Archeology Exam 1

What is a cultural period?

A period of time marked by a unique technology and cultural understanding

Do different regions have different cultural periods?

Yes

What are historical archeologists?

They study recent or recorded history and work closely for historians. Used in places outside of Europe.

What is historical archeology called in Europe?

Post Medieval Archeology

How does BC time work?

Years in BC are counted backwards

What is an example of BC time framing? (Julius Ceaser)

Julius Ceasar was born in 100 BC and died in 44 BC

When is the Pleistocene Age?

2,580,000 years ago - 11,700 years ago

When was the Upper Pleistocene?

2.5 million years ago - 760 thousand years ago

When was the Middle Pleistocene?

760 thousand years ago - 126 thousand years ago

When was the Late Pleistocene?

126 thousand years ago - 11,700 thousand years ago

What calendar does most of the world operate on?

Gregorian Calendar

What is the Ethiopian calendar?

The Ethiopian calendar uses different years for Christ's lifetime, so they are 7 years behind the Gregorian. It is 2015 in Ethiopia.

Who created the Gregorian calendar and why?

Pope Gregory XIII created the modern calendar which replaced the Julian calendar. He created it to be a better representation of the solar cycles and to reflect christian holidays.

What characterized the Paleothic Age?

Stone Age- Hunter/gatherers, scavenging, stone and bone tools, fire, cave art

When was the Paleolithic Age/ Stone Age?

3.3 ma - 10 ka

What is cultural/social anthropology?

The study of human culture and society throughout the world and throughout time

Why do we need historical archeology?

Historical records lack details and context

What is Ka?

Ka= Kilo Annum= 1,000 years ago

What does 18 ka equal to?

18,000 years ago

What is anthropology?

The comprehensive study of humans throughout the world and throughout time

How is the Paleolithic Age/ Stone Age split up?

Lower Paleolithic, Middle Paleolithic, and Upper Paleolithic

When was the Lower Paleolithic Age?

3.3 ma - 33 ka

When was the Middle Paleolithic Age?

300 ka - 45 ka

When was the Upper Paleolithic?

50 ka- 10 ka

What are the four kinds of Anthropology?

1. Physical/ Biological
2. Cultural/ Social
3. Linguistic
4. Archeology

What does CE stand for and what is it equivalent to?

CE stands for the Common Era. CE = AD (Anno Domini)

What does BCE stand for and what is it equivalent to?

BCE stands for Before the Common Era. BCE = BC

When was the Bronze Age?

3,300 BCE - 1,200 BCE

What technology advancements were made during the Bronze Age?

Metal smelting. Copper + Tin = Bronze

What is an Archeological Site?

A place traces of past human activity can be found. They are identified by the presence of artifacts.

What was Thomas Jefferson's impact on archeology?

1787- he excavated a Native mound on his property

• Used stratigraphy

• Used systematic trenching

What are pounding stones?

Harder minerals like basalt were used as hammer stones

Tools were made by striking rocks with a hammer stone

Ex. Hammer stones and pitted/nut stones

Who was Hesiod?

Greek philosopher who came up with Greek Ages- Gold Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age.

The three age system is based off of this.

What is subduction?

Process in which one tectonic plate moves beneath another and goes into the mantel, which then creates continental crust

What is accretion?

Material is added to a tectonic plate at a subduction zone on the edge of an existing continental land masses. Creates volcanic arcs, sea mounts, oceanic crust

Who was the first archeologist?

• 2,500 years ago

• King Nabonidus of Babylonia

• Excavated ancient objects from the Sumerian period (2,000 years prior to King N)

• Displayed in his personal museum

What are artifacts?

Objects that are used, modified, or made by past humans

Ex. pottery, tools, cave drawings

What does BP stand for? How is it used?

BP = Before Present

Measures geologic time

Used with radiometric dating

Year "0" is 1950

Ex. 2000 BP = 50 BCE

What is a core?

Edges of a core are defined by the presences of 2 intersecting surfaces, a strike platform and a flake release platform

What are North American Age systems called?

Pre-Paleoindian Period
Paleoindian Period
Archaic Period
Woodland Period
Mississippian Period

What is ethnoarcheology?

Watching how people today interact with artifacts to find out how people in the past may have interacted with them.

Ex. The researchers observing how the Choctaw Natives interacted with the mounds to figure out how the Cahokia may have interacted with them

What are ecofacts?

Organic and environmental remains not created by humans

What are some examples of ecofacts?

Bones, teeth imprint, footprint

What are protohistoric archeologists?

Archeologists that study native sites that contained European goods without having European contact. *** Context is very important ***

When was the Neolithic Age?

12,000 BCE- 3,000 BCE

What technology advancements were made in the Neolithic Age?

• No longer nomadic
• Agricultural production
• Animal domestication
• More advanced tools (axes and adzes)
• Home construction, pottery, sewing, weaving

What is geologic time?

A system of chronological dating that classifies geologic data

What are ground stones?

• Shaped by pecking, grinding, smoothing or polishing one stone against another

• Used for food processing

• Mortar and pestle looking thing

What are flint and chert?

What stone tools were primarily made of during the stone age

Who was Clair Cameron Patterson?

1956- isolated lead from fragments of a meteorite and determined the age of the fragments by analyzing proportions of the lead isotopes using radiometric dating. He estimated that the earth is 4.54 billion years old.

How old is the earth?

4.54 billion years old

What year do archeologists use as a point of reference? Why?

1950 CE

Marked the first publication of radiocarbon dates

Pre-bomb testing changed atmospheric conditions

How reliable is the three age system?

Ages tend to overlap

Some areas (like Africa) went from the stone age right to the iron age

Some groups today in the Amazon still live in the stone age

What is archeology?

The study of past societies through their material remains

When was the Holocene period?

11,700 ka - Today

When was the Iron Age?

Roughly 1,300 BCE - 500 CE

What technology advancements happened during the Iron Age?

Use of metal and metallurgical procedures

Use of iron tools, steel tools are lighter than bronze

What is the point of fracture initiation called?

Bulb of percussion or bulbar eminence

Who was Comte de Buffon?

1700s French Naturalist

Argued the earth was 75,000 years old

Thought the earth was cooling

Privately though the earth was 10 million years old

Dorsal side of flake

Usually subdivided into the striking platform and the rest of the dorsal surface

• Distal portion
• Medial portion
• Proximal portion

What is linguistic anthropology?

The study of how speech varies with social and regional factors and over time

What is the three age system?

Based off of Hesiod's Greek Ages

Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age

What is the Law of Superposition?

Older artifacts will be found deeper in the sediment while newer artifacts will be found in shallow sediment

Ex. Stone age deep Iron age shallow

Early modern archeology

1700s and 1800s

Adventurous researchers began doing excavations

Extremely destructive

Pompeii was found during this era

What is prehistoric archeology?

Archeology that studies the remains of societies prior to recorded history

What is archeoastrology?

The study of how ancient people studied the sky

What is classical archeology?

Archeology that studies the Mediterranean and the near east.

Ex. Ancient Greece and the Fertile Crescent

Stone tool production

1. Acquisition of stone
2. Manufacturing- tools are intentionally shaped via fracture and abrasion (flintknapping and pressure flaking)
3. Use and distribution
4. Disposal and/or repurpose of broken tool

What is a Fracture?

Most paleolithic and Neolithic tools are made from conchoidal fracture

Occurs in rocks that are brittle and isotropic (see through)

ex. quartz, obsidian, and feldspar

What is biological/physical anthropology?

The study of humans biological and physical characteristics

What is a cleavage plane?

Forms when a brittle material breaks across a flat surface

When was the Pre-Paleoindian period?

17,000 - 12,000 BCE

What characterized the Pre-Paleoindian period?

Native Americans pre- European contact

Famous site: Cactus Hill, VA where archeologists found several blades, projectile points and scrapers made of quartzite

When was the Paleoindian period?

12,000 - 8,000 BCE

What characterized the Paleoindian period?

Nomadic Hunter-gatherers

When was the Archaic period?

8000 to 1000 BCE

What characterized the Archaic period?

• Adoption of Agriculture
• Lived in larger groups, were sedentary for part of the year
• Weaving and netting
• Grinding stones

When was the Woodland period?

Roughly 500 BC and 1100 CE

What characterized the Woodland period?

• Raised maize (corn), beans, squash
• Settled village life
• Pottery
• Burial mounds

When was the Mississippian Period?

800 CE - 1600 CE

What characterized the Mississippian period?

• Relied on cultivation of food so groups lived in river valleys
• Mounds (Cahokia mound is from this period)
• Evidence of government/ chiefdoms

European explanations of native mounds

Thought they were created by a supernatural force

Did not think Natives were capable of producing mounds

James Ussher

Estimated the earth was 6000 years old

Based his findings off of the Bible

Estimated the earths creation was Oct 22 4000 (Julian) or Nov 4004 (Gregorian)

European Renaissance impact on Archeology

Elites and Princes did excavations to fill their cabinets of curiosities

Cabinets were not organized or curated