Exam 1 Vocab

Question 1

The study of humanity’s past through time, observing changes in culture, environment, and behavior, by analyzing material culture.

Answer 1

Archaeology

Question 2

How is archaeology related to anthropology?

Answer 2

Archaeology is a subset of anthropology which focuses on the period of human history before written documents.

Question 3

What are common misconceptions about archaeology?

Answer 3

It’s about dinosaurs, It’s like Indiana Jones, it’s not tedious.

Question 4

The time before written documents

Answer 4

Prehistory

Question 5

What is a fundamental challenge to archaeology?

Answer 5

Bridging the gap between the past and the present.
The archaeological paradox; once a material culture is discovered it can never be put back into the archaeological record unchanged.

Question 6

What period does Marieka study?

Answer 6

Mayan civilization at the point of Spanish contact

Question 7

Where does Marieka do her research?

Answer 7

Belize

Question 8

Billions of years extending back to the big bang

Answer 8

Deep Time or Geological Time

Question 9

Our current geologic epoch; The age of humans driving the environment

Answer 9

Anthropocene

Question 10

The geologic epoch before our present one.

Answer 10

Holoscene

Question 11

The creation of new land forms by moving sediment from the floor of a body of water.

Answer 11

Poldering

Question 12

Why is it important to study the past?

Answer 12

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”

Question 13

First US law to recognize cultural resources put into place by Teddy Roosevelt

Answer 13

Antiquities Act (1906)

Question 14

US law which protects buildings and structures

Answer 14

National Historic Preservation Act (1966)

Question 15

US law which applies fines and jail time for tampering with archaeological sites without permission

Answer 15

ARPA (Archaeological Resources Protection Act) (1970)

Question 16

US Law which connects the remains in museums with the closest native community to return them

Answer 16

Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (1990)

Question 17

8,000 year-old NA remains which stirred controversy over reparations and was reburied after examination.

Answer 17

Kennewick Man/The Ancient One

Question 18

Ethics code principle; No buying or selling artifacts

Answer 18

Stewardship

Question 19

Ethics code principle; Archaeologists must hold themself to a standard.

Answer 19

Accountability

Question 20

Ethics code principle; Don’t take advantage of work for profit

Answer 20

Commercialization

Question 21

Ethics code principle; contact with the local community and education

Answer 21

Public education and outreach

Question 22

Ethics code principle; Be careful and don’t widely share the location of sites

Answer 22

Intellectual property

Question 23

Ethics code principle; Any projects must be reported

Answer 23

Public reporting and publication

Question 24

Ethics code principles; preservation of artifacts

Answer 24

Records and preservation

Question 25

Ethics code principles; Continuation

Answer 25

Training and resources

Question 26

Who holds anthropologists accountable for their ethics?

Answer 26

Society for American Archaeology (SAA)

Question 27

A global organization which intervenes in the preservation of archaeological heritage.

Answer 27

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

Question 28

Material culture which is a natural plant, animal, or sediment which results from human activity but is not modified.

Answer 28

Ecofact

Question 28

Material culture which is moveable which has been moved, modified, or manufactured by humans.

Answer 28

Artifact

Question 28

Material culture which is an accumulation of artifacts, ecofacts, and features.

Answer 28

Site/Settlement

Question 29

Material culture which is made or altered by humans but is immovable.

Answer 29

Feature

Question 29

The physical record, through aspects like stratification, of human prehistory.

Answer 29

Archaeological Record

Question 30

Where material culture is found.

Answer 30

Context

Question 31

Material, like sediment, which surround material culture

Answer 31

Matrix

Question 32

Literally where a material culture is found, in what strata, X and Y axis

Answer 32

Provenience

Question 33

What material culture is found around the target material culture and their possible relation.

Answer 33

Association

Question 34

Artifacts, ecofact, features, or sites that lie exactly as they were deposited. "In-situ"

Answer 34

Primary Context

Question 35

Material Culture with any disturbance.

Answer 35

Secondary Context

Question 36

When artifacts are wrested from the earth without context recorded; The illegal removal of material culture

Answer 36

Looting

Question 37

The preservation of material culture through fossilization.

Answer 37

Taphonomy

Question 38

Deliberate activities of human activities as they make or use artifacts.

Answer 38

Cultural Formation Processes

Question 39

Natural events that govern both burial and survival of the archaeological record

Answer 39

Natural Formation Processes

Question 40

A part of the process to create an artifact; Collecting or getting materials

Answer 40

Acquisition

Question 41

A part of the process to create an artifact; The material is modified.

Answer 41

Manufacture

Question 42

A part of the process to create an artifact; The artifact is used.

Answer 42

Use

Question 43

A part of the process to create an artifact; The artifact is left behind.

Answer 43

Deposit

Question 44

In a sedimentary sequence, the beds are younger and younger as we go up from bottom to top.

Answer 44

Principle of Stratigraphy

Question 45

Within a sequence of layers of sedimentary rock, the oldest layer is at the base.

Answer 45

Law of Superposition

Question 46

When material culture decays or breaks down due to oxygen exposure, moisture levels, or bacteria.

Answer 46

Decomposition

Question 47

When material culture remains due to a lack of oxygen, moisture levels, or bacteria.

Answer 47

Preservation

Question 48

A collection of material culture, usually artifacts, which was left behind by past peoples as a way of keeping them hidden for a long period of time but were never reclaimed.

Answer 48

Hoard

Question 49

Tests archaeological hypotheses by replicating certain events or conditions that they have observed in the field.

Answer 49

Experimental Archaeology

Answer 50

Surface Survey

Answer 51

Ground Survey

Answer 52

Pedestrian Survey

Answer 53

Shovel Testing/Shovel Test Pits (STPs)

Answer 54

Boring/Coring

Answer 55

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)

Answer 56

Aerial survey/photography

Answer 57

LIDAR

Answer 58

Satellite Imagery

Answer 59

Vertical Excavation

Answer 59

Horizontal Excavations

Answer 60

Garbology

Answer 61

Ethnography

Answer 62

Egalitarian Societies

Answer 63

Rank Based Societies

Answer 64

Class-based Societies

Answer 65

Craft-Specialists

Answer 66

Social Hierarchy

Answer 67

Pictograph

Answer 68

Petroglyph

Answer 69

Off-site Archaeology

Answer 70

Underwater Archaeology