Anthropology 102 First Exam

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Archaeology

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the study of the past through its material remains and the relationship between human behavior and the material world

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Anthropology

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the study of the human variation in its broadest sense

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Culture

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learned behavior, shared by a group, primary means of human adaptation, a system of interrelated parts

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material products and precedents of behavior

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subject matter of archaeology

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Material Culture

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the part of culture that consists of material products of learned behavior

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Artifacts

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Object made, modified, or used by humans

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Feature

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non-movable object made by humans (e.g., burial, house, storage pit)

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Site

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spatial cluster of artifacts and/or features

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Association

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relationship of artifacts to one another or to features or sites

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Context

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Culturally significant association with an artifact

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Ecofact

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any of the remains of plants, animals, sediments, or other unmodified materials that result from human activity

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archaeological record

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all the information acquired from archaeological research

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archaeological research design

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Once research questions have been chosen, the archaeologist develops a detailed plan for addressing the questions

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seriation

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uses gradual changes in material culture to determine whether one object (or feature or site) is older or younger than another.

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Frequency Seriation

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When several different items or different styles of an item coexist, we can use their relative frequencies—a measure of popularity-- to discern trends and to provide relative dating information.

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"battleship curve”

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a typical pattern on a frequency seriation chart reflecting the introduction of a style, an increase in popularity to a period of maximum popularity, followed by a decline.

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dendrochronology

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the study of the annual growth rings of trees as a dating technique to build chronologies

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Site Formation processes

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How archaeological sites are created
Begin with the behavior that produces material remains and end with excavation
Affect what kinds of artifacts and features sites contain and how these materials are structured
Influence how sites are discovered, excavated, and interpreted
A combination of cultural (caused by people) and natural (caused by forces of nature) processes

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deposition

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Deposition is influenced by human behavior. Some general categories of human behavior have great influence on the contents and structure of a site

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disturbance

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occurs when associations among artifacts are altered
Cultural disturbances include: looting, which selectively removes certain kinds of artifacts; plowing, which mixes artifacts and strata to form a homogeneous zone of soil (a “plowzone”) extending from the surface to as deep as the reach of the plow

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bioturbation

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disturbances caused by living organisms either by animals or plants

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archaeological survey

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the methodological process by which archaeologists (often landscape archaeologists) collect information about the location, distribution and organization of past human cultures across a large area (e.g. typically in excess of one hectare, and quite often in excess of many km2). It may be: (a) intrusive or non-intrusive, depending on the needs of the survey team (and the risk of destroying archaeological evidence if intrusive methods are used) and; (b) extensive or intensive depending on the types of research questions being asked of the landscape in question. Surveys can be a practical way to decide whether or not to carry out an excavation (as a way of recording the basic details of a possible site) and may also be ends in themselves, as they produce important information about past human activities in a regional context.

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excavation

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the exposure and recordings of buried materials from the past

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remote sensing

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The use of remote sensing techniques allows archaeologists to uncover unique data that is unobtainable using traditional archaeological excavation techniques. 'Remote sensing' is sometimes used to refer to ground-based geophysical surveys, but these are considered a separate discipline.

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crop markings

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a means through which sub-surface archaeological, natural and recent features may be visible from the air or a vantage point on higher ground or a temporary platform. Along with soil marks and frost marks they can reveal buried archaeological sites not visible from the ground

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electrical resistivity

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one of a number of methods used in archaeological geophysics. In this type of survey electrical resistance meters are used to detect and map subsurface archaeological features and patterning