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79 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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pseudoarchaeology
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looting and illegal collecting
•fantastic claims forms of cultural violence |
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arch. as science
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•Direct observation of empirical/material record
•Not concerned with things that cannot be observed or examined Mix of material-science and social-science |
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anthro. sub-fields
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1.Biological
2.Cultural 3.Linguistic 4.Archaeological |
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holistic
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integrated study of whole human condition
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comparative
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across time and space
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evolutionary
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directional change in response to environment
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contextual
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understanding broader context of behavior on own terms
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scales of analysis
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forest and trees –evolution and culture history
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prehistoric/historic
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Presence/absence
of texts |
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ethnohistory
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e.g., European colonialism
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strengths of arch.
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•long-term change in human societies
•materiality of human existence |
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arch. as the present
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•cultural patrimony
•identity •nationalism •land claims |
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cultural patrimony
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US v. Mexico
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Threats to arch. record
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•Looting/antiquities trade
•Urbanization •Mining, deep plowing, or other digging |
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Bishop James Ussher
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• Age of world using
Genesis, origin in 4004 BC |
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Antiquarians
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Collection by non-professionals
“Cabinets of Curiosities” |
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Myth of the Moundbuilders
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• Mounds must have been built by an extinct,
“civilized” race: – Vikings – Lost tribe of Israel – Ancestors of the Aztecs |
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Jefferson
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attributed mounds to Native
Americans and proved it |
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William Smith and stratigraphy
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Map of stratafor Brittan, relative dating based on fossils in chalk layers (1816)
law of superposition |
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Charles Lyell and uniformitarianism
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•“Father of modern geology”
•Principles of Geology(1830) explained principle of uniformitarianism •Antiquity of Man(1863) |
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Jacque Boucher de Perthes and association/antiquity of humanity
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The co-occurrence of an artifact with other archaeological remains, usually in the same matrix.
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Darwin/Wallace and evolution
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•“I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term Natural Selection.”
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Thomsen’s three-age system
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–1836, C.J. Thomsen’s guide to artifacts in Copenhagen museum
–Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age –Chronological ordering and change over time |
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Petrie and seriation
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Seriation- a relative dating technique based on the chronological ordering of a group of artifacts or assemblages, where the most similar are placed adjacent to each other in the series
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Uniformitarianism
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the principle that the stratification of rocks is due to the processes still going on in seas, rivers, and lakes. ex: geologically ancient conditions were in essence similar to or "uniform with" those of our own time
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artifacts
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portable object whose form is modified or created by human activity
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ecofacts
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•nonartifactual remains
•Examples: seeds, bones, pollen, nutshell, soil •Provide information on environment, subsistence |
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features
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•non-portable human-made remain
•Examples: hearth, ditch, post, etc •Cannot be moved without destroying |
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sites
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•concentrated traces of human activity
•accumulations of artifacts or features |
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regions
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•Largest cluster of data
•Geographical: bounded by natural features like mountains, water •Cultural: similarities in material culture |
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preservation issues
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•Effects after remains deposited
–Natural: decay, burial, etc –Human-induced: plowing, looting |
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inorganic/organic
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Inorganic: Stone tools, ornaments
•extremely good preservation Organic remains •generally poorly preserved |
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Iceman, Alps
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Cold Site Preservation
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Pompeii, Italy
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•Roman port city
•Destroyed by Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79 •One of earliest sites in world to be excavated |
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survey goals and methods
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•locate sites
•identify site properties •regional trends •cultural/environmental trends |
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sampling strategy
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•systematic
•random •stratified-random = natural or cultural zones get number proportional to area |
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transects
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straight path grid systems
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nearest-neighbor
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r-value = clustering/dispersal
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circumscription
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concentrated resources --> concentrated people
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central-place theory
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-economy
-politics -religion |
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rank-size analysis
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log normality =
systemic integration tiers = administration |
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concave vs. convex systems
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concave = strong capitol
convex = independence |
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viewshed analysis
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inter-visibility of sites
and monuments A viewshed is an area of land, water, or other environmental element that is visible to the human eye from a fixed vantage point. |
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least-cost path
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•accumulative cost of travel
•distance, slope, other factors •trade corridors and probable state expansion |
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Central Mexico –transportation corridors
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State expansion
focused on resources and corridors |
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resistivity
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electrical conductivity of soil/moisture
–damper soil more conducive –ditches/pits attract moisture –stone walls do not |
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magnetometry
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Magnetometry:differencesin magnetic intensities
•stone, burnt areas |
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ground-penetrating radar
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Emits radio impulses into soil.
Slower but best 3D control. |
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testing
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•exploratory
•determine –site size –occupation –stratigraphy –preservation •Usually preparatory to full-scale excavation |
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Vertical excavations:
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•excavated to expose strata
•site formation and chronology |
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Horizontal excavations:
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•opening large areas of particular layer
•reveals spatial association between artifacts and features |
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balks
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grid-square or box-grid method:
•Squares may be separated by balksto preserve a record of the stratigraphy |
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screening (dry/wet)
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Screening: passing soil through mesh to retain artifacts
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flotation
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technique for the recovery of botanical remains
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documentation: profile, planview, profile, artifact illustrations
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Profile illustrations –use line and line level to schematically
depict vertical strata |
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direct/indirect dating
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•Direct dating –the material itself
•Indirect dating –matrix/layer or association |
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classification
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•Classification: grouping artifacts into types based on their attributes
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formal/stylistic attributes
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•Formal = physical form/shape, more closely related to “function”
•Stylistic = decoration, imagery |
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“battleship” curves
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•measures changes in frequencies of types
•assumes that styles gradually become popular, peak (bulge), then fade gradually |
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superposition
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states that where one layer overlies another, the lower was deposited first
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biostratigraphy
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•association
•Requires good index fossils: –Known interval –Rapid and wide dispersal, extinction the branch of stratigraphy which focuses on correlating and assigning relative ages of rock strata by using the fossil assemblages contained within them. |
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fluorine/uranium bone dating
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•older bone incorporates more fluorine and uranium during fossilization
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Piltdown fraud
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•Human-like skull claimed from Paleolithic gravel pit
•Originally believed to be a missing link between humans and apes •Exposed as a hoax in 1953 •Fluorine/Uranium dating indicated skull was only about 600 years old and jaw was from a modern orangutan |
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pollen dating
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•comparison of pollen from site to established sequences
•Requires good preservation and well documented, local sequences |
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glottochronology
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attempt to formulate an approx. date based on assumption that the core vocabulary changes at a more or less constant rate
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Indo-European spread
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–père (French)
–Vater (German) –padre (Spanish/Italian) –faeder (Old English) –fadhir (Old Norse) –far (Swedish) |
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Petrie’s Predynastic pots
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•established technique of phyletic seriation in 1890s
•seriate tomb assemblages based on form and style •focus on attributes that carry over from one to another |
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Deetz’s tombstones
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evolution of style
frequency seriation |
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Calendar systems
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–Romans: recorded events relative to year of the rule of consuls or emperors, sometimes to year of Rome’s founding
–Greeks: reckoned from date of first Olympic games (~776 BC) –Maya reckoned time from the beginning of a creation cycle starting in 3114 BC |
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Mesoamerican Calendar Round and Long Count
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•Two calendrical systems:
–Calendar Round (pan-Meso): used for matching solar year with ritual calendar (“centuries”) –Long Count (used for 1000 years): more linear units of time Calendar Round: •13 months of 20 days = 260 day ritual calendar •18 months of 20 days (plus five day period) = 365 day solar year •cycles meet every 52 years |
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Dendrochronology
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•Study of the annual growth rings of trees
•Very precise dates •Requires good wood preservation •rings vary in size: –Become smaller with age –Vary with climate |
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Radiometric
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measuring radioactive decay of unstable isotope
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Half-life
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Appropriateness of particular method depends on the rate of decay
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Radiocarbon
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•Environmental 14C is absorbed by living organisms. When they die, no more is absorbed and decay rates can be measured.
•Half-life of 5730 years makes method very useful for much of the archaeological record (to 50/100kya) •Assumes amount of radiocarbon atmosphere has remained constant (it has not, requires calibration) •Contamination by organic matter •Context –Old wood –Secondary deposition |
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Kennewick Man, WA
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Very consistent with NE Asian (Ainu) traits
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Potassium-Argon
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•40K is common in Earth’s crust and is unstable
•Decay begins (slowly) when molten rock cools and solidifies (e.g. volcanic layers) •Half-life of 1.3 billion years gives range of 100kya-earliest rocks on Earth |
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Thermoluminescence Dating:
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•Materials with electron traps set to zero due to high heat:
–fired clay (pottery, daub) •material reheated, electrons are freed and emit light •older = more light •Dates from 300 to 50 kya |
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Uranium-series
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•decay of two uranium isotopes
•dates calcite deposits in caves, springs, lakes •useful for direct dating cave art or interval between 14C and K-Ar –High error estimates |
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Obsidian hydration
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•When fractured, obsidian absorbs water
•Hydration layer gets thicker over time •Works from now until 500 kya •Limitations: –rate of hydration varies –must establish local sequences |
