Midterm Flashcards
(170 cards)
1
Q
archaeology
A
the study of the HUMAN past through the systematic recovery and analysis of material remains
2
Q
classic archaelology
A
abour description, limited to ROMAN EMPIRE more or less
3
Q
anthropological archaeology
A
more theory and questions asked, more question orientd
4
Q
physical anthropology
A
study of humans as biological orgs–human ev and ancient DNA an primatology
5
Q
cultural anthro
A
the way people live, customs, values beliefs–enthnography
6
Q
linguistic anthro
A
study of languages
7
Q
the concept of material culture
A
everything that is tangible in reference to humans (even soil)
8
Q
archaeology vs history
A
history is looking at written docs–BUT subjective and losese non-written culture and the disempowered
arch, focuses on all MATERIAL CULTURES–BUT still know more when we have written documents
9
Q
archaeological inquiry
A
arch addresses anthropological questions–anthropological archaeology follows the scientific method (question–>hypoth–>research design–>analyze results–>hypoth true of false–> next question)–exception is that most arch is destructive and non repeatable
10
Q
Body Rituals of the Nacirema (reading)
A
commentary on how we think of other cultures
Nacirema=america backwards
holy mouth man=dentist
obsession with cleanliness
11
Q
Pristine Myth (reading)
A
idea that europeans colonized the untouched lands
- author is a geographer
- did aerial surveys of the Amazon
- looking at landscape
- there is no “pristine” amazon–it is clearly touched but it has not been colonized (?)
12
Q
BC, BCE, AD and CE (and order of year and time stamp thing)
A
Before Christ=BC=BCE=Before common era
500 BCE
AD=anno domini=CE=Common Era
CE 500
13
Q
Hesiod’s 5 stages
A
Greek Mythology Age of Gold Age of Silver Age of Bronze (bronze armor) Age of Epic Heroes Age of Iron (when Hesiod lived)
14
Q
Quiche’ Popul Vuh SEE LATER NOTES AND INTERNET
A
ancient Mayan origin story
maize god, hero twins and proper humans are made from maize
15
Q
European Renaissance
A
14th century-17th century
- rediscovery of ancient greeks and romans
- antiquarians–appreciation of art for sake of collecting
16
Q
Key conceptual advances
A
Antiquity of the earth and human kind
Darwin’s principles of evolution
Thomsen’s 3-age system
-The way people started thinking about ethics
17
Q
Archbishop James Ussher of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland and Chancellor Trinity College (AD 1581-1656)
A
“calculated” the age of Earth based on the bible written genealogies and other sources
- world created on Saturday October 22. 4004 BC
- people believed this for a while
18
Q
creationism and catastrophism
A
god created a perfect world exactly as we see t
great flood–Noah’s arc
BUT how do we explain neaderthal remains or vocanic eruptions only effecting the entire earth?
19
Q
Thomsen’s 3-age system
A
- Stone, bronze, iron
- Christian Thomsen
- Curator of Danish National Museum
- 1836 Guide to northern antiquity
- first to order artifacts chronologically, based on context of finds
- AHHH something else here
20
Q
Principle of Uniformitarianism
A
18th-19th century
the same geological processes that we see happening in the present have happened in the past–uniform processes
-these processes are so slow that the earth must be ancient
-HUTTON AND LYELL ARE IMPORTANT in this moder of thinking
21
Q
Stratigrpahy and antiquity
A
subsurface layers produce ordered fossil groups
newer things closer to top
-John Frere 1797 says that things are under the surface and that we don’t have a full understanding of things–not accepted at first
22
Q
Darwin’s Principles of Evolution (1859)
A
- Book on the origin of species about animals
- Evolution is the best explanation for origin and change of species
- Natural selection is the mechanism for change
- On the origin of species about animals did not touch on humans
23
Q
Principles of evolution (19th c.)
A
- Change takes place over a long period of time
- An ancient earth plus slow change points to great antiquity of the human species…
- Human adaptation are physical and cultural?
24
Q
First scientific excavation in the US
A
•American Archaeology 1784–
Thomas Jefferson
• First scientific excavations in the US
• Aimed to find evidence of indigenous mound-builders
• Believed that there was no way these mound-builders could be native Americans
They wanted to prove the mound builders were European
25
Cyrus Thomas (1825-1910)
* Government financed research
* 12 years of research
* published report in 1894
* concluded mounds were built by Native Americans
* arch as politics
26
box trench method
i think its that you dig a trench and then put box in it for safety or something
27
AV KIDDER (1885-1963)
o Stressed anthropological understanding
o ONE OF MOST IMPORTANT NAMES
o Incorporated many lines of research
o Built a ceramic typology of the North American Southwest based on stratigraphy
o Also worked in Mesoamerica among ruins of the ancient Maya
28
Culture
an integrated system of beliefs, traditions, and customs that govern or influence a person’s behavior. Culture is learned, shared by members of a group, and based on the ability to think in terms of symbols
29
Sir Edward burnett tylor (1832-1917)
culture is learned it is not biological or genetic
30
Unilinear Evolution
• Savagery→civilization
o This is clearly wrong
• Culture is shared at group level
31
Adaptive perspective:
Human behavior is shaped by technology ecology, demography and economy
32
Ideological perspective
Human behavior is shaped by ideas symbols and mental structures
33
Paradigms
Culture history—first half of 1900s
New or processual archaelology—1960s
Post processual arch 1980s
Processual plus—today
34
Culture History
first half of 1900s
• Following Darwin/Tylor
• Franz Boas
• Approach that dominates archaeology the first hald of the 20th century
• Based on a description of the arch record and the ordering of past events in time and space
• Emphasis is WHAT, WHEN and WHERE events took place in the past
o Why and how are missing
35
Processual arch
```
Lewis binford’s new arch
Cultural processes approach
How cultures change over time
Group agnency not individual—seeks universal laws
Behavior
Culture as a system
Systems theory
Adaptive approach
Scientific objective disconnected from the present
```
36
Scientific method
* Ovesercation/definition of a problrm
* Retest
* Publish
* Analysis.interpretation
* Test
* Data collection
* Empiracle implication
37
Levels of theory
Low level theory: Data—observations of objects
Middle level theory: behavior from data
High level theory: big questions—ideology etc
38
Middle level theory
```
A big part of processual arch
• Ethnoarchaeology
o Go to traditional societies and do anthro
o Ask questions
o How do they live
o Now vs past
o Making connections between present and past
• Experimental archaeology
• HOW people did things
• WHY people did things
```
39
Post-processual Archaeology
```
Ian hodder
• Rejects universal laws
• Emphasizes role of the individual
• Active models of culture
• Ideational perspective
• Symbols and ideas, not just functions
• Knowledge is historically situated
o Truth is subjective
o Arch biases
• All archaeology is political
```
40
themes of postprocessual arch
```
Feminist arch
o Study of women
o And women studying women
o There is no evidence that 20,000 years ago men hunted and women gathered
Marxist arch
o Looking at ideology
Objects as symbols
o Can assume things based on use of object (???)
```
41
processual vs postprocessual
• Processiual is very scientific
• Post processual is less so
• What are crit you can imagine about each
o There can be too many assumptions with either
• Objects as symbols may give us the wrong answers
• But also women as gatherers is not true etc.
42
Processual-plus Archaeology
Current trend is a mixture (of processual and postprocessual)
• Recognition of value in both approaches
• Seeks patterns and generalities
• “setting theoretical egos aside…”
o michelle hegmon 2003
unifying themes of processual-plus
• past is engendered
• agency
• the symbolic is everywhere
• social significance of material culture
• critical consideraition of who owns the past
• scientific method
• critique: more transparency of theory needed and contribution to “general theory”?
43
archaeology as historically situated
• arch as political and reflexive
• objective but hidden dialogue with contemporary world
• reflexive science
• relevance
o can arch have a voice in elections etc.
o treatment of those that don’t normally have a voice
44
garbology article—William Rathje
```
• garbage project—garbology
o sort fresh garbage
o excavate garbage
• archaeological, diet and nutrition
o Garbage between affluence and impoverished area
• Disease difference
• Shortages etc
• Nutrition
o Looking at trash is unbiased
o Tops of the cans—do they get recycled or not? What does this tell us about the way people think about things
```
45
Grand Challenges in Arch Article
o Overall study to see what important challenges are for archaeology
o Surprising challenges?
• Surprising that A7 falls in the realm of archaeology
•
o What is a particularly large one?
o E7
• Climate change
• Arch can give us a long term understanding of climate change
o When did humans really start affecting the environment
o 1800s
o how society is structured
o collapse and famine—arch plays a big role
o hurricane Katrina and Detroit
46
Cobb Critique of Grand Challenges article
o The critique is that it didn’t encompass the opinions of everyone
• Mainly men and older archaeologists
o Oriented toward the natural scientists in a sense
o Grand challenges article is only geared at archaeologists
47
The golden Marshalltown ARTICLE/READING
• Who deserved the golden Marshalltown—the people who actually dig and do the damn thang
• People who just want the prestige on the theory
• Memorable quote:
o “most fun with your pants on!”
o aka the hands on stuff is fun
• arch as anthro
• humans tread on, interact with and alter the environment
• arch based on study of humans their places and their things
48
How you DO archaeology
preservation
survey
excavation
49
Classes/types of archaeological data
artifacts
ecofacts
features
50
artifacts
```
portable objects that owe their form to humans
o Something that is created by people
o Pieces of basket
o Paintings
o Arrows
o figurines
```
51
Ecofacts
influenced by humans but not necessarily made by humans—humans didn’t specifically MAKE these—portable objects that have cultural significance, but do not owe their form to humans
o Bones
o Wood charcoal
o Pit used to do something
52
Features
non portable human made remains that cannot be removed without destroying their original form
o If you were to move them it will be something different entirely
o Floors
o Cave art
53
Sites
```
a spatial cluster of artifacts ecofacts and features—OR simply a place where human activity took place
• Geographic location
• Function
• Cultural affiliation
• Chronological affiliation
```
54
Preservation
Taphonomy—study of decay, or how organisms become part of the fossil record
In arch how natural processes produce patterning in arch data
Aridity helps preserve sites
Stone and pottery preserve the best—better than metal
Anaerobic environments help preserve materials
Pompeii
o Volcanic ash preserved everying
Bog bodies
Lack of oxygen helps
Extreme environments help the arch record
55
Survey
```
• Accidental discoveries
o Frequently
• Construction projects
o You can’t build on artifacts/ burial grounds
• Scientific survey
o Statistical surveying
o GPS
• Mapping sites
o You can make 3d maps with a certain device
o V cool
• Subsurface detection
o Augers, cores, shovel test pits (STP)
o Guide to future excavation
o Patterning
• Remote sensing methods
o Remote sensing can detect things that the eyes can’t see
• Below surface sensing
• Aerial remote sensing
```
56
Excavation methods
vertical
| horizontal
57
Site formation processes (how sites form)
* Behavioral processes—human activities that produce tangible arch remains
* Transformational processes—conditions and events that affect arch data from the time of deposition to the time of recovery
* CONTEXT
58
Archaeological context
Context is fundamental to interpretation
Interpretive: primary context in situ—always meant to be there
Secondary context—disturbed after disposition
59
The matrix
```
physical medium around the remains:
Soild
Sediment
Shell
Gravel
Nothing is floating in space
```
60
Provenience
3d location of an artifact or feature ie its horizontal and its vertical dimensions--where exactly it sits in space
61
Association
relationship between remains
62
Excavation strategies
• Natural vs. arbitrary strata
• To follow the natural stratigraphy
o Youre looking at the color of the soil and soil patterns that are natural
• To look at arbitrary strata
o Its like to understand what was made around it—human made?
• Bioturbation and other mixing
o Sometimes when youre digging you can’t tell that well whats happening
o Could be rodent burrows
o Or tree roots
o Modern stuff that changed the old stuff in a sense
o It causes stratigraphy to be unclear
63
Caracol Belize—A case study ARTICLE/READING
• A site in Belize
• Tallest structure in Belize
o They will not allow anything taller to be built
• They beat Tikal
• AD 562—Star-War event
• Caracol’s Face caches
o A cache is a ceremonial object--/vessel
o Found A LOT OF THEM
o They found a lot of FULL vessels
• All about strats and association!!!
o They found all of these different face caches and drew the stratigraphy and locations of the items
• Temporal sequences
o Created a chart of when each type of face cache was placed there
• These rural people had these calendars and traditions around a certain amount of years
o THIS IS MIDDLE THEORY
• Could figure out time and space and stuff
• High theory would tell us why the faces change and why there are also birds
64
Stages of research
Research design
• Get funding
• Survey—understand the place you are working—understand the landscape
• Excavations—targeted exposures of the ancient past based on questions
o You dig based on questions
• Analysis and interpretation—what did we find
• Share—publications presentations reports refine and reshape study regroup
65
what happens with excavations
```
recovered and recorded
interpretation
low level theory
middle level theory
--where interpretation happens
high level theory
```
66
Lyell and Hutton
Uniformitarianism
67
uniformitarianism
this is where middle level theory is based
--uniformitarianism is the assumption that the same natural laws and processes that operating in the universe now have always operated in the universe in the past and apply everywhere in the universe
68
How middle level theory works
- We can understand the context of the artifacts, that is the behavior that created the specific distribution of the materials by using ANALOGY
- An analogy notes similarities between two entities and inferring from the similarity that an additional attribute of one is also true of the other
- -----Never 100% sure
69
Analogy
(david and Kramer)
• An archaeological object is characterized by attributes A, B, C and D
• The analogy is characterized by attributes A,B,C,D and has the function or property E
• Therefore, the archaeological object also has the same function or property
• The more characteristics you have that are similar the better
there is FORMAL analogy
and RELATIONAL analogy
70
formal analogy
justified by similarities in the form, formal attributes of arch and ethnographic features
o Probably used in past, same as in present
71
Relational analogy
justified based on the basis of close cultural continuity between the arch and the ethnographic cases or similarity in general cultural form
o Justified based on the basis of close cultural continuity between the archaeological and ethnographic cases or similarity in general cultural form
o Descendent communities
o Similar settlement systems, economics or environments
o Although these analogies may be stronger they are not perfect either
72
Where do analogies come from
Ethnography
Experimental ____
Taphonomy
73
Historical documents are used but not every culture has them
Can be used to create analogies to the past?
74
Ethnographic analogy
• Advantage is that anthropologists have studies groups around the world
• Many still practice traditional lifestyles that can be attributed to their ancestors
• Problems:
o Time depth—
o Bias of the living ancestors
• Just because people live similarly doesn’t mean they are their ancestors
• All people change
o Inappropriate/uncritical use
• Have to make sure that the cultural anthropologist is answering the same questions that arch is looking for
• They may gloss over the things you need
o Non-material focus
• Not all cultural anthropologists care about the materials
75
Not all analogies are equal
• Strong vs weak
o Strong if there are many similar ethnographic examples
o Many attributes in common
o Ethnographic…MORE HERE…
76
Ethnoarchaeology
is the study of contemporary peoples to determine how much behavior is translated into the arch record
• Archaeology do cultural anthro specifically to understand the past
77
Experimental archaeology
these are studies designed to aid archaeological interpretation by duplicating behavioral processes through experimentation
• Moving the stones of Stonehenge—conduction experiments of how they moved it without having had the wheel
• You may never know for sure if your way is right but sometimes you can sorta assume its similar
• You want to replicate the formal characteristics of the thing you’re trying to create
78
Taphonomy
geology—the study of how organisms become part of the fossil record
Arch—how natural processes contribute to the formation of archaeological sites
Goal of archaeologists- identifying taphonomy is to remove all patterns that are the result of natural processes, thus lending to our understanding of human behavior and environmental context
79
Hudson-Meng Bison Bone bed ARTICLE?
• 21 projectile points, minimum number of individuals (MNI)>500 crushed skulls (bison)
• how do we explain this?
o Mass-killed hunting site?
o TAPHONOMY
• When the flesh rots away the post cranial bones are going to fall flat into on stratum and they’ll get covered in the soil. However the skull will protrude out of the soil longer
• Died but not from spears
• Could be a disease or something but can’t tell
80
Relative dating
* Artifact x is older than artifact y
* Artifact Y is younger than artifact Z
* Only method available for a long time
81
Law of superposition
* The principle that the sequence of observable strata from bottom to top reflects the order of deposition form earliest to latest
* Good at one site
* Not good between sites
* Law of superposition only works sometimes?
82
Index fossil concept
* 19th century attributed to William “strata” smith
* observed forms of life changed over time
* first to notice that you can look at fossils in different strata to figure out that stuff earlier is way older than stuff later
* fossils characterize strata
83
seriation
• arranging objects so that those adjacent to one another are more alike than objects farther apart
• “this group of artifacts are the newest, this group of artifacts is the oldest”
• you don’t need specific calendar dates to do this
• principles of seriation
o dependent on dividing classes of objects into types
o styles change gradually over time
84
archaeological classification
* separate into like materials
* based on observations of formal attributes
* the attributes used depends on the research question
* create a typology: the systematic arrangement of material culture based on a clustering of attributes
85
Three major types of typologies
• morphological
o why are things morphologically different like two different figurines
• temporal
o like a hairstyle—change over time
• functional
o 2 stone tools may have different functions—can separate by their function
86
What creates a good typology?
• Minimize the differences within each created type and maximize the differences between types
• Must be objective and able to be replicated
o Statistics and measurements
87
Temporal types
* Temporal types often based on technological innovation or style
* Critical to do seriation
88
Willams Flinders Petrie
• Looked at Egyptian funerary jars
o Knew which were earlier and which were later based on text
o But did seriation based on stratigraphy
o How did they change over time?
89
Frequency
* Determines the sequence of deposits by looking at the frequency of types
* Curves called battleship curves (the curves are the frequency curves)
90
James Deetz—16th-19th c gravestones New England
• Using the dates on the gravestones he showed how the morphology changed over time in the frequency of certain features on a gravestone
91
Space-time systematics
• Periods—based on gross changes in easily observable archaeological markers for example technology and subsistence
• Phases—a period of time that is characterized by one or more distinctive artifact types for example specific pottery style
o Phases are within time periods
92
Relative dating
• Dates artifacts/layers in relation to other things
• Does not provide actual ages (no calendar years)
• Usually indirect or through association
• Used to create periods and phases
o Even if you don’t know calendar date you can do relative dating
93
Absolute dating
process of determining an age--Dendrochronology is an example
Dendrochronology
• Tree ring dating
• Correlated samples for dating/climate
• Very accurate
94
Carbon-14 dating
* Unstable
* Maintained in living beings decays on death
* We can date organic remains in this way
95
Libby Half Life—Williard Libby
```
• Radiometric: C14 dating
• We call it radio carbon dating usually
4 grams of carbon—radiocarbon dating
• That’s what you need to do this
• Usually you don’t want to touch carbon
```
96
Limitations of carbon dating
```
• Context
o You don’t want a modern context
• RC dates are statistical in nature
o It gives you a range of dates
o Usually +/- 100-200 years
```
97
Potassium/argon dating
* Based on decay ration of K40/Ar40
* Good for very old dating
* Half life is 1.3 billion years
98
Limitations of L/Ar dating
* Starts at 500,000 years ago
* Only volcanic rocks
* Indirect method
* Large errors (+/- 30,000 years)
99
Dating Gap!
```
• 50,000-500,000years ago
• thermoluminescence-TL
o trapped heat—good for pottery
• optically stimulated luminescence—OSL
o sun catcher—good for soils
• electron spin resonance—ESR
o “toothy” good for teeth bone shell
```
100
summary of dating
• direct v indirect
o dating the sample itself vs association to other samples
• relative dating
• absolute
o put the age of the sample into known time scales
• radiocarbon
o most common absolute dating method in archaeology
101
know how to apply which kind of dating
```
o bones w radiocarbon
o charcoal w radiocarbon
o soil with OSL
o pottery with TL
• anything can be direct or indirect depending on what you do?
```
102
ARTICLE Video games—gonzalez-tennant
* the ability to explore worlds
* rosewood town
* immerse yourself in a landscape
* didn’t want to trivialize racial history by doing this
* has a social element to it
* this videogame thing is a trend
103
Frachetti ARTICLE
* flow model
* using cattle like water
* ancient routes are determined by cattle routes
* something to do with grass
* animals go where good grass is
* so used the flow model with how good the grass is rather than elevation?
* Silk roads were there bc cities were there
* We don’t know if for it is because of the grass
* Just a reasonable guess
* Landscape arch
104
Lewis Binford—smudge pits and hi smoking ARTICLE
• Smudge pits—area filled with burned corn cobs
• Binford was trying to talk about anaology
o He was trying to figure out what the smudge pits were used for
o This is a middle level theory question
• Carbonized stuff
• Oxidation of soil
• What does he do to try to figure out the function?
o Used ethnographic references to figure out what the smudge pits were and what their possible function
• Used for smoking hide
• He looks at the different native American tribes and comes to the conclusion that 2 of them were doing what he thought the ancient people were doing—corn cobs and smoking hide
o These tribes were doing it to make moccasins shirts, leggings etc.
• Safe assumption that this is what they were used for
• RELATIONAL ANALOGY
• But also used some formal but the primary was relational analogy
105
Amazonian Taskscapes ARTICLE
• If you want to understand a society look at the kind of tasks created
• Understanding the landscape based on how it was formed
• Tasks
• Divided by groups platforms divisions
• Neighborhood is typology of ARCH FEATURES
• Trying to understand the tasks
• Shouldn’t think of these people as belonging to a chiefdom or tribe or anything
• Look at things based on landscape itself
• He basically creates maps
o Took aerial photos and combine them
• Looked at google earth
• Was working in Amazon
o Bolivia
• Savannah of the amazon
• There are these islands
• He mapped this by saying to his students to go on google earth and mark everytime they see raised fields based on ArcGIS
o Creating maps and analyzing maps
• The island forests are always around these raised fields
• The agricultural fields are super super old
• No one in the amazon farms like that any more so we know they are very old
• You trace on google earth and the save and then export
• This is proof that the Amazon is not pristine
• Its super farmed
• The more burned it is the more you can actually see from google earth
• Students drew the fields and put points everytime they saw an island
• All these agro sites are on rivers
• Are the fields around the same size?
• Pattern and location
• Clusters of fields
• See how findings affect anthropological stuff
106
types of analysis
morphological
temporal
functionalq
107
Lithic technology
manufacture of tools from stone
reductive tehchology--a technology where a material usually stone is acquired and shaped by removing fragments or flakes until it is formed into the finished product
108
reductive technology
a technology where a material usually stone is acquired and shaped by removing fragments or flakes until it is formed into the finished product--lithic technology is an example
109
two types of lithic technology
chipped stone
| groundstone
110
chipped stone
a type of lithic technology--produced by fracturing to drive flakes from a core
- the oldest preserved traces of culture and technology
- more important in arch record--they are all over the world
111
groundstone
a type of lithic technology
- produced by abrading and pecking hard stone to form tools with durable edges and surfaces
- like mortar and pestle
112
chipped stone tools
* Many types of chipped stone have been used to name early periods of cultural development
* Oldowan, Clovis cultures…
* Chipped stone tools are usually the most common tools found in the archaeological record
113
core
lithic artifact from which flakes are removed
- what you have at first
- used to as a blank to make other tools
114
flake
lithic artifact detached from a core either as debitage or as a tool
Debitage--debris resulting from manufacture of lithic artifacts
----------basically flakes that you will not use to make tools
115
blade
long thin parallel sided flakes
usually made from a cylindrical core
if it is twice as long as it is wide it is a blade
116
how do you form a chipped stone tool (3 ways)
* Direct percussion—flakes produced by striking a core with a hammerstone
* Indirect percussion—flakes produced by striking a punch placed against a core
* Pressure flaking—flakes produced by applying pressure against a core, as opposed to striking
117
PARTS OF A FLAKE AND A BLADE
SEE THE HANDOUT/INTERWEB
118
What are the steps in lithic analyses?
* Materials used—petrology study of rocks and their composition and origins
* Its form—flake blade or core
* Technological analysis—how was it made?
* Functional analysis—what was it used for?
119
ceramics
artifacts made from fired clay
120
flintnapping
know stuff from video??
121
Pottery
form of ceramic--clay formed into containers and fired
122
Pottery technology
* Clay—fine grained earth that develops plasticity when wet
* Temper—substances added to clay before manufacturing to reduce shrinkage and breakage during drying and firing
* Finish—with a slip or a glaze
* Decoration—by modeling
123
Three ways to make pottery
```
• Hand forming
Oldest kind of pottery technology
Models a vessel from a clay core or adding coils and welding the junctures with thin solution of clay and water
• Mold forming
Pottery as a well as figurines, spindle worlds, etc.
• Wheel forming
Most common today
Rotating a clay core
```
124
How do you analyze pottery?
• Stylistic
• Form and function
• Technological
What type of clay, tempers, pigment was used
How was the pottery fired?
• Analogy and experiment—what are terms related to this
Ethnoarchaeology and experimental archaeology
125
ARTICLES FOR 9.28--about pottery maybe?
check these out later
126
What are the basic components of a culture
```
• Social systems
• Technology
o The means used by people to interact directly with and adapt to the environment
• Ideological systems
o Ex=religion
```
127
Social system
```
• The means by which societies organize themselves and their interactions with other societies
o Kinship—family organization
• Simplest and most basic
o Political organization
• Regulates how we live
o Economic organization
• Could be agriculture, education etc.
```
128
Kinship
• A network of relationships through which individuals are related to one another by ties of decent and marriage
o Descent—could be real or imagined
• Close kin, distant kin, or not kind may be biologically inaccurate
Ego=person of interest in the kinship chart
• Circle is female
• Triangle is maie
129
Settlement archaeology
• Study of the spatial distribution of ancient human activities and occupation
o Activities within a room…
o To arrangement of sites in a larger region
130
Kinship charts
.
131
Settlement patterns
* The distribution of features and sites across the landscape
* Pioneered by Gordon Willey
* Viru Valley, Peru
* The idea is that you can look at the way people use the environment and how different social relationships are formed
132
Gordon Willey
pioneered study of settlement patterns with his ork in Viru Valley Peru
133
Landscape Archaeology VERY IMPORTANT ARTICLE FOR EXAM
• Settlement patterns in the Amazon
o Looked at 2 different areas
o Compared how different settlements occurred
• LOOK BACKAT THIS ARTICLE FOR THE EXAM
134
Joya de Ceren, El Salvador
• Ancient maya village
• Covered in volcanic ash after an eruption in AD 590
• Incredible preservation of artifacts, features and ecofacts
• Ash preserved stuff incredibly well including mud houses
• The New World Pompeii
o People were able to escape unlike in Pompeii
• Discovered in 1976 after a bulldozer leveled part of the site
• Were able to distinguish between living plants (at the time) and plants that were already prepared
o Like avocado that was living vs curated/prepared
135
Household archaeology
* Study of ancient households
| * In the ancient maya we can see it is incredibly varied
136
Ancient economies and exchange systems
• Not just the study of money
• Tribute is a big part of ancient economic practices
• Economy—the provisioning of human society
o Broad in scope as opposed to common usage of the term
o Western economy—focused on prices wages international markets capitalism vs socialism etc
o What are the processes and mechanisms by which food, clothing, shelter, water are proceeded to all members of a society?
o Social organization is a must…
137
Exchange systems
• Two basic forms of exchange
o Reciprocal—simple, direct trade between to parties
o Redistributive—mediated through their-party
• Market systems, long distance trade networks etc
• Taxing, surplus, tribute may be collected if necessary
138
Trade of obsidian in the maya lowlands
• Complex network of obtaining a specific good
139
2 primary classes of goods
• Utilitarian—staple foods and tools
• Non-utilitarian—gifts, ritual goods, ritual foods, and prestige goods
• Where does obsidian fall for the Maya?
o Its both—some used as tools some as art
140
Ideology in the Archaeological Record (example)
• The worlds tree is erupted out of him (the Maya King)
o He was really important in the maya world
o The turquoise is prob jade—green is basically their gold
• This is his sarcoffogaus lid
141
Ideological systems
• One of the major components of culture
• Knowledge or beliefs used by human societies to understand and cope with their existence
• Part of post-processual archaeology
o Argued that ideology not technology is the driving force within cultural systems
• Basically that humans have free will in cultural systems
• recognized through symbols
142
Symbols
• an object or at that stands for something else
o no direct connection is necessary
• black power in civil rights and colin kapernick—both during national anthem
• what does the American flag directly represent? Does it simply have one meaning?
o It is supposed to represent just the territory within certain borders
o BUT it represents way way way more
• Harder to understand symbols and ideologies of the past
143
How do we recognize symbols archaeologically?
• Depiction
o The fact that there are faces on coins
• Patterned substitutions—alternative elements appear in the same or similar contexts
o The faces on different coins
• Anomalous and deliberate associations with no evidence of technological, economic or other kinds of justification
o Basically they’re nonfunctional (utilitarian vs. non-utilitarian)
144
According to my notes the Caracol Face Cache article is v. important
.
• Simple vs complex—early vs late
• The face has no value just a symbol—
145
Effigy Mounds—ARTICLE
• Emerged after the dissolution of the Hopewell interaction sphere
• Mounds were constructed based on animal forms
• Early archaeologists were unsure of their meaning and function
• New view have emerged based on ideology
Ideology of effigy mounds?—ARTICLE
• Based on historic native American belief systems
• Stresses the relationship of an idealized state between nature and culture
• Cosmic representation of the life forces that people depend on
o In this cased, animals and nature
WHERE ARE THEY? IOWA?
146
Pilgrimage to the past—ARTICLE
• Higgins’ journey across Africa to understand his ancestry
• Travelled to the Caribbean and different parts of Africa
• Symbolic objects and rituals were encountered
• Saw a black doll in mother’s encyclopedia and was stunned bc had never seen that before
o Then became interested in his own African history
• Still strong cultural continuity between Africa and the new world (in Brazil?)
• This is about identity (sorta about ideology)
147
Written in the Stars—ARTICLE-- KNOW THE ANSWERS TO THESE Q’S
• Where is the Maya creation myth written?
highland of Guatemala
• In terms of astronomy, what were the Maya able to figure out?
timing of celestial bodies?
• Where did their art themes come from?
astronomy
148
Popul Vuh Maya creation myth
know the basics
149
Sex
inherited biological differences between males and females
150
Gender
culturally constructed ideas about sex differences
| • 2 sexes but many genders can exist
151
Third Genders today
Muxe of Mexico
| “two spirit people” native American
152
Muxe
3rd gender in mexico
o come originally from Oaxaca
o born biologically as men, dress as women but the are neither
o traditionally perform womens roles
o they have relationship with men who identify as homo or heterosexual
o Muxe is not male or female
o Gender conception is different
153
Two spirit People
native american 3rd gender
o third gender that are found in North America
o they are biologically men but perform women’s roles
o traditionally they carry high spiritual power and are considered very intelligent people
o they are considered to be smart because they are always considering and questioning their gender and sexuality
o they were people who would do burials because they are considered special
154
gender roles
the culturally prescribed behavior associated with men and women
155
gender ideology
the cultural prescribed values assign to the task and status of men and women
156
Gender in practice: reconstructing Male vs female activities in the past
```
• were ceramics made by men or women?
• Study led by Prudence rice
• First, how are pot made?
o Hand pottery
o With the wheel
• Research ethnographic data from a variety of societies
```
157
Rice’s ceramic study Results
• Hand made ceramics were usually made by women
• Wheel pottery was usually made by men
• What can we infer from this?
o If we find pottery made by hand in the archaeological recor, it was also made by women
o If we find wheel pottery made by men
• Using ethnographic instance of which gender made a specific type of pottery to infer who was making pottery in the past is a strong analogy
• Women are making the more important pottery that is not mass produced while men make the easier mass produced stuff
158
Gender in Maya iconography
The huipil--
• Strong woman
• Stila dress—we know these women were strong and important in the past so we can guess they are still important when we see women in these dresses
o This is analogy
159
How else do we describe people other than their sex/gender?
by social identity
160
social identity
* Through ethnicity religion faction occupation language etc
| * Identity is most obvious through visible distinctions body modifications and clothing
161
Bioarchaeology
study of the human biological component (human bones ususally) evident in the archaeological record
162
Mortuary archaeology
the study of the political social material and biological condition of human burial remains in the past
163
how is bioarchaeology different from mortuary archaeology?
. look this up
164
Agency
• The ability for humans to act as active agents rather than passive member of society
o Free will vs determinism
• Practice theory
o The continuous reshaping of culture through people’s daily practices
165
Agency in Ancient Maya Rituals
Rituals and deposition: the ancient Maya
• The same type of burials/practices existed to build house mounds (clay) and pyramids/palaces (stone)
• The people that have lesser means still have agency to follow the same practices
166
anarchy in archaeology
* How individuals can or do form cooperative social groups without coercion
* A focus on social alienation and questioning of political representation
* Concerns with unequal power structures
167
anarchism vs marxism
o The difference is that anarchism has 0 government and Marxism the ultimate goal is communism
168
Gender studies in arch
• Modern stereotypes
• Breaking down stereotype of man the hunter and woman the gatherer
o Men occasionally hunt, women basically do everything
o Men only really hunted for special occasion
• The use of pronouns for females is always passive while the men are considered active
o Linguistic postulates
• What was the problem with gender in the arch record?
• How does/did gender studies influence studies of agency?
169
Agency ARTICLE
• No agency without individual humans
• Situational
• Individuals have more power than you think
• People who don’t have a voice still may have agency
• 5 key themes
o power, action, time, relationships, humanity
170
Anarchy ARTICLE
• anarchist theory questions the theory that we go from simple to complex
• there is coercion and an inability to ___
• communication failed between people and someone decided to take over
• How is anarchism different than Marxism? How are they similar?
• Why is archaeology well suited for anarchism studied to arise?
o Because it is more difficult to be in a simple society
• What can anarchism contribute to the practice of archeological research?
o Global north and south
o Something to think about
