Arch & Rise Exam 1

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Anthropology

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The study of all people in all places and times.

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Association

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Things that are associated with each other can be used to date or help identify context of items.

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Catastrophism

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The idea that Earth has been affected in the past by sudden, short-lived, violent events, possibly worldwide in scope. (Opposite of uniformitarianism).

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Conservation

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One of the ethical responsibilities of archaeologists. Includes using methods that are less damaging to the site itself, or in some cases destroying a site. Major work of CRM firms.

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Degeneration

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The idea that things are getting worse as time goes on. The pinnacle of human civilization was the Classical Period.

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Ethics

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Codes published by SAA, RPA. Based on: stewardship (work for long-term conservation), accountability, (prevent) commercialization, public education, respect for intellectual property, publication, preservation, training and support.

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History

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The study of the past based on written records.

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Indirect Date

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Those in which the the date of an object is derived from materials found in association with it. (Seriation, biostratigraphy)

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Looting

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A major problem for archaeological sites; many can be completely destroyed from looters. UNESCO prohibits the illicit import and transfer of ownership of cultural property. Other NGOs: SAFE, The Archaeological Conservancy, SAA. Worst areas: Iraq, Afghanistan.

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Occam's Razor

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All things being equal, the simplest solution is the most likely.

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Penetrating Excavation

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Test pits & trenches. Used for sampling a site, (to prevent unnecessary destruction) Useful for seeing stratigraphy of a site. (Diachronic sampling tool.)

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Primary Context

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A find in the place of use, in original context, undisturbed since placed, lost, etc. ex. burials, buried house floors., etc.

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Secondary Context

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Finds in some place rather that the place of use, a find whose primary context has been disturbed by later activity, man, beast, nature. wind, water, earthquake....

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Potassium-Argon Dating (K-Ar)

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Based on decay of K40 into Ar40. Useful for all periods of hominid evolution. Dates volcanic ash or meteoric glass. Clock is zeroed at volcanic activity because all the argon diffuses out at this heat. Used in East Africa frequently.

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Radiocarbon Dating

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Useful up to 50,000 ya. Dates organic material: charcoal, wood, bone, shell. The death of an organism removes it from the carbon exchange, and radioactive carbon begins to decay at a steady rate. Calibrated to dendrochronology. 2nd best choice.

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Relative Date

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A way of dating things in relation to another. Examples include stratigraphy based on the Law of Superposition. Does not provide a calendar date.

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7 Steps of Archaeological Research

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1. Form a question/hypothesis.
2. Design project
3. Acquire data
4. Analyze data
5. Interpret data
6. Publish
7. Curate

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Stratigraphy

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The accumulation of strata that result from a combination of geological and an anthropogenic deposits.

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Superposition

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The geologic concept that sedimentary layers are laid down in a time sequence with the oldest on the bottom and the newest on the top.

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Survey & Its Uses

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Purpose of survey is to find sites, define sites (size, age, activities), and locate places to excavate. Types: ground, aerial, satellite, subsurface (GPR).

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Taphonomy

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Literally "law of burial." It is the study of site formation processes both natural (rain, wind, volcanoes, etc.) and cultural (discarding objects, burials, etc.) Also referred to in the study of bones.

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Uniformitarianism

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Assumes that the same natural laws and processes that operate in the universe now, have always operated in the universe in the past and apply everywhere in the universe. In opposition to catastrophism. Associated with James Hutton.

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Dmanisi, Georgia

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First h. erectus found outside of Africa. (Pleistocene ca. 1.7 mya.) Climate proves that h. erectus was capable of keeping itself warm. *No teeth left in specimen, showing care for elderly/infirm.

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Koobi Fora, Kenya

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Site in East Africa with many species of early hominids represented. Brought up the question of whether or not h. erectus were hunters or scavengers. (Evidence revealed they were both.)

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Conservativism

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Referring to the unchanging stone tool technology of homo erectus. They used Acheulean tools for over 1 million years; obviously they were culturally different than us. (Information transmission issue?)

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Olduvai, Tanzania

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Steep-sided ravine in the Great Rift Valley, E. Africa. Excavation work there was pioneered by the Leaky family. Stratigraphy is extremely deep and layers of volcanic ash and stones allow radiometric dating of the embedded artifacts, K-Ar, Ar-Ar.

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East African Sites

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Many sites have groupings of bones and stone tools that have been determined to be caused by hominin behavior. Sites show short term accumulation repeatedly through time. Taphonomy very important here.

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Great Pyramid, Giza

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"Evidence" in the pseudoscience argument of Erik von Daniken for alien intervention on earth. They must have given the technology to build the pyramids to the Egyptians.

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Nasca, Peru

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Another example cited by von Daniken that aliens were visiting earth. He claimed that the art could only be seen from space, and the long geometrical lines were landing strips for their ships.

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Georges Cuvier

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Found Pleistocene mammals in association with stone tools, proving that there were people-ish interacting with these animals. Proponent of catastrophism.

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Jacques Boucher de Perthes

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Devoted to the study of "antedilluvian" man. Also found stone tools in association with large mammals, proof that some type of human lived during the Pleistocene.

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John Frere

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Found stone tools underneath layers containing sea life (indicating the ocean had moved); meaning (to him) that this was evidence of pre-flood people. (Archeologia 1800)

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Charles Darwin

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Proposed the theory of evolution by means of natural selection over a long period of time. Friend Lyell helped influence the his theory with his research in geology.

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Charles Lyell

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Famous geologist friend of Darwin who was a proponent of uniformitarianism. Tried to figure out the age of the Mississippi Delta (100,000). This helped give Darwin the time he needed for his theory of evolution via natural selection.

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James Hutton

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Opened up the concept of deep time for scientific purposes, in opposition to Catastrophism. Rather than accepting that the earth was no more than a few thousand years old, he maintained that the Earth must be much older, with a history extending indefinitely into the distant past. His main line of argument was that the tremendous displacements and changes he was seeing did not happen in a short period of time by means of catastrophe, but that processes still happening on the Earth in the present day had caused them. As these processes were very gradual, the Earth needed to be ancient, in order to allow time for the changes.

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James Ussher

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Calculated the age of the earth from studying the descent lines listed in the book of genesis. He came up with a creation date of 4004 BC.

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Indiana Jones

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Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr. is a fictional adventurer, OSS agent, professor of archaeology, and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise.Particularly notable facets of the character include his iconic look (bullwhip, fedora, and leather jacket), sense of humor, deep knowledge of many ancient civilizations and languages, and fear of snakes.

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Thomas Jefferson

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3rd president, enlightenment thinker, amateur archaeologist. Jefferson organized an archaeological expedition to explore a mound which was located on his property. He chose to remove a wedge from the mound, taking care to remove artifacts intact. Inside the barrow he found more than a thousand skeletons in various layers of stone, soil, and bones.

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V. Gordon Childe

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Powerful visual memory allowed him to make comparisons and recognize patterning in archaeological collections. Shifted the focus from artifacts to societies; changes in the archaeological record are evidence of changes in society. Excavated in Orkney. Opposed the culture history approach to archaeology.

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Erich von Daniken

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Proponent of Alien Origins theory to explain the great pyramids, Nasca lines, etc. He felt these things were too advanced for ancient humans to have come up with alone.

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Alfred Wallace

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Known for independently proposing a theory of evolution due to natural selection that prompted Charles Darwin to publish his own theory.

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Absolute Date

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Dates that associate a range of calendar dates with an object. Examples include K-Ar, C14, Dendrochronology.

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Antiquarianism

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Study of ancient Mediterranean world through texts, legends, and material culture.

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Archaeology

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The study of past human societies through their material culture.

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Artifact

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Portable objects modified or created by humans.

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Assumptions of Science

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1. There is a knowable universe
2. Universe operates according to understandable rules
3. The rules apply in all situations
4. The rules can be observed and studied

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Battleship Curve

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A pattern that emerges when plotting the frequencies of different artifacts. From invention, rise in popularity, and decline can be seen as a gradual curve.

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Biface

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A two-sided stone tool and is used as a multi-purposes knife, manufactured through a process of lithic reduction, that displays flake scars on both sides. A profile view of the final product tends to exhibit a lenticular shape (i.e., as a convex lens). Handaxe: pointed at the end, cleavers have a wide working end.

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Clearing Excavation

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Exposes large horizontal spaces (usually shallow). Enables you to expose a large area of a single stratum (synchronic).

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Context

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An event in time which has been preserved in the archaeological record. What space and time mean to an object (not just its location).

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Core

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Material from which stone tools are made, usually by being struck with a hammerstone. The piece of stone off which flakes are struck; can itself be used as a tool.

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Cross-dating

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A technique used to take advantage of consistencies in stratigraphy between parts of a site or different sites, and objects or strata with a known relative chronology. Ex: biostratigraphy.

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Cultural Resource Management

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To conserve and preserve archaeological remains for future generations.

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Culture Area

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A concept in cultural anthropology where a geographic region and time sequence (age area) is characterized by substantially uniform environment and culture.

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Culture History

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Reconstructing spacial and temporal patterns of material culture that enables preliminary dating of sites and recognizing cultures. Grouping sites by "culture" based on common artifacts. Was an early focus of archaeology in the depression era.

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Dendrochronology

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Only method of dating that can provide a date with precision. Provides a scale for calibrating radiocarbon dates. Only works on certain types of trees (no palms or willows). Useful for the last 10,000 years.

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Direct Date

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Those in which the date of an object is derived directly from the object itself.

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Acheulean Technology

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Stone tool industry associated with prehistoric hominins during the Lower Paleolithic era across Africa and much of West Asia and Europe. Acheulean tools are typically found with Homo erectus remains. Dominant technology for over 1 my.
Their distinctive oval and pear shaped handaxes have been found over a wide area and some examples attained a very high level of sophistication

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Ecofact

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Natural materials that have cultural relevance (corn, pollen).

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Electron Spin Resonance

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A method of luminescence dating. Main application is the enamel on teeth; once an animal dies, the enamel starts accumulating light energy which can then be measured to determine how long ago it died.
Good for all hominin evolution.

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Ethnoarchaeology

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The ethnographic study of peoples for archaeological reasons, usually focusing on the material remains of a society, rather than its culture. Aids archaeologists in reconstructing ancient lifeways by studying the material and non-material traditions of modern societies. Archaeologists can then infer that ancient societies used the same techniques as their modern counterparts given a similar set of environmental circumstances.

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Ethnocentrism

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the tendency to believe that one's ethnic or cultural group is centrally important, and that all other groups are measured in relation to one's own. An attitude that many Europeans had towards Natives.

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Feature

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Combination of artifacts and/or ecofacts representing a site of human activity; stuff that when moved, ceases to be what it was (burial).

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Fission Track Dating

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An indirect radiometric dating technique based on analysis of the damage tracks, left by fission fragments in certain uranium-bearing minerals and glasses. 50,000 - 1mya.

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Flaked Stone

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Big chunk of rock hit with another rock; reductive process to make stone tools. Compare to ground stone.

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Flintknapping

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Process of making flaked stone (by banging one rock on another) reinvented with the invention of the flintlock rifle 1600 - 1800s; original tools go back millions of years.

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Geomagnetic/Archeomagnetic Dating

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Based on the changes in the earth's poles. By looking at iron particles in rocks, we can see where the poles were when the rock was heated. Using other techniques (K-Ar) scientists have dated these reversals. *Archeomag is more practical, used in Europe and SW US for more recent clays and soils.

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Ground Stone

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Tools that are ground down until the desired shape is achieved; much stronger, but not as sharp (axes).

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Half-life

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The period of time it takes for a parent isotope undergoing decay to decrease by half.

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Horizontal Excavation

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Shallow strips dug along the surface of the site to expose any objects lying near the surface. A type of clearing excavation that is good for finding synchronic data.

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Inorganic

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Something of mineral origin; not biological or organic. (Most of our bones are inorganic.)

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Isotope

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Different types of atoms of the same chemical element, each having a different number of neutrons. Correspondingly, isotopes differ in mass number but not in atomic number.

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Lithic

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A stone tool

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Lithic Analysis

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Analysis of stone tools and other chipped stone artifacts using basic scientific techniques. At its most basic level, lithic analysis involve an analysis of the artifact’s morphology, the measurement of various physical attributes, and examining other visible features.

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Material Culture

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The artifacts or other concrete things left by past cultures. An archaeologist thus can be described as a person who studies the material culture of a past society.

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Organic

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A material that is or was living at one time; contains carbon. Not well preserved in the archeological record except in extreme climates.

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Palimpsest

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Term to denote a record of material remains that is suspected of having formed during an extended period but that cannot be resolved in such a way that temporally discrete traces can be recognized as such.

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Preservation Environment

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The natural environment in which an object is deposited. Tropical climates are the worst for preservation with acidic soils and erosion from rain. Temperate climates are also bad because of large fluctuations in temperature.

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Provenience

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The three-dimensional location of an item. Depth measurements are based off of a common point on the site called a datum point. Locations are also based on grid system at a site; 1m baulk is left between grids.

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Psuedoarchaeology

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Archeology not based on science and/or all the available facts. Example: The ideas of Erich von Daniken on the Alien Origins of the pyramids and the Nasca lines.

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Pseudoscience

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A body of knowledge that claims to be scientific but does not use the assumptions and methods of science.

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Register of Professional Archaeologists

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An association that has a code of conduct for all member archaeologists as well as a set of standards for research methods. (Also offer field school scholarships.)

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Seriation

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A statistical technique that builds on the ideas inherent in stratigraphy and cross-dating. Based on the idea that artifacts of a certain style will be invented, rise in popularity, then decline. *Battleship curves on graphs. Created by W.M.F. Petrie

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Short Term Accumulation Site

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Opposite of palimpsest. Sites used frequently for short periods of time,
usually less than 10 years total. Seen at Olduvai, Koobi Fora. Can be determined by wear on bones and local geologic patterns.

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Site Formation Processes

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All aspects of site formation, natural and cultural. Can include geologic events, erosion processes, deliberate burials, discarding items, animals interacting with remains, etc. (Taphonomy)

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Society for American Archaeology

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Association for archaeologists; has code of ethics based on: stewardship, accountability, commercialization, public education, and publication.

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Test Pit

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A type of penetrating excavation useful for revealing the stratigraphy of a site. Diachronic sampling tool.

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Thermoluminescence Dating

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Dates burnt stone tools made of flint; has to be heated between 400 and 600 degrees to drive out accumulated light energy- starts clock over. More recently it has been used to date pottery (because the heat zeroes the clock) and find forgeries. (300,000 - 30,000)

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Trench

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A type of penetrating excavation; useful for detecting architecture. It is a rapid and inexpensive method of archaeological evaluation used to estimate the archaeological potential of a site.

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Writing

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The basis for historical research as opposed to archaeological study of the past, which is not based on writing.

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Olduwan

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The earliest well characterized stone tool industry. Dates to 1.9 - 1.15 mya. Characteristic tool is a chopper. Tools are not well planned out. Found in East Africa.

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Acheulean

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Dates 1.7 mya - 200,000 ya. Sites are found throughout Africa, as well as Europe, Middle East, and India. Characteristic tool is the biface; shows the earliest evidence of design. Usually associated with h. erectus.

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Flake

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A piece of rock that is struck off from a core. Important features: surface split off from the core is the ventral face- has bulb of percussion at the end where it was struck (proximal end).

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Direct Percussion

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A blow delivered directly to the core stone. Hard-hammer: hammer is a rock; soft-hammer: hammer is antler or hardwood (produces thinner flakes with less pronounced bulb).

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Indirect Percussion

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Involves the use of an intermediary device known as a punch between the hammer and the core. Precise placement allows for more control. Often used in making long blades or arrowheads.

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Retouch

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The careful secondary shaping of a core or flake.

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Stones Used in Toolmaking

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Most common are: flint (chert), basalt, and obsidian, because they are brittle, fine grained, and do not have internal features that determine which way they break.

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Recalibration

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Necessary for carbon dating due to changes of the amount of carbon in the atmosphere.