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Anthropology 2AC > Midterm Exam 2 > Flashcards

Midterm Exam 2 Flashcards

1
Q

Clovis / Folsom Points

A

Used for chronology purposes. Folsom spear points were associated with an extinct species of bison. Folsom stratum helps provide a dating reference in sites. Clovis points were found with mammoth remains, which pushed the chronology of Native Americans back even further. Together, they suggest multiple migrations of people in the Americas.

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2
Q

Modal Artifact Types

A

Tendencies in manufacturing ceramics, stone tools, or architecture. Help reconstruct mental template of that society.

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3
Q

Hypothetico-Deductive nomological model / Positivism

A

HDN model: One proceeds as a scientist by taking a specific hypothesis and testing it. The deductions one makes from the result of the test should then be used to produce generalizing explanations.

Positivism: Scientific approach to archaeology.

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4
Q

Alan Farahani

A

Environmental archaeology: Aims to uncover the the ecology of human communities in the past.

Paleoethnobotany: The study of past cultures through the examination of human populations’ interactions with the plant world.

Macrobotanical remains: Archaeological plant remains visible to the naked eye or by means of a low power microscope.

Microbotanical: Phytolith and starches.

Anthracological: People’s relationship with trees.

Palynological: Study of archaeological pollen extracted from alluvial environments.

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5
Q

NSF / NEH

A

Provide federal and stat grants towards pure research.

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6
Q

State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO)

A

Appointed by governor and oversees historic preservation or CRM activities in that state.

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7
Q

James Deetz

A

Exercised symbol approach (material culture is thought of as symbols of past providing meaning into their cultures) by doing archaeology in New England. Demonstrated a shift in cultural values by showing a shift from community to individual.

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8
Q

Agency in archaeology

A

Treating people as passive robots; genderless and faceless blobs. People in archaeological record were treated as passive actors in broader cultural processes. This was a criticism of postprocessual archaeology.

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9
Q

Bone as a biocultural material

A

Dynamic tissue which can reveal a great amount of information about past peoples. Many markers (pathologies) on skeletons that can be studied as macroscopic and microscopic evidence.

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10
Q

Scientific Method

A

The operational means of science, by which natural phenomena are observed and conclusions drawn.

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11
Q

Contour Lines/Topographic Maps

A

Contour lines on topographic maps show elevation change on the surface of the Earth or below the surface of the ocean.

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12
Q

Sample Size/Sample Fraction

A

Size: Total population of sample units from the data universe.

Fraction: Number of sample units chosen for study as a percentage of data universe. Near 100% for spatial analyses.

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13
Q

Vitamin D

A

Helps towards absorption and demotion of calcium.

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14
Q

Charles Redman

A

Proposed six basic principles as guides to the formulation of field strategies.

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15
Q

Settlement Pattern Survey

A

Survey to study the pattern of how groups of people live together in an archaeological site.

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16
Q

Total data acquisition / Sample data acquisition

A

Total: Investigation of all sample units in a population.

Sample: Investigation of only a portion of the sample units in a populations using either probabilistic or non probabilistic sampling.

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17
Q

Diffusion

A

Transmission of ideas from one culture to another.

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18
Q

Matrix / Association / Provenience / Context

A

Matrix: The physical medium that surrounds, holds, or supports archaeological data.

Association: Occurrence of an item of archaeological data adjacent to another and in or on the same matrix.

Provenience: The three-dimensional location of archaeological data within or on the matrix at the time of discovery.

Context: Characteristics of archaeological data that result from combined behavioral and transformational processes, which are evaluated by means of recorded association, matrix, and provenience.

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19
Q

Ruth Tringham

A

Key figure in the feminist approach popularized in post-processual archaeology.

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20
Q

New or Processual Archaeology (and associated definition of culture)

A

Cultural process approach: Archaeological interpretation aimed at delineating the interactions and changes in cultural systems by the application of both descriptive and explanatory models based on ecological and materialist views of culture.

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21
Q

Multi-phase field strategy (multi-stage)

A

Way of organizing field work based on spatial scale of research. Redman: Start with broadest scale first and then progress down to smaller scale. Lightfoot: Start with least intrusive and then move to higher impact methods.

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22
Q

Scales of Analysis

A

The scale at which study and interpretations is conducted.

Macro: Long-term changes

Micro: Emphasis on context. Very detailed analysis on short-term changes.

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23
Q

Mark Leone

A

Developed the idea of critical theory.

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24
Q

Gordon Willey

A

Looked at settlement patterns in Peru. Based on regional survey work.

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25
Q

Magnetic North / True North

A

Magnetic: The direction the needle of a compass will point.

True: The axis around which the Earth rotates.

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26
Q

Cultural Resource Management

A

The conservation and selective investigation of prehistoric and historic remains; specifically, the development of ways and means, including legislation, to safeguard the past.

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27
Q

Direct Historical Approach

A

Developed by Smithsonian scientists. Used knowledge of present to interpret and reconstruct the past. Took detailed notes, linguistic studies, and studies of human remains. Trained in the four fields of anthropology.

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28
Q

Representative Fractions / Map Scale

A

Scale used in a map.

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29
Q

Human Skeletal Remains / bone (i.e. things that skeletal remains can inform us about ancient humans)

A

Dynamic tissue which can reveal a great amount of information about past peoples. Many markers (pathologies) on skeletons that can be studied as macroscopic and microscopic evidence.

Can help give information about everyday life and organization of labor.

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30
Q

USGS maps

A

Typically used for surface surveys. 7.5 minute maps provided by the USGS, typically 1:24000 scale.

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31
Q

Culture Areas / Time-space grids

A

Culture Area: A spatial unit defined by ethnographically observed cultural similarities within a given geographical area; used archaeologically to define spatial limits to archaeological cultures.

Time-space grids: A synthesis of temporal and spatial distributions of data used in the culture history approach based on period sequences within culture areas.

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32
Q

Subsurface Survey (methods employed)

A

Remote sensing techniques of area below ground carried out at ground level.

* Auguring: Technique using a drill run by either human or machine power to determine the depth and characteristics of archaeological or natural deposits.

* Coring: Technique using a hollow metal tube driven into the ground to lift a column of earth for stratigraphic study.

* Shovel testing: Technique using either posthole diggers or shovels to make a rapid determination of the density and distribution of archaeological remains.

* Magnetometer: Device used to measure minor variations in the Earth’s magnetic field, which may reveal archaeological features as magnetic anomalies.

* Resistivity Detector: Instrument used to measure differences in the conductivity of electrical current and thus may identify archaeological features.

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33
Q

Problem of equifinality

A

A given pattern in the archaeological record could be satisfactorily interpreted or explained in different ways, with reference to a number of different possible processes. No way to test between these interpretations.

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34
Q

Gray Literature

A

Unpublished site reports. CRM reports typically cannot be disseminated publicly.

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35
Q

Magnetic Declination

A

Difference between true north and magnetic north.

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36
Q

Surface Pedestrian Survey

A

Survey teams walking systematically across the designated study area to locate sites that may be visible on the ground surface.

37
Q

Metini Village Site, Fort Ross

A

Central Kashaya Pomo village occupied while Fort Ross was occupied. Needed to use low impact archaeological survey. Also needed to involve women from descendent communities. Needed to respect cultural rules.

38
Q

Critical Theory

A

The recognition that there will be inherent biases in the work of archaeologists. Every scholar has a unique agenda and cannot be completely objective. Have to recognize that there are many ways to approach and interpret past.

Self-reflexive: Try to understand biases and perceptions that you have when generating interpretations.

Socio-politics: Archaeology may be appropriated by different groups since archaeology is done in the present.

39
Q

Meg Conkey

A

Argued for feminist approach in archaeology.

40
Q

Global Positioning Systems (GPS)

A

Geophysical surgery tool used to get precise coordinates for a location.

41
Q

Dhiban, Jordan

A

Site east of Dead Sea with 2500 years of documented occupation. Archaeology trying to work on learning more about the different settlements.

42
Q

UTMs

A

Universal Transverse Mercator grid coordinate system is a grid-based method of specifying locations on the surface of the Earth. Originally developed for military use. The world is divided into 60 north-south zones, each covering a strip 6 degrees wide in longitude. Zones are numbered consecutively beginning with Zone 1 (180-174 degrees west) and progressing eastward to Zone 60 (174-180 degrees east). Zone 10 and 11 cover California. Coordinates are measured north and east in meters. Northing values are measured continuously from zero at the Equator (assigned 10,000,000 meters). Central meridian through middle of each 6 degree zone (assigned 500,000 meters) is used to assign easting value.

43
Q

Lewis Binford

A

Processual archaeologist who criticized the culture history approach (pre 1960s) in 1964. Criticized idea of diffusion. Argued people are not carbon copies of one another. They do not follow modal or central tendencies; they do not typically behave the same way.

44
Q

Normative model of culture

A

Each unique culture is characterized by normative or ideal rules. These prescribe proper behavior in different social contexts. Prescribe how people manufacture, use and discard material culture.

45
Q

Feminist approaches in archaeology (and representations of gender)

A

Critique male-centric approach in archaeology. Bringing in women and children into the archaeological record. Arguing that rigid binary division of labor was too simplistic; need to empirically evaluate division of labor and family structures. Argued for by Meg Conkey.

46
Q

Techno-environmental models

A

Part of processual archaeology. Culture was adapted for the environment. The natural environment and technology were prime movers of culture. Changes in the environment or technology would help kick off changes in society.

47
Q

Kashaya Pomo

A

Inhabited coastal lands north of San Francisco. Hunter-gatherers who harvested wild plants and animals from the sea and land. The Fort Ross settlement was placed inside Kashaya Pomo territory by Russian merchants.

48
Q

Sampling Strategies (Random, Systematic, Stratified, Probabilistic vs. Non-Probabilistic/Judgmental)

A

Random: Where every sample unit in the total population of all sample units in study area or data universe has equal probability of being selected. Risk of samples clustering together.

Systematic: Spread sample units across a study area. First unit selected randomly, and then remaining units selected at regular intervals.

Stratified: Ensure broad coverage of the study area. Divide study area into zones or strata. Sample units are selected from each stratum. Allows studying different ecological zones. Most common method.

Probabilistic sampling (quantitative): Statistical method of some kind to choose sample. What’s found in sample units is representative of the broader data universe. Choosing so that characteristics of remains found is representative to some degree of total population of remains in the data universe.

Non-probabilistic (judgmental): Had prior knowledge about where archaeological remains are located. Targets more exotic and bigger sites. Smaller sites are often missed. Before 60s and 70s, this was predominant.

49
Q

Formation Processes (Behavioral and Transformational)

A

Behavioral: Human activities, including acquisition, manufacture, use and deposition behavior, that produce tangible archaeological remains.

Transformational: Conditions and events that affect archaeological data from the time of deposition to the time of recovery.

50
Q

Conjunctive Approach / Walter Taylor

A

Walter Taylor stressed systems thinking. Adapted by processual archaeologists wanting to abandon culture history approach.

51
Q

Michael Schiffer

A

Argued using transposed primary context pueblo site.

52
Q

Geophysical Survey Methods

A

Searching for anomalies underground created by archaeological remains.

53
Q

Low-impact / High-impact field methodologies

A

Low: Minimize disturbance to the spatial integrity of the archaeological record.

High: Large amount of disturbance to the archaeological record.

54
Q

Moundbuilders

A

Debate in the late 1800s on who had built mounds found in the midwest and the southeast. Majority argued that they were built by other civilizations that may have inhabited the land previously but eventually moved out. Minority argued that they were built by ancestors of Native Americans.

55
Q

Cyrus Thomas

A

Sent out by Congress in 1880s to investigate the mounds for the Smithsonian. At first believed that they were built by a lost civilization, but eventually converted to the belief that they were built by the ancestors of Native Americans. Pioneered the four field approach to archaeology.

56
Q

Bioarchaeology

A

Study of human skeletal remains recovered from archaeological contexts. Utilizes human skeletal remains to answer questions about human lifestyles, health, and diets in the past.

57
Q

Broken K Pueblo

A

Pueblo site with two occupations. Faunal remains found in T1, pollen in T2. James Hill argued that there was a shift from hunting to more corn agriculture (use-related primary context). Mike Schiffer argued that T1 sites were used as trash dumps (midden deposits) and that people from newer occupations were dumping objects into the sites of older occupations (transposed primary context).

58
Q

National Historic Preservation Act

A

Established the National Register of Historic Places. Created State Historic Preservation Officers (SHPO). Mandated most material to be stored in information centers.

59
Q

Environmental Archaeology Excavation: penetrating vs. clearing

A

Excavation Steps: Grid system, surface investigations, penetrating excavations, clearing excavations.

Penetrating Excavation: First step when beginning digging to get an idea of the stratigraphy and depth of the site. Test geophysical anomalies. Uses either judgmental sampling or probabilistic sampling.

Clearing Excavation: May decide to strip open an extensive area of the site to expose it. This is very expensive and labor intensive. A high impact procedure.

60
Q

Julie Wesp

A

GSI. Researching bioarchaeology.

61
Q

Radiocarbon Dating / Willard Libby

A

A radiometric dating technique based on measuring the decay of the radioactive isotope of Carbon-14 to stable Nitrogen-14.

62
Q

Melanie Miller

A

Studies bioarchaeology. Studying human skeletal remains.

63
Q

Stratigraphy/Stratigraphic Excavation

A

The archaeological evaluation of the significance of stratification to determine the temporal sequence of data within stratified deposits by using both the law of super position and context evaluations; also a relative dating technique.

64
Q

Macrobotanicals

A

Archaeological plant remains visible to the naked eye or by means of a low power microscope.

65
Q

Calcium

A

Critical for structural support and bodily chemical/metabolic processes.

66
Q

Provenience systems (lot vs. point)

A

Lot: All artifacts from a level are collected together as a lot. Quick and dirty; secondary context.

Point: Measure three dimensional location for every artifact from unit datum. Always used in use related primary context and often in transposed primary context.

67
Q

Culture History Approach (& critiques of it)

A

Archaeological interpretation based on temporal and spatial syntheses of data and the application of general descriptive models usually derived from a normative view of culture.

Critiques:

* Too much emphasis on artifact classification.

* Extensive descriptions on modal types.

* Little emphasis on how artifacts were actually used.

* Little emphasis on people behind the artifacts.

* Principal way of explanations of culture change is through diffusion.

68
Q

Classification

A

The ordering of phenomena into groups (classes) based on the sharing of attributes.

69
Q

Historical Particularism / Cultural Relativism

A

Historical particularism: All human cultures are unique and must be understood on their own terms. Each culture must be understood by its unique history.

Cultural relativism: Belief that each culture is unique and different in its own right. No two cultures would have same set of norms.

70
Q

Tradition / horizon

A

Tradition: Cultural continuity through time; the temporal basis of the New World culture history approach synthesis proposed by Willey and Phillips (1958).

Horizon: Cross-cultural regularities at one point in time; the spatial baseline of the New World culture history approach synthesis proposed by Willey and Phillips (1958).

71
Q

Overseas Chinese Archaeology (Market Street Chinatown, Amador County Farm)

A

Work mostly became popular due to CRM. Emphasis in last 5-10 years, partly due to collaborative archaeology. Chinese descendants brought in as stakeholders.

Amador County Farm: Found remains from both Chinese and Native American descent. Suggests an interracial living structure.

Market Street: Burned down numerous times; led to great preservation. Excavation done during the construction of the Fairmont Hotel in 1980s.

72
Q

Bioturbation

A

Soil movement caused by burrowing creatures, such as gophers.

73
Q

Primary/Seconday contexts

A

Primary context: The condition that results when provenience, association, and matrix have not been disturbed since the original deposition of archaeological data.

Secondary context: The condition where provenience, association, and matrix have been wholly or partially altered by transformational processes after original deposition of archaeological data.

74
Q

Ian Hodder

A

Criticized processual archaeology in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Argued that scientific approach really did not “prove” anything much.

75
Q

Pithouse villages

A

Groups of pithouses studied in archaeology project, such as the Duncan Village Project. Need to decide how to study: study one pithouse in great detail, or study all in broad strokes and compare broad differences.

76
Q

Arbitrary/Natural Levels

A

Arbitrary: Metrical stratigraphy. An arbitrary layer cake. Quick and dirty, and is often used in initial penetrating excavation to get an idea of the stratigraphy.

Natural: Excavating to different levels of deposit. Depends on what is found in the stratigraphy. Tends to be preferred.

77
Q

Remote Sensing

A

Archaeological survey methods involving aerial or subsurface detection of archaeological data.

78
Q

Post-processual archaeologies (and its definition of culture, & critiques of Processual archaeology)

A

(1980-present)

Archaeological interpretation aimed at understanding the past by reconstructing the point of view of past peoples who produced the archaeological record.

A shift away from cultural evolution. Processual was too materialistic and treated people as passive robots (agency in archaeology).

Trying to explain culture as if participating within it (emic).

79
Q

Emic / Etic

A

Emic: Insider’s perspective. Explain cultures as if participating within it. Trying to understand why actions are taking place. Adopted by postprocessual archaeologists.

Etic: Outsider’s perspective. Culture seen from perspective of external, scientific observer. Viewpoint held by processual archaeologists.

80
Q

Latitude & Longitude

A

Latitude: Shows how far north or south of the equator a given point is.

Longitude: Shows how far east or west a given point is, relative to the Prime Meridian.

81
Q

Duncan Village Project

A

CRM project led by Professor Lightfoot in Duncan, Arizona. Aim to study early (AD 300-500) remains of Native American pithouses on plateau before the construction of new residences.

Examined broader layout of pithouses. Used convict labor. Machinery to excavate down to a lower level, then excavating to lowest level by hand.

82
Q

Trinomial site identification

A

[State]-[County]-[Site Number]: Used for labeling and identifying sites.

83
Q

Systems Theory

A

Part of processual archaeology. Culture was an integrated system. Change in one system would affect other systems. (Environment, technology.)

84
Q

Cultural materialism / cultural ecology

A

Cultural materialism: The material world is seen as more important than the mental world.

Cultural Ecology: The study of the dynamic interaction between human society and its environment, which views culture as the primary adaptive mechanism in the relationship.

85
Q

Multilinear Cultural Evolution

A

A theory of cultural evolution that sees each society pursuing an individual evolutionary career shaped by accumulated specific cultural adaptations, rather than seeing all societies as pursuing the same course.

86
Q

James Hill

A

Argued using use-related primary context in Pueblo site.

87
Q

Research Design (and 7 stages)

A

A systematic plan to coordinate archaeological research to ensure the efficient use of resources and to guide the research according to the scientific method.

  1. Formulation: Involves definition of research problem and goals, background investigations, and feasibility studies.
  2. Implementation: Involves obtaining permits, raising funds, and making logistical arrangements.
  3. Data gathering: Stage in which data are gathered, normally by surface survey and excavation.
  4. Data processing: Stage usually involving, in the case of artifacts, cleaning, converging, labeling, inventorying, and cataloging.
  5. Analysis: Stage in which data are isolated, described, and structured, usually via typological classification, and chronological, functional, technological, and constituent determinations are made.
  6. Interpretation: Stage involving the synthesis of results of data analysis and the explanation of their meaning in order to reconstruct the past.
  7. Publication: Stage providing reports of the data and interpretations resulting from archaeological research.
88
Q

Unilinear / multi-linear evolution

A

Unilinear: A 19th-century version of cultural evolution holding that all human societies change according to a single fixed evolutionary course, passing through the same stages, described as savagery, barbarism, and civilization by Lewis Henry Morgan.

Multi-linear: A theory of cultural evolution that sees each society pursuing an individual evolutionary career shaped by accumulated specific cultural adaptations, rather than seeing all societies as pursuing the same course.

89
Q

High / Low Visibility

A

How well archaeological remains can be detected on the landscape.

High: deserts, little vegetation.

Low: Dense vegetation, soil deposition, flood plains.

Anthropology 2AC (3 decks)

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