Exam 2 Flashcards
Were prehistoric people in the Great Basin typically foragers or farmers?
-All Native people in the Great Basin were hunter/gather. Only the Paiute did some small scale-farming.
What was the Early Holocene environment like, and how did people adapt to it? (Great Basin)
-Internal Drainage.
-Climatic fluctuations, including drying trend, since 4500 BP.
-Great Salt Lake and others are remnants of much larger early Holocene bodies
-Annual Cycles (Historic Paiute-Harney Valley-Model.) Resembles lifeways of last 4000 years.
What resources did people exploit from lakes and marshes? (Great Basin)
-Reeds, cattails, bulrushes, fish & waterfowl in some places & times.
-Small animals and insect hunting.
What sort of upland resources did people use? (Great Basin)
-Desert Valley Grasses.
-Pinyon nuts, Antelope, and mountain sheep.
Why have archaeologists so often concentrated on dry caves rather than open sites in this region?
-Caves used as habitation.
-Caves used as caches/storage.
-Dry conditions excellent for preservation of organic remains, including quid’s and coprolites.
-Caves are ‘cool’ and so researchers are drawn to them. However, they miss many important open area sites.
Metates
-A type of quern, a ground stone tool used for processing grain and seeds.
Manos
-The stone used on the Metate as the ‘hand.’
Lake Booneville
-Today’s Great Salt Lake is a shallow, salty remnant of Lake Bonneville.
-The Lake occupies the lowest part of the Bonneville basin located in the Great Basin hydrological province.
Danger cave
-Utah
-Coprolites of seeds and leaves, cactus, mammal hair (including antelope), insects, and grit.
Dirty Shame Rock Shelter
-Wickiups built within cave at about 2700 BP.
-Year-round occupation?
-Great Basin.
Who are the Numic peoples?
-Numic is the northernmost branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Used among the majority of Great Basin groups.
Compare and Contrast the societies in the chapter case studies such as Paiute.
-The Paiute differ from other Great Basin groups in that they had a more complex political and social organization, as well as fixed territories, and they practiced irrigation.
-Occupied the smallest territory of any Great Basin group but had the greatest density of people per square mile in the region.
-Extended families/bands, each with a leader, degwani, ‘talker.’
-Exogamy.
-Usually patrilineal.
What were the basic environments and resources that humans commonly used? (California)
Interior Patterns:
-No plant domestication, but purposeful burnings.
-Acorns & buckeyes. Acorn hoppers.
-Grasses.
Coastal:
-Heavy use of marine and shoreline resources.
-Hunting and gathering in adjacent uplands.
-Mild Climate with plenty of food and water.
How complicated was Ishi’s repatriation?
-The body was autopsied, thought that was against Kroeber’s wishes, but he was on leave in New York.
-The brain was removed during the procedure and stored at the Museum.
-The body was cremated, and Ishi’s ashes placed in a Pueblo jar, which was on display at Mount Olivet Cemetery.
-Eventually, it was realized that Ishi’s brain had been shipped to Washington and was kept with others in tanks.
-Three different Native American groups in California claimed the brain. The Smithsonian returned the remains to two of those groups, who they felt included descendants of Ishi’s relatives.
-The ashes and brain were buried privately by the groups in 2000.
Case Study: Yokuts
-Central California.
-Managed their environment, through both active and passive means.
-Year-round trade system.
-The basic social unit was the nuclear family.
-Patrilineal.
Case Study: Chumash
-Southern California.
-Climate is generally cool, but the summers can be quite hot.
-Chiefdom.
-The basic social organization was the village, with stratification.
What traditions were associated with the Southwest, and in what different landforms or environments did each exist?
-Anasazi (Puebloans): Villages of pit houses on defensive high ground. Appears about AD 1 in Colorado Plateau.
-Mogollon: Small populations in mountainous areas.
Small clusters of pit houses near arable land.
-Hohokam: Distinctive culture by about AD 300-700.
Small communities of pit houses, common plazas, and store houses.
What crops were grown, and what cultural innovations (such as waffle gardens) allowed for agriculture in the Southwest?
-Maize, squash, beans, tobacco, cotton. Grasses, juniper berries, nuts, cactus fruit, sunflower, wild seeds, tubers.
-Innovations to manage water: irrigation, rainwater-collection pools, check dams, seepage gardens, waffle gardens.
When does building above-ground pueblo complexes appear?
-After about AD 900, population shifts to above ground, masonry pueblos of linked rooms, covered with adobe plaster.
What Hohokam features resemble those of Mexico?
-Platform mounds.
-Ball courts important, ca. AD 900-1150.
-Presence of elite.
How was trade important to the region, especially for the Hohokam?
-Extensive trade networks. Blending of styles and culture.
-Population increases and warmer climatic conditions. Along with intrigue artworks like Etched Shells.
What are examples of what the Hohokam traded?
-Animal hides, food, seashells, turquoise, obsidian, textiles, salt, feathers, mineral pigments, and pottery.
-Hohokam obsidian.
-Etched Shells.
How were turkeys and macaws important? (Southwest)
-Their feathers were used to make regalia and ceremonial artworks.
-Trade networks.
Why does it appear that warfare and defense are important for Southwestern peoples?
-Sites are commonly on top of steep rock in highly defensible locations. Sites can be extremely hard to get to and require specific routes.
-Lots of defense towers.
Why is Chaco Canyon important?
-AD 900-1125.
-8 or 9 Great Houses.
-Smaller outlying communities.
-roads.
-signal fires.
-2,000 to 30,000 people.
Know Chaco ‘outliers’ and roads.
-Extensive road networks expanding outside of the canyon.
-Communities that connect to the larger canyon. Questions about what the canyon was used for.
-Great Houses represent residences of elite individuals or groups. Redistribution economy of a chiefdom.
-Great Houses represent trading centers. Trade Fairs.
-Great Houses represent pilgrimage locations. Offerings.
