Archaeology Exam #1

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Cultural anthropology

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Study of human society and culture.

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Biological/physical Anthropology

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Study of human biological diversity in time and space.

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Linguistic anthropology

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Study of languages of the present to make inferences of the past.

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Prehistoric archaeology

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-Specialization of archaeology Study prehistoric times from the time of the earliest human being to written history.

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Paleoanthropology

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Multidisciplinary study of behavior, culture, and evolution of the earliest humans.

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Multidisciplinary

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Classical archaeology

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Study of the remains of great classical civilizations of Greece and Rome.

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Biblical archaeology

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Study of the ethnic groups living in what are now the countries of Israel, Lebanon, and Syria. They attempt to link accounts in biblical and Canaanite literature with archaeological data.

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Historical archaeology

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Study of the past by combining archaeology with historical records.

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Industrial archaeology

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Study buildings and other structures of the industrial revolution.

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Underwater archaeology

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Study of archaeological sites under water using special excavation methods, although the objectives of research are similar to those for sites on land.

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Archaeology

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Reconstructs, describes, and interprets human behavior and cultural patterns through material remains.

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Anthropology

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The study of humankind in the widest possible sense.

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Radiocarbon dating

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Radiometric dating method based on the decay rates of radiocarbon isotopes; highly effective for dating developments over the past 40,000 years.

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Mesoamerica

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The area of Central American highlands and lowlands where state-organized societies(civilizations) developed.

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Archaeological theory

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A body of theoretical concepts providing both a framework and a means for archaeologists to look beyond the facts and material objects for explanations of events that took place in prehistory.

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CRM

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-Cultural Resource Management conservation and management of archaeological sites and artifacts as a means of protecting the past.

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Oral traditions

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Historical data transmitted from one generation to the next by word of mouth.

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Random sampling

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The use of random number methods in selecting locations for archaeological testing and exploration

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Intuitive sampling

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The use of personal preferences in location of archaeological tests and excavation units.

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Stratified random sampling

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A method of sampling by which an archaeological site is first divided into zones or sections and a fixed # of excavation units are assigned to be placed at random in each zone.

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Vertical approach

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The excavation of deep but relatively narrow units, usually employed to identify the type of natural and cultural deposits present on an archaeological site.

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Test pitting

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The placement of single or small groups of excavation units across a site in order to acquire as much localized data as possible from the site being explored. Such data helps the archaeologist define both the vertical and horizontal distributions of archaeological materials on the site.

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Horizontal approach

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A strategy of excavation designed to open large areas of a component to facilitate better understanding of that particular area.

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Block excavation method

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The excavation of an area of a site without leaving intervening walls or pillars in the area. This method allows archaeologists to expose contiguous areas of floors better than does a baulk method.

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Baulk excavation method

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The excavation of an area of a site leaving vertical pillars or walls in place, this enabling archaeologists to better correlate excavations with already defined strata.

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Depositional environment

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The physical setting in which material culture is found. -includes such things as sediment types, soil pH, the amount of water in the sediment, and similar physical factors.

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Dirt where you find artifacts

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Secondary context

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The position in which material culture is found after it has undergone redeposition.

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Indirect dating

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The application of a date obtained from one item, through one or more of the methods discussed here, to a second object thought to be associated with the dated material. Ex- application of a date obtained on the charcoal in a fireplace to the rocks in that same fireplace, or any tools mixed in that fireplace.

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Direct dating

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The use of a dating tech. used directly in the object being discussed such as charcoal from a fireplace or a piece of obsidian.

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Seriation

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The establishment of a chronology based on comparable styles of material culture.

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Cross dating

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The process of assigning a date from a dated archaeological sequence to an undated sequence based on similarities in material culture between the sequences.

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Stratigraphy

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The study of layers of sediments is the common geological method applied to archaeological dating. This process is based on the law of superposition, usually attributed to the 18th century English geologist Charles Lyell. This states that sediments at the bottom of a geological sequence are usually older than those on top. If there are dips, strikes, erosion, or other geological anomalies that invert sequences, these are usually visible to trained researchers.

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Obsidian hydration

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A dating tech that can be both relative and absolute. Fractures on the edges of obsidian pieces are examined under a microscope to identify the thickness of the hydration layer that has accumulated. The thicker the level, the longer that fracture has been exposed to the atmosphere.

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Dendrochronology

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The analysis of growth rings in trees in order to determine the age of the wood being studied.

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Varve analysis

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The study of the patterned, seasonal depositions of sediments in lakes adjacent to glaciers. Pattern of warm and cold periods that have known temporal distributions.

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Radiometric dating techniques

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A range of dating tech's based on the principles of radioactive decay and change among specific materials, such as bone, wood, and certain forms of stone. Includes technique of C14 dating, thermoluminescence, optically stimulated luminescence, electron spin resonance and fission tack dating.

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Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) or Thermoluminescence (TL)

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Tech that measures light emitted from materials such as baked clays, heated or burnt stone, and waterborne or wind blown sediments. OSL works primarily on sediments. TL works primarily on heated clays and stone.

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Electron Spin (ESP)

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Works best on tooth enamel, shells, burnt stone. significant contributor of paleoanthropology.

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Archaeological record

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All things left behind by past peoples and preserved in or on the earth.

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Artifacts

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The material deliberately produced by past peoples.

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Ecofacts

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Naturally occurring material, such as pollen and phytoliths that can provide information about past human behaviors.

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Attributes

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Specific, measurable elements, such as length, width, or weight, that combine to define a specific artifact or feature.

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Feature

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A combination of artifacts and/or ecofacts that create a single, definable item, such a a fireplace or burial.

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Typology

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The formal description of all the attributes that characterize most if not all of the artifacts that archaeologist recognize as clustering together.

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Morphological typology

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An archaeological typology based on the shape and related physical characteristics of material culture.

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Functional typology

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An archaeological typology based on the manners in which the objects under study were actually employed in the past.

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Sites

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Spatially discrete places in which evidence for past human activity is found.

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Culture area

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A Broad geographic region defined by similar natural resources in which the humans who live there tend to develop related or parallel cultural adoptions to exploit these resources.

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Subsistence

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The means by which people acquire essential resources such as food.

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Diffusion

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The spread of material or ideas from a point of origin to other places.

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Adaption

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The development of specified cultural responses designed to cope with the natural and social environments of a given people in a given place and time.

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GIS (geographic information system)

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A database linked to a spatial component capable of displaying data on the projected landscape.

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Synchronic

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Things of the same age.

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Diachronic

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Things through time.

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Three age approach

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The method pioneered by CJ Thomsen that links stone bronze and iron material culture together in three successive periods. The basic concept of this method was adopted throughout much of the world.

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Divisions of the Stone Age

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Paleolithic Mesolithic Neolithic

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Direct historical approach

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The tracing of material culture backwards in time from known historical points using changes in typologies as guides.

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Archaeological cultures

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The definition of generally similar phases across a wide geographic region and long spans of time.

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Processual Archaeology

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Studying the process of culture change using a systems or environmental approach. They use middle range theory.

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Post processual Archaeology

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Approaching the past by examining ideology motives and non-environmental aspects of culture change. This approach argues that the life experience of the researcher colors the view of their interpretations and thus in it's extreme application any approach is as valid as any other.

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Middle range theory

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Bridging theory that enables archaeologists to link excavated data with their interpretations about past human lifeways.

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Culture history

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Work that emphasizes constructing chronologies and identifying regions or sites in which certain material cultural developments took place. these are then used to produce a general narrative of the emergence, rise and fall of different societies.

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Behavioral Archaeology

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The study of the relationships between human behavior and material culture in order to understand the nature of human behavior across time and space.

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Human ecology

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Works to decipher the complex interactions between humans and their environments.

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Exchange systems

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This range of research interests centers on explorations of past networks of communications including economic interchange.

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Cultural evolution

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This approach sees culture in a similar view as an organism in that culture also evolves across time and space.

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Natural selection

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This view holds that human societies are essentially complex organisms made up of individual cells. The behavior of the cells as a group and individually as they affects the group ultimately have ramifications in terms of the success of members of the group in surviving and reproducing their way of living.

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Contextual

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This approach employs the notion that there is a recursive relationship between mental and physical aspects of human culture - that is, that these two elements of human culture are integrated into the continuous feedback loop.

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Cognitive

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Is the study of past ways of thinking and thought as inferred from the archaeological record.

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Marxist

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The focal point for Marxist ideology is the tension between those people who produce economic capital and those who control this production and profit most from it. It is argued that this is human nature and that all people in all times tend to adhere to this dialectical relationship.

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Feminist and gender Archaeology

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This branch of archaeology seeks to explore the past as it relates to and was experienced by women.

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In Situ

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In place.