finals review Flashcards
(116 cards)
1
Q
What is archaeology?
A
The study of human cultural activities through the analysis of human remains
2
Q
Culture history
A
Linking ancient finds to modern peoples, evolutionary theory, three age system: stone, bronze, iron
3
Q
Darwin’s theory
A
“Natural selection”: mechanism for the evolution of diversity within species and evolution of new species; “survival of the fittest”
4
Q
Wheeler grid
A
Division of excavation sites into square blocks with thin walls; by Sir Mortimer Wheeler
5
Q
Processualism
A
Scientific approach (hypothesis testing)
Concerned with explanation rather than description; process rather than history
6
Q
Post processualism
A
Goes beyond on what happened in the past
description: what, when, who
explanation: how, why, patterns/governing principles
7
Q
Relativism
A
Our perception of reality is influenced by our perspective
Interpretation of the past are influenced by circumstances of the present
Heavily influenced by world views: politics, ideology, religion and myth
8
Q
What is culture?
A
The non-biological characteristics of society; learned behaviours and beliefs shared by members of society, passed from generations
9
Q
Culture examples
A
Art, music and literature
Languages cuisine and religion
Architecture and history… and more
(things we do, behaviours)
10
Q
Material culture
A
Physical consequences of cultural behaviour; physical manifestations of cultural beliefs
11
Q
Material remains examples
A
Artifacts, features, human remains, animal remains, plant remains, sediments
12
Q
Artifacts
A
Objects used, modified, or made by people
(rock carvings, stacked rocks, pottery, etc.
13
Q
Ecofacts
A
Organic & environmental remains
(bones from animals)
14
Q
Features
A
Non-portable artifacts or groups of artifacts
15
Q
Sites
A
Places where significant traces of human activities are found
16
Q
“Technofacts”
“Sociofacts”
“Ideofacts”
A
Artifacts that reflect technological aspects of human society (phones)
Artifacts that reflect social aspects of human society (reflect social status)
Artifacts that reflect ideological aspects of human society (thoughts, stories, values)
17
Q
Auger testing
A
To determine the extent of the site deposits (midden)
18
Q
Classes of artifacts
A
-lithics (stone)
-bone & shell
-ceramics/pottery
-metal
-wood
-basketry
19
Q
Artifact assemblages
A
Artifacts belonging to a single archaeological site
20
Q
Importance of association
A
When objects are found in association with other objects and features to be able to derive information about them
21
Q
Features
A
- Things that can not be picked up
Cooking features, rock art, structures
22
Q
Site formation: information loss
(taphonomy)
A
-Ancient behaviour; cooking
-Physical consequences; stone hearth feature, wood/charcoal, wooden bowl & tools, bone, etc.
-Fossil record; fire- racked rock, charcoal, broken bones
-Excavated sample; broken rocks, lump of charcoal, many unidentifiable bone fragments, two identifiable bones
23
Q
C-transforms
A
Cultural factors: deliberate or acciolential activities of human beings that affect the deposition of material remains (artifacts, features and ecofacts)
24
Q
N-transforms
A
Natural events, agents and processes that influence the burial and preservation of archaeological remains (wind, water, sun, sedimentation, soil chemistry, rodent burrowing, insect activity, microorganisms)
25
Context
Cultural context
Historical context
Physical context
Relevant circumstances
Social setting
Preceding events and circumstances
Location
26
Survey
Excavation
To search for archaeological sites & features
Investigation of archaeological sites and features
27
Survey methods
1. Ground surface reconnaissance: foot transverse, shovel testing,examination of subsurface exposure (tree falls road ditches)
2. Aerial reconnaissance (aerial photography)
3. Remote sensing: LIDAR (ground penetrating sonar or radar, metal detectors)
28
Survey strategies
Total survey,100% coverage
Sampling strategies: random / systematic/ judgemental
Sample stratification
29
Excavation (more detailed)
Destructive process: record keeping, site conservation
many approaches and methods: research objectives, tyler of site, time & money
30
Chronology
The sequence of events, amount of time represented
31
Relative dating & methods
Ordering things into a sequence
Methods: stratigraphy, serration, environmental sequences
*more reliable
32
Absolute dating & methods
Determining age in years (radiocarbon dating, only one thing at a time)
Methods: calendars, annual cycles, radioactive clocks
33
Stratigraphy
Documentation & analysis of the sequence of strata (deposits) that form an archaeological site
34
Strata
The layers, tenses, features and interfaces that comprise an arenaeological site
35
Law of superposition
Where one stratum overlies another, the lower stratum is older; deposited first
36
Seriation
A relative dating method based on the assumptions that technologies evolve over gradually over time and that simple forms are generally replaced by more complexed & varied forms
37
Examples of absolute dating using radioactive clocks
- Radiocarbon dating
- potassium-argon dating
- uranium- series dating
- Fission-track dating
38
Radiocarbon clock
Ticker: decay of carbon-14 to nitrogen-14
reset button: death an organism
display: ratio of carbon-14 (decreases) to carbon-12 (constant)
39
Radiocarbon years; years B.P.
Years BP: radiocarbon years before ad 1950
40
Significance between culture & environment
Environments provide opportunity for cultures to grow
living in different environments around the globe which new inventions/technology are created
human activity modifies landscape of globe
41
Climate
Temperature, precipitation, sunlight, wind, atmospheric chemistry
42
Geography
Land forms, soil and sediments, latitude, elevation, sea levels
43
Biomass
Flora (plants), fauna (animals), fungi, bacteria
44
Environmental scales
Environmental changes influences culture change
Time (temporal scales): long term & short term
Space (spatial scales): global, continental, regional
45
Natural environment change
Climatic cycles, geological processes, climatic events
46
Climatic cycles
Long-term: glacials and interglacials
Short-term: el Nino and la nina
47
Climatic events
Droughts & storms
48
Geological processes
Plate tectonics, glacial activity, volcanism, water & wind activity
49
Artificial environment change
Short term: sedimentation, soil chemistry, ecological imbalance, resource depression
Long term: hydrographic changes, biotic extinction, soil exhaustion, global warming
50
Geomorphology
The study of the form and development of the landscape
Ex: plate tectonics, volcanism, glacial landscapes, sea level changes
51
Sediments
Material deposited on the earth's surface; boulders, cobbles, sand, silt and clay
52
Soils
The life-supporting, biologically and physically weathered upper layers of sediment
53
Botanical anaylses - archaeobotany
Pollen, seeds, wood charcoal
54
Palynology or pollen analysis
Pollen "rain", preservation, pollensequences, absolute dating
55
Faunal analyses
Zooarchaeology:
- microfauna: insects, insectivores, rodents, bats
birds and fish
molluscs
macrofauna
56
Indicator species
Species limited to very distinct environments
57
Faunal associations
Animals that are commonly found together in specific environments
58
Subsistence
The means of supporting life
Necessities of survival: food, water, shelters clothing
Quest for food
59
Subsistence practices
Scavenging, gathering, hunting, fishing, agriculture
60
Food processing & storage
Harvesting, drying, smoking, curing, fermentation, butchery, canning
61
Seasonality
The time of year that an activity took place:
62
Zooarchaeology: butchery
Cut marks on bone, extensive bone processing, transportation of carcasses, food value
63
Investigation of subsistence:
Artifacts & features: cooking features, tools,vessels, residues
Human remains: stomach contents, recall material tooth wear or decay, isotopic analyses
64
Isotopic analysis of human bone
You are what you eat
Plants look on carbon-13 and carbon-12 levels
Animals look at carbon & nitrogen isotope ratios:
Nitrogen increases when higher up in food chain, herbivores contain less nitrogen -15
65
Archaeology of death
Burial of dead is uniquely human activity
How societies treat the dead is a large reflection of cultural values & beliefs
66
Mortuary practices
Into about: ideology, social organization, economics, technology
67
Human osteology
Info about: age and sex, diet and healthy, physical appearance, genetics
68
Mortuary practise
Type of interment: burial, cremation, mummification, etc.
Structure of grave, what graves had, posture of skeleton
69
Social organization
Scale of society: size of the largest social unit
Internal organization: social relations, nature of leadership, economic relations
70
Classification of societies; single community; band
Several extended families, hunter-gatherers
71
Classification of societies; multiple communities; tribe
Kinship bonds, informal leadership, food production
72
Classification of societies; many communities; chiefdom
Agriculture, ranked society, hereditary leadership
73
Classification of societies; stratified society; stale
Socioeconomic classes and political elites
74
Mobile hunter-gatherer group
Group Size: Less than 100 people
Social Org.: Egalitarian, informal leadership
Economic Org.: Mobile hunter-gatherers
Settlement: Temporary Camps
Religious Org.: Shamans
Architecture: Temporary Shelters
Examples: Australians, Netsilik, Inuit, Hadza,
Kung! San,
75
Segmentary Societies
Group Size: Up to a few 1000 people
Social Org.: Segmentary (heterarchical) society,
transegalitarian, corporate groups,
pan-tribal associations
Economic Org.: Settled farmers, fishers, pastoralists,
Semi-sedentary H-G
Settlement: Permanent villages
Religious Org.: Religious elders, calendrical rituals
Architecture: Permanent huts, burial mounds
Examples: Whale Hunters of Lamalera, Ancient
Pueblos.
76
Chiefdoms
Group Size: 5000-20,000 people
Social Org.: Kinship-based, hereditary leader
Economic Org.: Central accumulation and
redistribution, craft specialization
Settlement: Fortified centers, ritual centers
Religious Org.: Hereditary chief, religious duties
Architecture: Large scale monuments
Examples: Northwest Coast First Nations,
Hawaiians
77
States
Group Size: 20,000 +
Social Org.: Class based hierarchy, king, armies
Economic Org.: Bureaucracy, taxation, specialists
Settlement: Cities, towns, roads
Religious Org.: Priestly class, formal religion
Architecture: Palaces, temples, civic architecture
Examples: Inca, Maya, Rome, Ancient Egypt
78
Problems and Limitations
• Oversimplifies the range of possible social
systems.
• Implies a linear evolutionary sequence for the
development of cultures.
• Many societies do not fit into the rigid parameters
of the classification scheme.
• Links social organization to subsistence patterns, hindering and biasing explanatory theories.
79
Social ‘Complexity’
• Scale
• Integration
• Differentiation
• Intensification
80
Scale
• Total human population of a society.
• The size of individual sub-groups
(communities) within the society.
• Number of sub-groups (communities) within a society
81
Creative explosion
Purpose of rock art?
Symbols = language?
82
Symbolic thought
• Burials
• Red ochre
• Grave offerings
• Art
The study of symbolic actions is the study of ideology.
83
Pictographs
Paintings of store
84
Pictographs:
Carvings on stone
85
Digital photo manipulation
DStretch is a program used to make carvings look clearer.
86
How do humans use symbols?
• Establishment of identity - Societal markers.
• Representation of spiritual beliefs.
• Measurement and record keeping.
• Instruments of planning.
• Depiction of things, events, etc...
87
Interpreting rock art:
What is art?
What does it mean?
1. Aesthetics
2. Representation
3. Symbolism
4. Narrative
88
How do Archaeologists Study
Symbols?
• Cognitive Maps
• Contextual Approach:
– Physical Context
– Cultural Context
– Historical Context
not fully accurate as symbols can overlap each other
89
Settlement archaeology
-Study of the spatial distribution of archaeological remains & their interrelationships
- positioning of objects in a room, to the arrangement sites on the landscape
90
3 scales of settlement archaeology - smallest → biggest
1 spatial arrangements within households: different rooms in house, how they interact with each other
2 community organization
3 regions: site distribution over the landscape
91
Household scale
Comprised of different activity areas, structures and buildings
Architecture: walls, features, etc.
Structured w/ social aspects( status, age, gender)
Household sizes important for population estimates
92
Community scale
-Social stratification: building/room size, location, complexity of decor/ structure, material used
-Aspects of social control: regularity of layout; public structures ; segregation of residences and public buildings
- privacy & security: perimeter walls
93
Settlement patterns
Usually situated along watercourses
Each large town has several smaller settlements around 1:4 ratio
94
Regional scale
- Distribution of sites; density, resources, transportation routes
95
Ecological determinants approach
-Makes specific reference to environment
-sites relate to environment, resources are critical
- good for hunter-gatherers
96
Locational analysis approach
-Modeling of transportation systems, village layout
-Good for complex societies
97
Population reconstruction
-Based on resource potential
- enough resources to sustain population; equilibrium is best
- enough space for every person in a certain location?
98
Analysis of scale
-Labour hours needed for construction suggests there was a hierarchy that may mirror a development of social relations and ranked society
- ex. Stonehenge; 30 million hours
99
Why build mounds?
- Built for centres for a disperse society
- site for burials; show some ppl are higher status based on artifacts
100
Description vs explanation
-What, when, who
- how, why
101
Archaeology provide arguments, proofs
- Will stimulate debate
-Uncertainties
102
Processual Approaches
-Cultural Ecology
-Marxism
-Cultural Materialism
-Evolutionary
-Archaeology
-Cognitive-Processualism
-Systems Theory
103
Postprocessual Approaches
-Structuralism
-Neo-Marxism
-Contextualism
-Feminism
-Indigenous archaeologies
-Critical Theory
104
Ecological theories
Humans as animals responding to adapting to environmental circumstances
105
Social theories
Forces of production <-> relations of production
(technology/workers) (social organization, owners)
106
Agriculture- the Neolithic
New stone age
Subsistence "revolution"
Domestication of animals & agriculture
107
Examples of what agriculture changed
diet, population size, gender roles/status, wealth, health, tools, religion, trade, environment
108
Hunting and Gathering
leisure time
good health
subsistence flexibility
proven success
risk of subsistence
failure
small families
constant movement
few luxuries
109
Agriculture
reduced risk
residential stability
large families
wealth
poor health (disease)
tooth decay
more work
famine (catastrophic subsistence failure)
110
Oasis theory - cultural ecology
v. Gordon Childe
Resource concentration
111
Hilly flanks theory - cultural ecology
- increased human populations force some humans out
- lush, rich environment, increased populations
- good grassland, good sheep habitat
112
Demographic stress - cultural ecology
-High human population densities
-Competitive for scarce resources
-Incentive for production of food, despite costs
- rising sea levels after ice age
- when agriculture boomed, forced more to restricted areas
113
Economic& political changes due to agriculture
u Farmland / livestock as property of lineages
u Corporate ownership of resources
u Control of surplus
u Stability, predictability
u Theft, raiding, conflict, warfare
u Conflict resolution
114
Future of archaeology
Historical ecology, social justices, indigenous archaeology
115
Historical ecology
-Research that focuses on the interactions between
humans and their environment over long-term periods
of time, typically over the course of centuries.
-Rather than concentrating on one specific event,
historical ecology aims to study and understand this
interaction across both time and space in order to gain a full understanding of its cumulative effects.
116
Social justice
Archaeological re-evaluation of historical “truths” and modern circumstances.
u Archaeology of Colonization
u Archaeology of Poverty and Inequality
u Archaeology of Slavery
u Archaeology of War Crimes
u Forensic Archaeology
u Decolonizing Archaeology
