Archaeology Exam One

Front 1

James Hutton

Back 1

"Theory of the Earth"; stratigraphic principles of rock formation and the gradual processes that cause them to change

Front 2

Richard Coalt Hoare and Cunnington

Back 2

_______ ____ ______ and _____ dug up "barrows" near Stonehenge in 1805

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Christian Jurgensen Thomson

Back 3

Danish Nat'l Museum; *developed Three Age System--> Stone, Bronze, Iron Ages

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Thomas Jefferson

Back 4

Notes on the State of Virginia

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Napoleon's attempt to conquer Egypt

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1798-1801; windfall for archaeologists (hint: ancient Egypt)

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Jean-Francois Champollion

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Rosetta Stone - 1822; trilingual-Greek, Demotic, Ancient Egyptian

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Heinrich Schliemann

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finds a site he believes to be Troy 1871-1890

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Sir Leonard Woolley

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excavation at city of Ur; *birthplace of Abraham

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V. Gordon Childe

Back 9

questions: when did farming tech appear in Europe and Middle East? Why did people settle and start farming?

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18kya

Back 10

last glacial...maximum?

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Robert Braidwood

Back 11

tests theory of agriculture in near East

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science

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_______ changed the way archae was conducted and the kinds of questions that could be answered

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artifacts

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portable objects that people make or modify

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site

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places where there are high concentrations of artifacts, usually places where people used to live

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features

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other things found in the landscape that people made or modified

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likelihood of an artifact being preserved

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is it common? did everyone have and use one? younger-->more likely to be preserved. did it constantly break? is that material likely to deteriorate once buried?

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raised field agriculture

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large artificial platforms of soil created to protect crops from flooding; generally found in areas of permanent high water table or seasonal flooding

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context

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the position of an archaeological find in time and space, established by measuring and assessing its association, matrix and provenience. Context includes and assessment of how an archaeological find got there and what has happened to it since it was buried in the ground.

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full coverage

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try to find all the big sites but will probably miss the small sites

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sampling survey

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finds small sites but cover relatively small area

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Father Antoine Poidebard

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conducted extensive aerial surveys of the Syrian desert in the 1920s

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spatial resolution

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how big are pixels?

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spectral resolution

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what range of the light spectrum can it see? when was the image taken?

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electrical resistivity

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typically utilizes a grid, whereby measurements are taken at regular intervals; resistance to an induced electrical current is measured with a voltmeter; *efficiency of surveys can be increased using more advanced intsruments.... *resistivity depends on water. no water, no data

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matrix

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the material surrounding it, usually some sort of sediment such as gravel, sand, or clay

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provenience

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horizontal and vertical position within the matrix

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association

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occurrence together with other archaeological remains, usually in the same matrix

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original human behavior

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1. acquisition of the raw material 2. manufacture 3. use (and distribution) 4. disposal or discard when the tool is worn out or broken

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hoards

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deliberately buried groups of valuables or prized possessions, often in times of confilct or war, and which, for one reason or another, have not been reclaimed. **Metal ________ are a primary source of evidence for the European Bronze Age

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stone, clay, and metals

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most common inorganic materials to survive archaeologically are ____, _____, and ______

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matrix; climate

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survival of organic materials is determined largely by the _____ and by ________

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matrix

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usually some kind of sediment or soil

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tropical climates

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the most destructive climates archaeologically; heavy rains, acid soils, warm temperatures, high humidity, erosion, and wealth of vegetation and insect life

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temperate climates

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as a rule, not very beneficial to organic materials; variable temperatures and fluctuating precipitation combine to accelerate the processes of decay

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natural disasters

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can sometimes preserve sites, including organic remains, for the archaeologist; i.e. violent storms; Pompeii; volcanic ash

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peat bogs

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nearly all of these occur in northern latitudes; some of the most important environments for wetland archaeology; have preserved many trackways and other fragile remains

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bog bodies

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undoubtedly the best-known finds from the peat bogs of NW Europe; most date from the Iron Age; **Denmark's Tollund Man

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lake-dwellings

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have rivaled bog bodies in popular interest; range of preserved material is astonishing, not simply wooden structures, artifacts, and textiles, but even nuts, berries, etc.... ******provide abundant well-preserved timber for the study of tree-rings for dating purposes

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dry, desert environments; extremely cold; water-logged environments

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environments/climates most likely to preserve organic materials?

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archaeology

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a subdiscipline of anthropology involving the study of the human past through its material remains

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treasure hunting; reconstructing the past/completing the picture

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traditional/historical approaches to archaeology?

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answering "how" and "why"... explaining change; the processes of cultural change

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modern archaeological goals?

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Perthes

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Antiquity of humankind; human existence came long before the biblical Flood; human origins extended far back into a remote past

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Colt Hoare and C.J. Thomsen; Three Age System

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Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age. *established the principle that by studying and classifying prehistoric artifacts once could produce a chronological ordering, and say something of the periods in question; **archaeology progressed to become a discipline involving careful excavation and the systematic study of the artifacts unearthed

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Principle of evolution; Darwin

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suggested that human cultures might have evolved in a manner analogous to plant and animal species

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Willard Libby

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1949; invention of radiocarbon dating; a means of directly determining the age of undated sites and finds anywhere in the world w/o recourse to tedious cross-cultural comparisons

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Richard Pittioni

Back 47

began to apply trace-element analysis to early copper and bronze artifacts

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processual archaeology

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The “new” archaeologists were unhappy with culture history’s method of simply listing traits for different cultures but not explaining mechanisms for culture change except for some vague notions of invention and diffusion of ideas; concerned with culture process, asking how did systems work and change and what are the functions of artifacts, activity areas, and whole sites and systems.

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Colin Renfrew; Walter W. Taylor

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major proponents of processual archaeology

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environmental determinism; lack of human agency; view of cultures as homeostatic with cultural change only resulting from outside stimuli; failure to take into account such things as gender, ethnicity, etc; supposed objectivity of interpretation

Back 50

criticisms of processual archaeology?

Front 51

context

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consists of its immediate matrix (the material surrounding it, usually some sort of sediment such as gravel, sand, or clay) its provenience (horizontal and vertical position within the matrix), and its association with other finds (occurrence together with other archaeological remains, usually in the same matrix)

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1. Pueblo Indians burying the dead in dry caves; clothing remains; Egyptians of the Dynastic period/mummification

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examples of dry environment preservation

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i. Numerous remains of mammoths encountered in the permafrost of Siberia
ii. The Iceman – found by German hikers in the Alps

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examples of cold enviro preservation

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magnetic gradiometry

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how magnetism is measured; measuring differences in the relative strength of any magnetic fields

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thermoremanent magnetism

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permanent magnetism resulting from alignment of iron oxides when rocks are heated above Curie Point

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induced magnetism

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generated by Earth's magnetic field; different materials have different magnetic sucesptibilities

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Earth's magnetic field

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strength of field measured in nanoteslas

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people make fires, burn soil; features or artifacts made of burned materials; anthrosols (culural soils) have enhanced magnetic properties; features/architecture built with topsoil; ***iron artifacts made/collected by people

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cultural processes causing magnetic variation

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depth of detection

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fall off in strength of magnetic field is a third power of distance to sensor

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GPR (ground-penetrating radar)

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radar waves propagated through soil, reflected off buried features, detected by receiving antenna; R. waves transmitted conically into ground, meaning at greater depth, features farther from antenna are recorded

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depth of GPR penetration

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longer wavelength - deeper penetration - coarser resolution; multiple parallel transects can be processed to make 3D images

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emerging methods

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SQUID - Superconducting Quantum Interference Device; microgravity; seismic data; aerial thermography

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1. formulation of a research strategy 2. collecting and recording of evidence 3. processing and analysis 4. publication

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research design

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reconaissance survey

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growth of regional studies; whole regions need tobe explored, involving a program of survey

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1. studying spatial distr. of human activities 2. variations between regions 3. changes in population thru time 4. relationships between people, land, and resources

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what does much survey today consist of?

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1. time and resources available 2. area's history of development 3. whether material should be collected or merely examined

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things to consider during survey?

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unsystematic surface survey

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walking across each part of that area, scanning a strip of ground, collecting or examining artifacts

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systematic

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most modern survey is done in a _________ way; results are more reliable from long term projects that cover the region repeatedly

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extensive survey

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combines results from a series of individual projects in neighboring regions to produce very large-scale views of change in landscape, land use, and settlement through time

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aerial images

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are either oblique or vertical

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oblique

Back 71

sites observed from air by archaeologist and thought to have archaelogical significance

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vertical

Back 72

result from non-archae surveys (i.e. cartographic)

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LIDAR

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Light Detection and Ranging; uses an aircraft carrying a laser scanner that rapidly pulses a series of beams to the ground

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1. tree canopies can be eliminated 2. angle and azimuth of the sun can be moved to enable ground features to be viewed under optimal lighting

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2 advantages of LIDAR?

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SLAR

Back 75

recording in radar images the turn of pulses of electromagnetic radiation sent out from a flying aircraft

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topographic maps

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represent differences in elevation or height by means of contour lines and help relate ancient structures to the surrounding landscape

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planimetric maps

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exclude contour lines and topographic info, focusing instead on broad outlines of features, thus making it easier to understand the relationship of diff. buildings to each other`

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GIS

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incorps the ability to carry out a statistical analysis of site distr., and to generate new info

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cost-surface analysis

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mapping catchment areas and site territories taking the surrounding terrain into account

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Total Station

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electronic theodolite integrated w/ an electronic distance meter, used to read distances to a particular point

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site surface survey

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studying the distr. of surviving features, and recording and possibly collecting artifacts from the surface

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subsurface detection

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probes; shovel test pits

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GPR

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an emitter sends short pulses through the soil, and the echoes not only reflect back any changes in the soil and sediment conditions, but also measure the depth at which the changes occur

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electrical resistivity

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principle that damper soil more easily conducts electricity; *works particularly well for ditches and pits in chalk and gravel *drawback--> rather slow technique

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magnetic survey methods

Back 85

among the most widely used methods of survey; i.e. metal detectors

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thermal prospection (thermography)

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based on weak variations in temp that can be found above buried structures whose thermal properties are different from those of their surroundings

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geochem analysis

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taking samples of soil at intervals from the surface of a site and its surroundings and measuring elemental content

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excavation

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yields the most reliable evidence for the two mains kinds of info archaeologists are interested in: 1. human activities at a particular period in the past 2. changes in those activities from period to period

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1. human activities at a particular period in the past 2. changes in those activities from period to period

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2 main kinds of info archaeologists are interested in? (hint: activities)

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horizontally

Back 90

contemporary activities take place __________________ in space

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vertically

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changes in human activities occur _________ through time (hint: principle of stratigraphy)

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contemporaneity

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that activities did indeed occur at the same time

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law of superposition

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where one layer overlies another, the cover was deposited first

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provenience

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the exact position, vertically and horizontally, of each and every artifact

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vertical

Back 95

(excavation technique) _______ dimension; cutting into deep deposits to reveal stratification

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horizontal

Back 96

(excavation technique) ___________ ; opening up large areas of a particular layer to reveal spatial relationships between artifacts and features in that layers

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Wheeler box-grid

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Gen. Pitt-Rivers; seeks to satisfy both vertical/horizontal requirements by retaining intact balks of earth between the squares of the grid so that different layers can be traced and correlated across the site in vertical profiles

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open-area excavation

Back 98

criticizes Wheeler; balks are invariably in the wrong place; better to open up large areas and only cut vertical sections

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step-trenching

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a large area opened at the top which gradually narrows as the dig descends in a series of large steps

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cofferdam

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sheet piles around the area to be dug

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classification

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based on 3 attributes; 1. surface attribute 2. shape attribute 3. technological attribute

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surface attribute

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decoration and color

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shape attribute

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dimensions and shape itself

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technological attribute

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primarily raw material

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assemblage

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groups of artifact types at a particular time an dplace

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archaeological cultures

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groups of assemblages that have been taken

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geophysical investigations

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__________ ___________ (GPR, magnetometry, electrical resistivity) can show us what is below the ground

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topographic expression

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sites can be mapped to find _____________ ___________ of settlement

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spatial distribution

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surface collections can show differences in _______ _______________ of settlement

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1. museum-quality of artifacts 2. faunal remains 3. botanical remains

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why excavate?

Front 111

expensive; destructive; curation of material; labor intensive; slow; limited area

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downsides of excavation?

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size; goals

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size of excavation areas needs to be tailored to the _____ of the site and _____ of theproject

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shovel and pick; trowel; dental pick

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tools of excavation

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BC

Back 114

refers to the dates before year 1; "Before Christ"

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AD

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Anno Domini - "In the year of our Lord"

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follows

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BC _________ dates

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precedes

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AD ________ dates

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BCE/CE

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same system as BC/AD, but meant to strip terminology of Christian terms; "Before Common Era" and "Common Era"

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BP

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"before present" ; commonly used in scientific literature and for archaeology of very early periods (greater than 20kya) ***actually calculated as years before 1950, discovery of radiocarbon dating

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relative dating

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material culture sequences; stratigraphic sequences; frequency seriation

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material culture

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changes over time in terms of their style i.e. cars, clothes

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relative chronology

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older to younger; not all objects change at the same rate

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Oscar Montelius

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organized Bronze Age European axes into a relative sequence w/o knowing their absolute ages

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stratigraphic sequences

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the basis of most archae dating; relative chronology of artifacts can be established by stratigraphic excavation; caves and rock shelter also provide long stratigraphic sequences

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frequency seriation

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a relative dating method which relies principally on measuring changes in the proportional abundance, or frequency, observed among finds (e.g. counts of tool types, or of ceramic fabrics).

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absolute dating

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historical chronologies; dendrochronology and annual rings; radiometric

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terminous postquem

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"date after which"

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terminous ante quem

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"date before which"