Fagan Ancient Lives - Ch 4 Terms

Front 1

reductive (subtractive) technology

Back 1

stoneworking technique in which stone is shaped by removing flakes until a desired form is attained

Front 2

core

Back 2

in archaeology, a lump of stone from which humanly struck flakes have been removed

Front 3

flakes

Back 3

stone fragments removed from cores, often used as blanks for finished artifacts

Front 4

lithic analysis

Back 4

analysis of ancient stone technologies

Front 5

typology

Back 5

classification of archaeological types

Front 6

archaeological types

Back 6

groupings of artifacts created for comparison w/ other groups, based on tool types, which may or may not reflect the use of the tool as intended by the original manufacturers

Front 7

descriptive types

Back 7

types based on physical or external properties of an artifact

Front 8

chronological types

Back 8

types defined by form that are time markers

Front 9

functional types

Back 9

types based on cultural use or function of artifacts rather than on outward form or chronological position

Front 10

conchoidal fracture

Back 10

the fracturing tendency of igneous rocks that allows the manufacture of flakes, blades, and hence stone artifacts

Front 11

debitage analysis

Back 11

the study of debitage as a way of examining ancient stone technologies

Front 12

debitage

Back 12

waste by-products produced while working stone

Front 13

refitting

Back 13

the reconstruction of ancient stone technologies by refitting flakes and blades to cores; also known as retrofitting

Front 14

use-wear (edge-wear) analysis

Back 14

microscopic analysis of artifacts to detect signs of wear on their working edge

Front 15

petrological analysis

Back 15

the study of mineral contents of stone or stone tools

Front 16

petrology

Back 16

the study of rocks; in arch. analysis of trace elements & other characteristics of rocks used to make such artifacts as ax blades, which were traded over long distances

Front 17

obsidian

Back 17

volcanic glass

Front 18

Acheulian stone technology

Back 18

a technology based on hand axes, cleavers, and flake artifacts that flourished in Africa, Europe, SW Asia and SE Asia btw 1.8 mil and 200,000 years ago

Front 19

ground stone

Back 19

technique used for manufacturing artifacts by pecking the surface and edges w/ a stone and then grinding them smooth to form sharp working edges; often used to make axes and adzes employed for felling trees and woodworking

Front 20

temper

Back 20

coarse material such as sand or shell added to fine potting clay to make it bond during firing

Front 21

ceramics

Back 21

vessels and other objects made of clay

Front 22

slip

Back 22

a fine, wet finish applied to a clay vessel before it is decorated and fired

Front 23

form

Back 23

the physical characteristics: size and shape or composition - of any arch. find, an essential part of attribute analysis

Front 24

function

Back 24

the way in which an artifact was used in the past

Front 25

attributes

Back 25

individual features of artifacts

Front 26

ceramic analysis

Back 26

the study of pottery (ceramics)

Front 27

zooarchaeology

Back 27

the study of ancient animal bones found at arch. sites

Front 28

faunal analysis

Back 28

the study of animal bones

Front 29

epiphyses

Back 29

the articular ends of limb bones that fuse at adulthood in animals and humans

Front 30

catastrophic age profile

Back 30

distribution of ages at death of animals in a population that died of natural causes

Front 31

attritional age profile

Back 31

distribution of ages at death of animals in a population that were killed by selective hunting or predation

Front 32

paleoethnobotany

Back 32

the study of ancient botanical remains

Front 33

flotation

Back 33

a method of recovering plant remains by passing them through screens and water

Front 34

carbon isotope analysis

Back 34

analysis of isotopic ratios in human bones to discern ancient diet