Archaeology Exam 2

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Richard Potts

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stone cache hypothesis- early hominids had stone tools stashed away at strategic places for their usage at their site

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Glynn Isaac

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home-base model to explain tool-
places where homninids gathered (central place) after hunting/gathering

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Lewis Binford

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determined that early humans were not proficient hunters because the bones found were not the best parts of the meat, which he believes indicates that they were opportunistic scavengers

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FLK and DK

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the sites that produced the Zinjanthropus fossil in Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania; A. boisei

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Olduvai Gorge

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The archaeological site made famous by excavations by Lewis and Mary Leakey (H. habilis, Zinjanthropus)

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Koobi Fora

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located near Lake Turkana

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FxJj 50

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located within Koobi Fora

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Laetoli

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A set of A. afarensis footprints that were formed in lava ash in Tanzania (found by Mary Leaky)

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Morgan & Tylor

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Universal stage of human progress;decided they could group humans into different stages
(savagery->barbarism->civilization)

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Service classified human societies based on 3 criteria...

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Size
Subsistence Strategy
Social Organization

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Unilinear Evolution

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all societies pass through/progress through evolutionary stages; cultural complexity=cultural worth

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Processual Archaeology

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thought that the past was unbiased, knowable, and that archaeologists could be objective

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Post-processual Archaeology

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states that no one perceives the past objectively, what we see is influenced by out own cultural context

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Icons

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evocative symbols that tell preexisting stories of gendered heroism, motherhood, etc in encultured viewers
~representations and symbols that transmit culture

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Motifs

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representations of objects that are replicated from 1 form to another w/ little variation in form

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Direct Analysis

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analysis of an object itself, to arrive at its age

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Indirect Analysis

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application of the date for object "a" to compare to object "b" or "c"

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Strength of Association

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how sure you are that objects are related

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Relative Dating

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do not express absolute time

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Examples of Relative Dating

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Law of Superposition
Index Fossil Concept
Fossil Directeurs
Artifact Forms Diagnostic of a certain time

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Index Fossil Concept

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Observed forms of life changed over time(?)

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Seriation

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arranging objects so that those adjacent to one another are more alike than objects further apart

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Stylistic Seriation

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arrange artifacts into sequenced based on changes in shapes and styles

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Frequency Seriation

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determines the sequence of deposits by looking at the frequency of types; will follow a predictable "battleship" curve

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Absolute Dating

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actual ages to archaeological finds; often rely on the amount of unstable elements in a sample

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Examples of Absolute Dating

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Carbon-14 dating
AMS dating
K/Ar Dating

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Willard Libby

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studied cosmic radiation; able to determine the half life of carbon-14

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Half-Life

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the time it takes for half the atoms of a radioactive isotope to decay

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Half-Life of Carbon-14

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~5700 years

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AMS (accelerator mass spectrometry)

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counting C-14 atoms directly

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Limitations

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~Insecure Context
~Radiocarbon Dates are statistical in nature
~Uses the assumption that the amount of C14 in the atmosphere is constant

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Carbon-14 dating is used to dates things between the age of...

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300 years to 100,000 years

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Half life of Potassium/Argon

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~2.3 billion years

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K/Ar dating dates objects older than...

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500,000 years

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K/Ar dating is a type of...

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indirect absolute dating

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Limitations of K/Ar dating

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~must use volcanic rocks
~extremely inaccurate
~age must be at least 500,000 y/o

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Actualistic Studies

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studies in which actual behavior is linked to diagnostic material remains

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Ethnoarchaeology

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an ethnography done by archaeologists

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Gossip can be used as...

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a leveling device for when someone has too much power or when they are acting out of concordance with the societal norm

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Coffee Group

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ubiquitous groups (usually older men) who gossip

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Cross-Cutting Ties

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1200-2000 people, related by blood and marriage; many stranded relationships; anything you do affects multiple roles

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Cheap Information

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everyone knows everything due to small group size; refers to a common fund of info that everybody knows

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Pliocene Era

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~5mya-1.8/1.7 mya

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Pleistocene Era

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~1.8/1.7mya-10kya

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Holocene Era

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~10kya-present

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Lower Paleolithic

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~2.6mya to ~200kya

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Middle Paleolithic

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~200kya to 40kya

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Upper Paleolithic

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40kya to 10kya

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The Paleolithic Time Sequence has an equivalent in Sub-Saharan Africa

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Early, Middle, and Late Stone Age

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Hominin

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humans and their ancestors (including Australopithecines)

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Australopithecus

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an early hominin genus of Africa, characterized by bipedal locomotion and relatively small brains

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Gracile Australopithecine Brain Size

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~450 cc

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Australopithecus afarensis Date
(Gracile)

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4-3mya

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A. afarensis Location

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Eastern Africa

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Lucy

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an extremely famous A. afarensis fossil found by Donald Johansen in Hadar, Ethiopia

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Australopithecus africanus Date

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3-2.2 mya

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The Taung Boy

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a famous A. africanus child fossil found in South Africa by Raymond Dart

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Robust Australo Brain

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~530cc

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A. robustus location and time

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Southern Africa, 2-1 mya

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A. boisei location and time

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Eastern Africa, 2.2-1 mya

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FLK-Zinj, Olduvai Gorge

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Discovery by Mary Leakey of an A. boisei which was originally named "Zinjanthropus"

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Subsistence Strategy of Australos

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scavenging

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Australos and stone tools

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None

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Habilines time period

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2.4-1.6mya

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H. habilis Brain Size

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600-700cc

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Sites Relevant to H. habilis

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Gona River
DK, FLK-Olduvai
FxJj 50-Koobi Fora

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Tool Style for H. habilis

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Oldowan tools

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H. habilis Subsistence

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opportunistic scavenger/hunter
no big game

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H. habilis Social Organization

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band/camp (competing hypothesis)

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H. erectus Time Period

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1.8 mya-?

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H. erectus brain size

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~1000cc

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Nariokotome Boy

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a H.erectus adolescent fossil dated 1.6 mya; found West of Lake Turkana

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H. erectus Sites

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Africa by 1.8mya and China by 1.1mya

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H. erectus Stone Tool Culture

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~Acheulean tool technology
~bifacial flaked handaxes and cleavers
~Standardization in stone tools over wide geographic area

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Movius Line

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boundary of Acheulean handaxes; common in Africa, Europe, SW Asia, but rare east of India

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H. erectus Subsistence

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hunters/scavengers (maybe some big game)

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H. erectus Social Organization

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may be evidence for temporary campsites/windbreaks

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H. erectus Significant Findings

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Evidence of Fire
No evidence for symbolic behavior
No intentional burials

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Analogy

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basis for all prehistoric constructions; based on the idea that is 2 phenomena are alike in one respect they may be alike in other respects as well

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Dating Gap

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a large gap in dating (no great absolute dating method)

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Richard Lee

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reread "Christmas in the Kalahari"

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Blumenschine

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Riperian Scavenging Model-
determined what might be left in different hunting situation

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Lower Paleolithic Highlights
*add more to slide*

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Oldest stone tools found