Archaeology Midterm

Definition of Archaeology

The study of human behavior and culture in the past through the recovery and analysis of the material remains of that behavior and culture.

Definition of Archaeological Record

The Material Remains such as sites, artifacts, and ecofacts

formation processes

the ways in which human behaviors and natural actions operate to produce the archaeological record

Natural vs Cultural

-Natural deals with how nature effects a site

-cultural deals with how humans effect a site

Historical Archaeology

the study of archaeological sites associated with written records, used in addition to archaeological record

prehistoric archaeology

the reconstruction of human behavior in the distant past (before written records) through the examination of artifacts, seeks to document human development

Definition of culture

everything we think, do, and have

Forms of survey

Field walking, Aerial survey, Soil analysis, Geographical survey

systematic

you go in a grid like way, this is the good way to survey because you survey the whole site instead of just where there is likely to be artifacts

unsystematic

this is the bad way to survey, it involves someone going straight to the area that is most likely to have the most artifacts

Excavation

The field work part of the research process, you go out and dig up the site

post excavation

-Lab analysis

-Research

-Publication

Willard Libby

developed radiocarbon dating

Climate Change

We can assume the date of an artifact or site by looking at evidence of climate change, such as a dramatic shift in water levels after the Ice Age. We are able to see how these societies adapted overtime

Calibration

needed because the carbon in the atmosphere is terrible at staying consistent so we can't convert it to calendar years

3 types of dating

relative, historical, absolute

relative dating

Method of determining the age of a fossil by comparing its placement with that of fossils in other layers of rock

Historical Dating

When we know the age of an artifact thanks to the magic of written history

absolute dating

A technique used to determine the actual age of a fossil

Absolute Dating Methods

Finding the ACTUAL age of something (C14 dating, molecular dating)

Stratigraphy

Layers of the earth. Layers of cultural and natural materials accumulate one on top of another (Law of Superposition). Reveals sequence of deposition.

Law of Superposition

The idea that the layers of the earth on the top are younger than those beneath them

Context

The circumstances, atmosphere, attitudes, and events surrounding the site and artifacts

Provenience

an artifact's location within a site

Jacob Jens Worsaae

Found evidence proving the three age system

Christian Jurgen Thomsen

Created the three age system which consists of the Stone-age, the Bronze-age, and the Iron-age

V. Gordon Childe

was interested in the idea of cultural change and how there were certain assemblages in different cultures. Came up with the M.I.D (Migration, Invasion, and Diffusion) explanations for how culture spread

Lewis Binford

American archeologist known as the leader of the "new archeology" movement of being able to understand past cultures through their remains, processual archaeology or science guy stuff

Ian Hodder

post-processual archaeology

Thomas Jefferson

Conducted the first systematic scientific excavation

why this history is important

allows us to see how archaeology has developed over time

antiquarianism vs archaeology

Antiquarianism is when a rich person went out and found antiques for their cabinets of curiosities. They really destroyed some stuff and even snorted mummies lol

cultural historical approach

Descriptive archaeology: when, what, where, who had emphasis and V. Gordon Childe's MID explanations were used here

New or Processual Archaeology

Placed an emphasis on answering the question "how?" Drew on theories of cultural evolution and used the scientific method

Post-Processual Archaeology

A counter-movement within archaeology that responded to processual archaeology. Emphasized the subjectivity of archaeological interpretation as well as the importance of human agency, issues of gender, and social inequality. Answered the question "why?" would deal more with rituals

Hawkes' Ladder of Inference

What we can find to be true in a culture. Starts off with technology(bc you can just go to a site and see what they use), then goes to economy (you can find pieces of money), social and political organizations (kinda have to assume here but evidence is still present), and then religious beliefs (harder to interpret)

scientific Method (rules)

1- There is a real and knowable universe

2- The universe operates to certain understandable rules or laws

3- These laws are immutable, unchanging

4- These laws can be discerned, studied, and understood by people through careful observation, experimentation, and research

Scientific Method (steps)

1- Observe- what you see

2- Hypothesize or induction- specific to general hypothesis

3- Deduce- if-then statement

4- Test- try it out

Occam's Razor

The idea that the explanation with the fewest assumptions is the best explanation

Epistemology

The study of knowledge

Key assumption underlying archaeology

"...human behaviour has remained unchanged since at least the appearance of 'anatomically modern humans'...and is therefore predictable" -paul bahn

Ramapithecus

A cautionary tale about why we shouldn't make assumptions on a weak analogy. The tale goes like this, a long time ago scientists found the jaw of this guy and were like "hey this kinda looks like a human jaw so it must be a human ancestor" but they were wrong and it was actually an ape.

lessons learned:

1. problems with inferring a shared evolutionary relationship from shared anatomical features

2. proved the problems with the evolutionary "package" (biology v. culture)

Bamboo technology (Pope Reading)

• there was a lack of evidence because bamboo decays too fast so we have to come up with more evidence

• bamboo makes different cuts than stone tools

• no need for archulean weapons

• Movius line coincides where the bamboo starts growing

• Make a formal analogy showing how bamboo was used today

• and use ethnographic analogies to prove that the cut marks made on bones were made by bamboo tools

• proves that some cultures do not follow the three age system

negative evidence

A fallacy that claims something is true just because it has not yet been proven false

Movius Line

a theoretical line drawn across northern India first proposed by the American archaeologist Hallam L. Movius in 1948 to demonstrate a technological difference between the early prehistoric tool technologies of the east and west of the Old World.

Unilinear Cultural Evolution

Early theory that states all culture evolved in one distinct line savages---> barbarian ---> civilized

mixed Darwin's theory of evolution with human progress

failed to take into account resources available for a culture

Multilinear Cultural Evolution

A theory of cultural evolution that sees each society pursuing an individual evolutionary career shaped by accumulated specific cultural adaptations, rather than seeing all societies as pursuing the same course. pope reading

Definition of Technology

The application of knowledge for practical purposes

indictive of different lifestyles

documents cultural change

Ethnographic Analogy

Social anthropologists are trained to talk to groups of people and live amongst them (relies on living people)

Ethnoarchaeology

The study of contemporary peoples to determine how human behavior is translated into the archaeological record.

4 types of commonalities (categories to maximize as an archaeologist)

• common technologies

-common subsistence strategies

• common forms of social organization

-common ecological conditions

formal analogy

Analogies made by observing societies that are like past societies

relational analogy

Analogies based on the decedents of a past culture

Experimental Archaeology

the study of past behavioral processes through experimental reconstruction under carefully controlled scientific conditions

• a method of ethnographic

• processualists like this because they can see how things work

• they recreate tools and test them out

application of the scientific method

• a tool to maximize probability that their conclusions are correct

• do the 4 steps at the time - not in a set order

-about seeing the outside world, trying to figure out patterns, make a test to see if your hypothesis is correct

microwear analysis

The study of the patterns of wear or damage on the edge of stone tools, which provides valuable information on the way in which the tool was used.

Refitting

taking pieces that are broken for a tool (the debitage) and putting it back together like a jigsaw puzzle so you can see how it was broken

Peopling of North America

Thought to have come from Asia through Alaska

Pre-Clovis Sites

• Monte Verde, Chile

• Medowcroft Rockshelter, Pennsylvania

• Cactus Hill, Virginia

Clovis sites

The earliest widespread and culture of North America: named from a projectile point. Clovis-first

"Pre-Clovis" controversy

Over the past few years people have debated Clovis origins, some have argued the solutrean method where in the first people to come to America migrated from Europe, this is based on the tools used between the cultures and ethnographic analogies. Other theories suggest that Clovis people came from Asia, this is based on DNA evidence

Pyrotechnology

Human use of fire