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58 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Approximately when did fully-modern humans first appear in the fossil record?
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100,000 ya
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What are the defining characteristics of the Upper Paleolithic?
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big bang of human consciousness, evolution of full homo sapiens sapiens, HG, mixed media, domestication of animals
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* What were the independent centers of domestication and when did they emerge?
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10000 and 4000 bp, SW asia, eastern woodlands, eastern asia, mesoamerica andean highlands, Sahel
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Why is the archaeological record after domestication and sedentism so different?
More free time? Better health? Surplus? Pop. growth? Institutions for dispute resolution? Social ineq.? |
Pop. growth, greater fertility, surplus, more material, more diverse material, institutions for dispute resolution
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Why did agriculture first begin at 10,000 BC and not sooner?
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this was the end of the ice age, Bender's social theory that need social changes before ag can grow. competition emerges as well
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Why is the population pressure hypothesis so appealing as an explanation for the origins of food production?
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the population was growing so high that the hunting and gathering could not support it. people had to start producing food.
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How did artificial selection factor into wheat domestication?
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stem is tough, coat is brittle.
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How did the Natufians kick off agriculture?
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experimented with certain stems of wheat and barley to plant
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What are some of the differences in domestication in the Americas vs. the “Old World” that may be illustrated with regard to the Natufian versus the Mesoamerican sequence?
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MesoAmerican domestication came before agriculture, large communities, and sedentism.
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What are the dates for the beginnings of the Eastern Agricultural Complex (EAC)?
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2500 bc
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How does Koster illustrate key changes in the E Woodlands Archaic?
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went from small seasonal settlements to bigger more permanent ones. grinding stones proved went from temporary village to a permanent one.
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What are some of the common elements of Poverty Point, Adena, Hopewell, and Mississippian?
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ceremonial center, piling earth, religious iconography
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What’s the revised answer to the question of “what happened to the Anasazi”?
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they went back to be HG, oscillated between farmers and HG
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What is the clovis-first theory?
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Adovasio finds human artifacts in N.A. that challenges the previous theory that humans had occupied the land since 9000 ya. He dates artifacts to 15000 ya, which caused much controversy in Archaeology.
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What was the environment like for early Americans?
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End of the last ice age, megafauna were present, but becomming extinct, HG societies were formed.
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Criteria for acceptable early American sites?
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evidence of humans, multiple dates, undisturbed context and association.
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Why does Adovasion think Meadowcroft meets the criteria for early american sites?
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finds stone tools, dates going back to 15000ya, the area is stratified
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Why are some skeptical about Meadowcroft? How does Adovasio reply to them?
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The floral and fauna evidence is weird for the Pleistocene, the dates could have been contaminated by coal, there is no replication elsewhere. Adovasion replies with saying the dates are sequenced and stratified, the Pleistocene climate depends on elevation and other factors, no need for replication
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What are the things to think about in starting fieldwork?
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Conservation ethic, ethical/legal observations, research questions, research design
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Questions to ask in the survey for fieldwork?
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Where are the sites? Where to dig within a site? Regional Settlement pattern?
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Superposition/stratigraphy
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A geologic principle that says that the order in which things are buried shows which thing is older by being below it.
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C14
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Counts the C14 atoms that are in the sample to see how old it is.
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Dendrology
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Counts the ring around a tree to date it, must have a master sequence to compare the rings to.
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OSL
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electrons become trapped and serves as a clock. this will tell you the last time something was heated (buried).
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Deetz's tombstone example as a study of seriation?
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Styles come and go with people; and popularity as well. Battleship curves best represent this. It allows us to put things in relative order.
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What does Middle range research try to achieve?
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It tries to link human behavior to material remains found archaeologically. Systemic contexts and archeaological contexts.
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How do taphonomy, experimental arch., and ethnoarch. help build the links in MRR?
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All of these focus on using material remains to solve questions. All of these revolve around material remains and not culture or other factors.
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How did Binford vs. Bordes debate trigger new approaches for making linking arguments?
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Archaeologists must debate with each other to come up with the best answer to a question. They both could be right about the stone tools found.
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Historical Archeaology keyed to European colonialism or to the arch. of periods with records?
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Because places were colonized at different times, historical arch. starts in different places at different times.
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Middle Range Theory in historical Arch?
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Ethnohistorical reserach takes place of ethnographic observation in prehistoric arch. Uses documents instead of studying human behavior to make connections.
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How can historical arch. contribute?
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helps to understand daily events, ways of organizing space and privacy, intimacy b/w groups claimed not to have associated, architecture, diets
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What is revisionist history?
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Telling history over from the persepective of the disenfranchised, based on material left behind. In hopes of changing perception of past to benefit how people see the future.
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What were the main points of the star-pipes example?
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Emphasis on symbols and social context of artifact use, internal divisions within a society, shaped by cultural identity, humanist emphasis on indiviual people.
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How do Paleolithic cave sites illustrate the idea that human beginnings defined by depiction and enactment of imagined worlds and ideas related to the sacred?
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The paintings rarely depict humans. Rather they focus on specific animals and humans wearing animal skins, which could be related to a shaman or ritual depictions.
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Why is their a time-lag b/w first appearance of corn and agricultural villages in American SW?
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Mitigating risk through household-based production, alliances, lineages, ritual centers
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When was Chaco canyon, and what was it's significance?
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1000-1100's AD. 125+ planned towns, linked by roads which promoted long-distance exotics trade.
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How were Jericho, Catal Hoyuk, Eridu, and Uruk stepping stones on the way to state societies?
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Respectively: group labor, densely populate trading communities, ceremonial and irrigation center, formation of city-states.
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What was the earlies city, and how was it organized?
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Uruk, and it was formed as a city-state. Provided for the transition to a Hegemony, or one group having power over another group.
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What role did the Bandkeramic tradition play in Neolithic Europe?
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Provided year-round settlements for the people, agriculture flourished, used Danube River for travel, lived in unfortified longhouses, and each community was individual economic unit.
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What can we infer from Stonehenge lengthy history of construction and use?
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It was probably a central ceremonial place for the surrounding people. It kept being expanded over time, telling us it was a place of significance over time. It also has astronomical positioning which could be important.
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How have different schools of thought explained the megaliths? 1. Migrationists? 2. Functional explanations? 3. Neo-Marxist? 4. Post processual?
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Respectively: megaliths were the result of Mediterranean people migrating and bringing these with them, solves problem of social solidarity and are territorial markers, source of power and could be used to mask inequality, the tombs symbolize longhouses ("domos") and symbolic expression of DOMEStication
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How did goods move through Chaco?
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subsistence moved locally, while exotics moved regionally
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What were the elite in Chaco called?
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Major Dudes
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Chaco is split up into which two groups when it falls apart?
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Aztec (North) and Paquime (South)
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What is Pax Chaco?
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A time of peace in Chaco canyon. (Not sure about this one)
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What is the significance of "Chaco Halo?"
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Chaco becomes a magnet, with neighboring groups being drawn into the system. (Not sure here either)
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What were the similarities between Chaco, Aztec, and Paquime?
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they were all deliberately planned settlements, they had complex internal geometrics, and they all has formal canons of design.
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What is the significance of Werowocomoco?
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It was the political center of the Powhatan chiefdom and the location of colonial interaction.
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How was space divided up at Werowocomoco?
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There seems to be a difference in residential areas and ditch features.
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Based on ethnographic analogies, what could the Werowocomoco land have been used for ceremonially?
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possible answers include rites of passage and chiefly ceremonies.
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What are some of the strengths of the Wero. research project?
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politically engaged through descendants, long term history (1200-1607), focus on landscape instead of pocahontas and john smith stories
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What are some of the weaknesses of the Wero. research project?
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it is difficult to trace events of colonial era archeologically, understanding meanings requires big leaps of faith.
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Why is the anthropological approach the best for understanding archaeology?
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the ability to see long-term developments, broad social patterns, and comparisons across societies.
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What does it mean to be reflexive about how archaeology is practiced?
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Recognizing how each age views the past tells us something about that age.
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How does recognizing that the past is a "moving target" help us today?
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It allows us to be critical when politicians/preachers/pundits draw on the past to justify the present.
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How are the ways people represent the past as much a conversation about cotemporary social identity as it is a conversation about the past?
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1960's saw processual archaeology (during the age of American science)
2000's saw postprocessual archaeology (period of questioning recieved narratives and the age of irony) |
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Does a "real past" exist?
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Yes, but only accessible through frames of reference that are varied, incomplete and framed by the present.
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What is a typical Americans view of history and the ancient past?
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We tend to be less concerned with the ancient past than some societies today.
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