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44 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What is anthropology?
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discipline that holistically studies diversity of cultural experiences in the past and present
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How is anthropology distinguished as a social science?
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On it's focus on Culture
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What is Culture?
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sets of learned, patterned social behaviors, ideals, and values common to a group
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How is culture manifested?
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culture is manifested as laws and transmitted via language
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What are the 3 key elements in culture?
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1.culture is structured: it has dominant patterns but those patterns change because the structure is constantly being challenged. 2.)Cultures are products of history. 3.) Culture is ambiguous
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What is archaeology?
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The study of the human past, comgining the theme of time and change.
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What is paleoanthropology?
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The branch of anthropology that combines the archaeology and physical anthropology to study the biological and behavioral remains of the early hominins.
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What is material culture?
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Material culture includes all of the physical objects that people create and give meaning to. Cars, clothing, schools, computers, and books would be examples. An object only becomes part of culture after meaning have been given to it. A rock in a field has no meaning until it is used as a tool or to build a fence.
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What are the common caricatures of archaeologists (e.g., Indiana Jones)? How is the reality different?
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#1-cowboy explorers in contemporary times surrounded by over run nature.
#2. Pipesmoking Old Fogey: Know everything about a specific class/stuff/society. #3. Indiana Jones moral venture w/ carnal spice and some mysticism. Truth: 1/3 are women, 90% are in cultural resource mgt (CRM) |
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What is ideology?
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Ideology is basically the way someone thinks and believes which drives their goals, and actions and even their expectations of life and of others.
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why does the British state hope to reproduce longstanding acceptance of beer consumption?
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Britain's beer consumption appeals to the working class, where history, place and gender affect to buy as a class. Less color and less words.
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How do beer cans reflect a quite different vision of alcohol consumption in Sweden?
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Sweden is less industrialized and urbanizized. More mobility in class. Beer labels have mor color and words.
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Who was Heinrich Schliemann?
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archaeologist who discovered Homer's Troy
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Why did he and similar sorts of genteel Victorians seek their Western historical and cultural roots in the late-nineteenth century?
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To seek out where they came from; ancestory.
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What is the name of the site where Schliemann excavated what we now consider to be Troy?
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in a plain near the Turkish village of Hissarlik.
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What is an archaeological site?
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Any space in which human activity has occured and left material evidence
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Any space can be called an archaeological site provided it has integrity and significance. What do those two concepts mean?
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Integrity mesures disturbances of stratiographic by assesing the history of the space on how it has been used and how it looks now.#2 Significnace why do we care? Social, academic, expand/change/refine?
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What is remote sensing?
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assessment of subsurface w/out disturbance - no digging.
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What is a grid?
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horizontal system in space. In archaeology its used to identify location of archaelogical deposits across a site (it is always in squares)
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What is a datum?
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the central referencing point to the grid
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Define stratigraphy
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1.the arrangement of rocks in layers or strata
2.the branch of geology dealing with the study of the nature, distribution, and relations of the stratified rocks of the earth's crust |
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What are the two principles used to archaeologically analyze stratigraphy?
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1.) superposition- lower level is deposited before teh upper layers
2.) association- artifacts w/in a unique undistrubed stratum were deposited during the formation of that stratum |
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Define the two types of archaeological dating (reminder: this is NOT the same two principles used to analyze stratigraphy).
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1.) relative dating - determine the relative order in which materials were deposited
2.) seriation - uses material style to establish a relative chronological order for a specific type of style |
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Define deep sea core
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A narrow column of sediments taken by drilling into the sea-bed with a piston-corer. Such cores can provide a more or less complete record of climatic changes
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What is potassium-argon dating (a.k.a., radiopotassium dating);
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Potassium-Argon Dating Potassium-Argon dating is the only viable technique for dating very old archaeological materials. Geologists have used this method to date rocks as much as 4 billion years old. It is based on the fact that some of the radioactive isotope of Potassium, Potassium-40 (K-40) ,decays to the gas Argon as Argon-40 (Ar-40). By comparing the proportion of K-40 to Ar-40 in a sample of volcanic rock, and knowing the decay rate of K-40, the date that the rock formed can be determined.
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what is radiocarbon dating?
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Radiocarbon dating is a method for calculating the age of organic materials. The chemical C-14 is found in all organic material, and is known to decay at a steady rate. By measuring the amount of C-14 in an object containing organic material, the object can be dated to a high degree of accuracy. Archaeologists use this technique to date artifacts such as pottery and building remains by testing the organic material found in or near these artifacts and ruins.
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what is thermoluminescence?
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dating technique applicable to pottery and other ceramic materials. It works on the principle that all matter is constantly bombarded by cosmic rays and radiation given off from the decay of radioactive elements in the ground and in objects themselves. Minerals that are bombarded in this way by radiation build up a store of energy within their crystalline structure which is released when heated. The longer or more intense the bombardment, the more energy is stored and thus the more there is to be released. When a piece of pottery is fired, all the previously stored energy is released and the build-up starts afresh. After excavation a sherd can be heated again and its stored energy released and measured. If the level and extent of bombardment to which the pottery has been exposed while buried is known (the dose rate), or can be estimated, then the age of a sample can be calculated in terms of the time that has elapsed since it was last heated. The range of the technique is potentially unlimited, but it has an accuracy of ±5–10 per cent.
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what is obsidian hydration?
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Obsidian obeys the property of mineral hydration, and absorbs water when exposed to air. When an unworked nodule of obsidian is initially fractured, there is typically less than 1% water present. Over time, water slowly diffuses into the artifact forming a narrow "band," "rim," or "rind" that can be seen and measured with many different techniques such as a) a high-power microscope with 40-80 power magnification b) depth profiling with SIMS Secondary ion mass spectrometry. Experimental and empirical data indicate that this hydration band grows roughly as the square root of time (measured in years). Thus, the hydration rind initially grows quickly, then slows with age.
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What is dendrochronolgy?
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Dendrochronology is the science of studying tree rings to date past events: climate, the date of construction of a house, etc. This is the idea: some trees add an annual ring. Each ring is unique as it depends on the climatic conditions during the year. By comparative study of these annual growth rings dendrochronologists can go back thousands of years and can often pinpoint the year quite precisely.
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What are lithics?
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stone tools
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What is a flake (also known as debitage)?
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Fragements of stone that break off core during flintknapping
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What is flintknapping?
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Process of making tools by percussion hit rocks together systematically rove fragments
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What is a "bulb of percussion"?
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Spots where a hammerstone impacts the core to remove flakes
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What is a core?
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cobble which flintknapper begins to make a lithic tool
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What is a dedicated tool?
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lithic tools manufacuctured for a specific function
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What is an archaeological survey?
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A systematic attempt to locate, identify, and record the distribution, structure, and form of archaeological sites on the ground and in relation to their natural geographic and environmental setting.
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What are the purposes of an archaeologoical survey?
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When Is Archaeological Survey Recommended?
Three factors are considered in assessing the need for a field survey to identify archaeological sites within the Area of Potential Effects (APE) of a project site. These are (1) the nature of the proposed project and its APE, (2) the presence or absence of documented archaeological historic properties in the APE, and (3) the potential for the presence of undocumented archaeological historic properties in the APE. Survey is recommended only if a proposed project could result in significant changes in the character of archaeological sites that are listed in, or eligible for listing in. |
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What is the technique known as accelerator mass spectrometry?
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The use of a combination of mass spectrometers and an accelerator to measure the natural abundances of very rare radioactive isotopes. These abundances are frequently lower than parts per trillion.
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How has it impacted radiocarbon dating?
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Consequently, accelerator mass spectrometry can be used to date samples that are a thousand times smaller than those that are dated by using the beta-particle counting method, and the procedure is carried out about 120 times faster.
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What does it mean when radiocarbon dates are expressed as "calibrated dates"?
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The determination of the approximate age of an ancient object, such as an archaeological specimen, by measuring the amount of carbon 14 it contains. Also called carbon dating, carbon-14 dating.
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In what era and period were dinosaurs dominant?
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The Mesozoic Era of the Phanerozoic Eon: 251 to 65.5 million years ago
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How often did dinosaurs and early hominids interact?
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NEVER- no hominids during dinosaurs
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Did australopithecines exhibit sexual dimorphism?
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yes
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What are the main characteristics of australopithecine skeletal anatomy?
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bi-pedal, broad bucket pelvis, arched feet w/ curves, prportionally longer limbs, straigher spine, centered forament magnum- the spot where spine enters skull, sexual dimorphism
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