Archaeology

Taxonomy

groups to organize different kinds of animals

Family

Common ancestor shared by animal relatives

Genus

Current day relatives (gorilla, chimpanzees, monkeys, etc.)

Species

What we evolved into — homo sapiens

Hominin

Early humans

Archaeology

The study of the human past through material culture

Paleoarchaeology

the study of “deep time” (human prehistory)

Paleolithic period

3.3 myA: stone tool technology

Material culture

Anything made/manipulated by human hands

Relative dating

Estimating a period of time something was found based on the strata next to it (range)

Absolute dating

Using Carbon 14 inside materials (like bones) to calculate how long ago something was

Survey

Surface level search to see best place to dig/excavate

Excavation

A “dig” within a concentrated area to find things

Artifacts

Smaller, more portable objects made by humans (material culture)

Features

Larger, more permanent things made by humans (material culture)

Ecofacts

Natural material that have been preserved and tell us about the past (organic)

Human Remains

Biological remains — mostly bones (organic)

4 traits/characteristics shared by all hominins

• opposable thumbs

• Bipedalism

• Larger brains

• Smaller teeth