Subsistence & Environmental Archaeology Flashcards
(44 cards)
1
Q
Hunters and Gatherers
A
- low population density
- mobile
- rely on the natural resources readily available in their environment
2
Q
Pastoralists
A
- care and use domesticated herd animals
- low density
- mobile
3
Q
Farmers
A
- higher density
- investment in land
4
Q
Market Economy
A
connected communities, sedentary, differences in settlement sizes
5
Q
How do we learn about subsistence in the past?
A
- meals
- diets
6
Q
Meals
A
- stomach contents
- fossilized feces
7
Q
Diet
A
- the whole photo album, from your whole life
- direct and indirect examination
8
Q
Direct Examination
A
the remains of things we ate
9
Q
Indirect Examination
A
- things we use to obtain and prepare food
- our own bone chemistry
10
Q
Zooarchaeology/Archaeozoology
A
the identification and analysis of the remains of faunal species from archaeological sites
11
Q
Zooarchaeological Remains
A
- bones
- mollusk shells
- egg shells
- insect parts
- feathers, fur
- soft tissue
12
Q
Zooarchaeology Identification
A
- species
- bone in the body
- modifications to the bone
- age and sex of the animal
13
Q
Zooarchaeology Quantification
A
- how many yellow perch = one elk?
- does the presence of one bone from an animal indicate that people had the whole animal?
- how do you compare animals of the same species but different ages or sexes?
14
Q
Zooarchaeology Interpretations
A
- can provide data about:
- what past people ate
- if they used domesticated species
- how they processed animal carcasses
- where and when they may have obtained animals
- need to be cautious about exact caloric amounts contributed by different species or even types of species
15
Q
Taphonomy
A
- the processes which have affected organic materials
- can determine decisions about what is edible
- butchery and disposal practices
- chemistry of burial environment
ex. bone after death
16
Q
Reference Collection/Working in the Bone Library
A
- should contain:
- representatives of full range of species in a region in present and past
- different ages and sexes
- pathological examples
17
Q
Working in the Bone Library: Step 1
A
sorting
18
Q
Step 2
A
identification
19
Q
Step 3
A
find a match
20
Q
Step 4
A
eliminate the other possibilities
21
Q
Step 5
A
record data
22
Q
Paleoethnobotany/Archaeobotany
A
- the recovery and identification of plant remains from archaeological sites
- used in reconstructing past environments and economies
- identifies using a reference collection
- deal with issues of quantification
- concerned about taphonomy
23
Q
Plant Macroremains
A
- wood (charcoal)
- seeds
- fruit
- nut shell
- tubers
- use flotation tanks
24
Q
Plant Microremains
A
- pollen
- phytoliths
- starch grains
25
Environmental Arch
the reconstruction of human use of plants and animals and how past societies adapted to changing environmental conditions
26
Anthropocene
* the geological epoch in which human activities have significantly altered the earth’s climate and ecosystems
* a formal chrono-stratigraphic unit
* mid-twentieth century (1900)
27
Golden Spike
* mark the start of a new proposed geological epoch the Anthropocene
* Crawford Lake Ontario
28
Ecosystem Engineering
* modifying, maintaining or destroying a habitat by an organism
* impacts number of different species present
* impacts the degree of different types of landscapes (heterogeneity)
29
Keystone Species
species that strongly affect the environment are considered ecosystem engineers
ex. beavers, woodpeckers, humans
30
Relationships of Humans with Fire
* fire exclusion is a powerful destroyer of biodiversity
* the notion of “restoring natural fire regimes” without anthropogenic influence is neither possible nor useful
* inappropriate fire regimes by European colonists
31
Miocene Fires
* spread of savanna
* reduce invasions of species
32
Pleistocene Fire Creation
cooking had significant effects on human evolution
33
Holocene Landscape Burning
* creation and maintaining of new habitats (farming)
* craft production (pottery, metallurgy)
34
Post Industrial Fire
* fossil fuels
* much greater land clearance
35
Niche Construction
* changing of a local environment by an organism for the purposes of that organism
* many different organisms alter their environments
* results in changes to the environments of other organisms
36
Examples of human niche construction
* human goal: increase yields or predictability
* change plant communities through burning to increase plants and animals of economic importance
* enhancing water delivery
* broadcast sowing of annuals
* selective culling
* transplanting perennials
37
The Domestication Relationship
* over generations
* managed species and the manager species reap benefits
* mutual benefits (make it difficult for either partner to walk away)
38
Human Irrigation (watering land)
* managed plant produces more
* benefit to humans as greater yield
* benefit to plant because greater reproductive success compared with non irrigated plants
39
Predisposition to Domestication: Plants
ability to colonize open disturbed anthropogenic habitats
40
Predisposition to Domestication: Animals
* hierarchical social structure
* lower reactivity to humans
41
Predisposition to Domestication: Both
rapid response to selective pressures
42
Domestication is investigated by...
* direct changes to plant and animal parts
* expansion of ranges
* changes in human settlement patterns
43
Anthropogenic Extinctions
* megafauna (overhunting)
* island extinctions
* European colonialism
44
Island Extinctions
* anthropogenic in origin
* due to human hunting, anthropogenic burning, landscape clearing, translocation of new plants and animals
* Madagascar, New Zealand, Pacific Islands
