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89 Cards in this Set
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americanist archaeology
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the brand of archaeology that evolved in close association w/ anthropology in the Americas; it is practiced throughout the world
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antiquarian
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originally, someone who studied antiquities (that is, ancient objects) largely for the sake of the objects themselves- not to understand the people or culture that produced them
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artifact
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any movable object that has been used, modified, or manufactured by humans; artifacts includes stone, bone, and metal tools; beads and other ornaments; pottery, artwork; religious and sacred items
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classical archaeology
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the branch of archaeology that studies the "classical" civilizations of the Mediterranean, such as Greece and Rome, and the Near East
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conjunctive approach
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as defined by Walter W. Taylor, using functional interpretations of artifacts and their contexts to reconstruct daily life of the past
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culture history
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The kind of archaeology practiced mainly in the early to mid-twentieth century; it “explains” differences or changes over time in artifact frequencies by positing the diffusion of ideas between neighboring cultures or the migration of a people who had different mental templates for artifact styles.
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ethnology
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That branch of anthropology dealing chiefly with the comparative study of cultures.
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midden
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Refuse deposit resulting from human activities, generally consisting of sediment; food remains such as charred seeds, animal bone, and shell; and discarded artifacts.
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new archaeology
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An approach to archaeology that arose in the 1960s emphasizing the understanding of underlying cultural processes and the use of the scientific method; today’s version of the “new archaeology” is sometimes called processual archaeology.
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potsherd
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fragment of pottery
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stratigraphy
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A site’s physical structure produced by the deposition of geological and/or cultural sediments into layers, or strata.
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trait list
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A simple listing of a culture’s material and behavioral characteristics, for example, house and pottery styles, foods, degree of nomadism, particular rituals, or ornaments. Trait lists were used primarily to trace the movement of cultures across a landscape and through time.
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anthropology
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The study of all aspects of humankind—biological, cultural, and linguistic; extant and extinct—employing an all-encompassing holistic approach.
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adaptive perspective
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A research perspective that emphasizes technology, ecology, demography, and economics in the definition of human behavior.
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archaeology
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The study of the past through the systematic recovery and analysis of material remains.
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biological anthropology
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A subdiscipline of anthropology that views humans as biological organisms; also known as physical anthropology.
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cultural anthropology
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A subdiscipline of anthropology that emphasizes nonbiological aspects; the learned social, linguistic, technological, and familial behaviors of humans.
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culture
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an integrated system of beliefs, traditions and customs that govern or influence a person’s behavior. Culture is learned, shared by members of a group, and based on the ability to think in terms of symbols.
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data
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Relevant observations made on objects that then serve as the basis for study and discussion.
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deconstruction
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Efforts to expose the assumptions behind the alleged objective and systematic search for knowledge. A primary tool of postmodernism.
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deductive reasoning
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Reasoning from theory to account for specific observational or experimental results.
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ecofact
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Plant or animal remains found in an archaeological site.
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Enlightenment
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A shift in Western philosophy that advocated ideas of linear progress, absolute truth, science, rational planning of ideal social orders, and the standardization of knowledge. It held that rational thought was the key to progress; that science and technology would free people from the oppression of historical traditions of myth, religion, and superstition; and that the control of nature through technology would permit the development of moral and spiritual virtues.
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feature
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The nonportable evidence of technology; usually fire hearths, architectural elements, artifact clusters, garbage pits, soil stains, and so on.
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general systems theory
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An effort to describe the properties by which all systems, including human societies, allegedly operated. Popular in processual archaeology of the late 1960s and 1970s.
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high-level theory
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Theory that seeks to answer large “why” questions.
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hypothesis
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A proposition proposed as an explanation of some phenomena.
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ideational perspective
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The research perspective that defines ideas, symbols, and mental structures as driving forces in shaping human behavior.
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inductive reasoning
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Working from specific observations to more general hypotheses.
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linguistic anthropology
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A subdiscipline of anthropology that focuses on human language; its diversity in grammar, syntax, and lexicon; its historical development; and its relation to a culture’s perception of the world.
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low-level theory
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The observations and interpretations that emerge from hands-on archaeological field and lab work.
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paradigm
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The overarching framework, often unstated, for understanding a research problem. It is a researcher’s “culture.”
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participant observation
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The primary strategy of cultural anthropology in which data are gathered by questioning and observing people while the observer lives in their society.
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postmodernism
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A paradigm that rejects grand historical schemes in favor of humanistic approaches that appreciate the multiple voices of history. It seeks to see how colonialism created our vision of the world we occupy today; it eschews science and argues against the existence of objective truth.
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postprocessual paradigm
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A paradigm that focuses on humanistic approaches and rejects scientific objectivity; it sees archaeology as inherently political and is more concerned with interpreting the past than with testing hypotheses. It sees change as arising largely from interactions between individuals operating within a symbolic and/or competitive system.
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potlatch
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Among nineteenth-century Northwest Coast Native Americans, a ceremony involving the giving away or destruction of property in order to acquire prestige.
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processual paradigm
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The paradigm that explains social, economic, and cultural change as primarily the result of adaptation to material conditions; external conditions (for example, the environment) are assumed to take causal priority over ideational factors in explaining change.
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rockshelter
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A common type of archaeological site, consisting of a rock overhang that is deep enough to provide shelter but not deep enough to be called a cave (technically speaking, a cave must have an area of perpetual darkness).
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science
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The search for universals by means of established scientific methods of inquiry.
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scientific method
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Accepted principles and procedures for the systematic pursuit of secure knowledge. Established scientific procedures involve the following steps: define a relevant problem; establish one or more hypotheses; determine the empirical implications of the hypotheses; collect appropriate data through observation and/or experimentation; compare these data with the expected implications; and revise and/or retest hypotheses as necessary.
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stelae
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Stone monuments erected by Maya rulers to record their history in rich images and hieroglyphic symbols. These symbols can be read and dated.
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testability
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The degree to which one’s observations and experiments can be reproduced.
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theory
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An explanation for observed, empirical phenomena. It is empirical and seeks to explain the relationships between variables; it is an answer to a “why” question.
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trade language
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A language that develops among speakers of different languages to permit economic exchanges.
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archaeological site
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Any place where material evidence exists about the human past. Usually, “site” refers to a concentration of such evidence.
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deflation
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A geologic process whereby fine sediment is blown away by the wind and larger items—including artifacts—are lowered onto a common surface and thus become recognizable sites.
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geographic information system (GIS)
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A computer program for storing, retrieving, analyzing, and displaying cartographic data.
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georeferenced
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Data that are input to a GIS database using a common mapping reference—for example, the UTM grid—so that all data can be spatially analyzed.
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global positioning system (GPS)
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Hand-held devices that use triangulation from radio waves received from satellites to determine your current position in terms of either the UTM grid or latitude and longitude.
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ground-penetrating rader (GPR)
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A remote sensing technique in which radar pulses directed into the ground reflect back to the surface when they strike features or interfaces within the ground, showing the presence and depth of possible buried features.
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landscape archaeology
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The study of ancient human modification of the environment.
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mano
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A fist-sized, round, flat, hand-held stone used with a metate for grinding foods.
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metate
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A large, flat stone used as a stationery surface upon which seeds, tubers, and nuts are ground with a mano.
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non-site archaeology
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Analysis of archaeological patterns manifested on a scale of kilometers or hectares, rather than of patterns within a single site.
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plow zone
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The upper portion of a soil profile that has been disturbed by repeated plowing or other agricultural activity.
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projectile points
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Arrowheads, dart points, or spear points.
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proton precession magnetometer
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A remote sensing technique that measures the strength of magnetism between the earth’s magnetic core and a sensor controlled by the archaeologist. Magnetic anomalies can indicate the presence of buried walls or features.
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random sampling
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A sample drawn from a statistical population such that every member of the population has an equal chance of being included in the sample.
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remote sensing
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The application of methods that employ some form of electromagnetic energy to detect and measure characteristics of an archaeological target.
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sample fraction
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The percentage of the sample universe that is surveyed. Areas with a lot of variability in archaeological remains require larger sample fractions than do areas of low variability.
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sample units
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Survey units of a standard size and shape, determined by the research question and practical considerations, used to obtain the sample.
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sample universe
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The region that contains the statistical population and that will be sampled. Its size and shape are determined by the research question and practical considerations.
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seasonal round
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Hunter-gatherers’ pattern of movement between different places on the landscape timed to the seasonal availability of food and other resources.
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settlement pattern
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The distribution of archaeological sites across a region.
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settlement system
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The movements and activities reconstructed from a settlement pattern.
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shovel-testing
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A sample survey method used in regions where rapid soil buildup obscures buried archaeological remains; it entails digging shallow, systematic pits across the survey unit.
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Smithsonian number
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A unique catalog number given to sites; it consists of a number (the state’s position alphabetically), a letter abbreviation of the county, and the site’s sequential number within the county.
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soil resistivity survey
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A remote sensing technique that monitors the electrical resistance of soils in a restricted volume near the surface of an archaeological site; buried walls or features can be detected by changes in the amount of resistance registered by the resistivity meter.
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statistical population
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A set of counts, measurements, or characteristics about which relevant inquiries are to be made. Scientists use the term “statistical population” in a specialized way (quite different from “population” in the ordinary sense).
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statistical sampling
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The principles that underlie sampling strategies that provide accurate measures of a statistical population.
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stratified random sample
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A survey universe divided into several sub-universes that are then sampled at potentially different sample fractions.
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systematic regional survey
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A set of strategies for arriving at accurate descriptions of the range of archaeological material across a landscape.
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thermal infrared multispectral scanner (TIMS)
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A remote sensing technique that uses equipment mounted in aircraft or satellite to measure infrared thermal radiation given off by the ground. Sensitive to differences as little as 0.1 degree centigrade, it can locate subsurface structures by tracking how they affect surface thermal radiation.
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UTM
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Universal transverse Mercator, a grid system whereby north and east coordinates provide a location anywhere in the world, precise to 1 meter.
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wickiup
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A conical structure made of poles or logs laid against one another that served as fall and winter homes among the prehistoric Shoshone and Paiute.
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arbitrary level
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The basic vertical subdivision of an excavation square; used only when easily recognizable “natural” strata are lacking and when natural strata are more than 10 centimeters thick.
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datum point
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The zero point, a fixed reference used to keep control on a dig; usually controls both the vertical and horizontal dimensions of provenience.
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flotation
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The use of fluid suspension to recover tiny burned plant remains and bone fragments from archaeological sites.
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in situ
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From Latin, meaning “in position”; the place where an artifact, ecofact, or feature was found during excavation or survey.
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living floor
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A distinct buried surface on which people lived.
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matrix-sorting
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The hand-sorting of processed bulk soil samples for minute artifacts and ecofacts.
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natural level
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A vertical subdivision of an excavation square that is based on natural breaks in the sediments (in terms of color, grain size, texture, hardness, or other characteristics).
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Pleistocene
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A geologic period from 2 million to 10 thousand years ago, which was characterized by multiple periods of extensive glaciation.
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provenience
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An artifact’s location relative to a system of spatial data collection.
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strata
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(singular, “stratum”) More or less homogeneous or gradational material, visually separable from other levels by a discrete change in the character of the material—texture, compactness, color, rock, organic content—and/or by a sharp break in the nature of deposition.
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test excavation
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A small initial excavation to determine a site’s potential for answering a research question.
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total station
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A device that uses a beam of light bounced off a prism to determine an artifact's provenience; it is accurate to +/- 3 millimeters.
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water-screening
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A sieving process in which deposit is placed in a screen and the matrix washed away with hoses; essential where artifacts are expected to be small and/or difficult to find without washing.
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