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24 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What, according to Johnson, do artefacts tell us about the past?
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- In short, nothing. Artefacts belong to the present. The past exists only in what we 'say' about it.
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What are some ways we can garner a better understanding of the past using archaeological material at hand?
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- Use natural science methods of testing hypotheses against material at hand.
- "Read" artefacts like texts... |
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Explain some of the hallmarks of "Traditional Arcaheology" (I.E.: Before New Archaeology)
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- no explicit use of theory
- mere data collection - normative culture - polythetic culture - tendency to particularize - culture unchanging - descriptive |
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What did Binford (1964) call traditional archaeology's view of culture?
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- Aquatic view of culture
I.E.: any given innovation would ripple out in all directions like a stone dropped in a pond. |
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What two key points did New Archaeologists stress? *Hint* they had a phrase...
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- "We must be more SCIENTIFIC and more ANTHROPOLOGICAL"
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Did traditional archaeologists include human beings when analyzing the past?
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- No, that was the problem - humans were ignored. It was described by Johnson as being 'fetishistic'
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Is New Archaeology a set of beliefs?
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- No - it is a movement of dissatisfaction, not a specific set of beliefs. Clarke said it is a set of questions rather than a set of answers...
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Binford said culture was man's "extrasomatic means of adaptation" - explain extrasomatic
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- Outside (extra) the body (soma)
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List the seven key points of New Archaeology
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1. Cultural evolution
2. Systems thinking extrasomatic 3. adaptive to external environ. 4. Stress on scientific approach 5. Stress cultural process 6. Make explicit one's biases 7. understand variability |
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Did New Archaeologists change their sampling techniques?
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Yes - they did more random sampling for one thing.
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As New Archaeology got older, what body of thought developed?
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Processualism - stress on cultural process. Likes to generalize and uses systematic or functional models
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What is the moral of the case study of megalithic tombs
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- we should focus less on chronology and diffusion and more at the underlying processes involved. Not be content with dating and describing megaliths but focus on EXPLAINATION for them instead
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Renfrew re: megaliths had five arguments. List these briefly.
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1. Explained instead of describing megaliths
2. Used ethnographic analogies 3. stressed environmental factor 4. one functional element of total cultural system 5. TESTED his model |
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Does New Archaeology have a double slogan, and if so, what is it?
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Yes- SCIENCE and ANTHROPOLOGY
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Are the techniques used by new archaeology as applicable in, say, Britain as they are in North America?
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No - sampling theory works well in the Arizona desert, but is not as useful in Wessex (or so goes the example in the text)
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Explain "Cultural Evolution"
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- Cultures evolve from one state to another
- Cultural trajectory - N.Arch. wanted to look at INTERNAL dynamics as fostering social development |
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Explain "Systems thinking"
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- different parts of a past cultural system were related to one another
- these systems were comparable to other systems found in physical/animal world |
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Talk about the 3rd idea of New Archaeology with respect to culture being adaptive ot external environment...
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- important to look at whole ecological system - this lead to stress on CULTURAL MATERIALISM where material world is seen as more important than mental world
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What sort of scientific techniques complemented the increaesed importance of culture in relation to the external environment?
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- Paleoethnobotany
- Carbon-14 dating - Dendrochronology |
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Discuss the three points of "Cultural Process"
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- Desire to EXPLAIN rather than merely describe
- Look at underlying processes rather than "NOISE" on top - Look at change in the long term |
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One of the central tenents of New Archaeology was making one's biases explicit. Related to this idea is the "Problem of Orientation" - discuss the latter
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- Problem of orientation is that one should conduct research (ie: dig at a certain site) with research questions in mind...
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The final and seventh point of New Archaeology has to do with the understanding of variability. Discuss...
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It boils down to this - we have to look at not only the biggest and best sites, but also the surrounding area in order to have a complete picture of the whole system. We can't ignore the humble farmsteads.
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How did New Archaeology understand the question of variability?
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- for one thing, they used new sampling techniques and theories.
- Random or systematic sampling used |
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Did New Archaeology have a major impact on the study of Roman, Medieval and European prehistory?
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- It had an impact on European prehistory, but less on Roman and medieval
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