native american repatriation debates
111
ayawiri
hilltop farming terraces
- adapted to warfaare and climate change
112
inca empire
huge empire without wheels or writing
- roads, storehouses, ritual sacrifice
113
otzi
frozen iceman
- murdered with arrow
114
killkenny union workhouse
evidence of famine and social collapse
115
catalhoyuk
early neolithic farming village
- obsidian trade
116
BMAC
bronze age deserts with big irrigation systems
117
rapa nui
moai statues, collapse due to rats and environment
118
salish culture
coastal indigenous societies
- non-hierarchical
- leveling mechanisms
119
CRM phase 1
survey / historic assessment
Is there anything here?
Walking surveys
Shovel test pits (STPs)
120
CRM phase 2
Does it qualify for NRHP?
How big is it
How old is it
121
CRM phase 3
data recovery and mitigation
- Getting as much data out of the site before it is destroyed by construction
CRM reports of the data, construction can continue
122
section 106
To prevent any construction on federal lands
