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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?
Physical/ Biological
Cultural/ Social
Linguistic
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
Acquisition of stone
Manufacturing- tools are intentionally shaped via fracture and abrasion (flintknapping and pressure flaking)
Use and distribution
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
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