Foundations in Archaeology (ANT 201)

Flashcards covering key vocabulary, concepts, and methods in the Foundations of Archaeology lecture.

Archaeology

The study of a group's culture through the material remains people leave behind.

Material culture

The physical objects, resources, and spaces that people use to define their culture.

Artifacts

Objects made, modified, or used by humans.

Ecofacts

Natural organic remains found at an archaeological site that have cultural relevance.

Features

Non-portable archaeological remains; structures or deposits created by humans that cannot be moved without destroying them.

Rock Art

Human-made markings on natural stone.

Petroglyphs

Rock carvings, made by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading.

Pictographs

Images or symbols painted on rock surfaces.

Human Remains

The physical remains of a human body found in an archaeological context.

Archaeological Bias

The systematic distortion in the archaeological record, often due to preservation conditions or recovery methods, leading to an incomplete or skewed understanding of past cultures.

Excavation

The systematic digging and recording of archaeological remains.

Context (in Archaeology)

The relationship of archaeological artifacts, ecofacts, and features to each other and to their environment; crucial for understanding their meaning.

Lab Methods (in Archaeology)

Post-excavation processes including cleaning, sorting, identification, analysis, and interpretation of recovered materials.

Dating Methods (in Archaeology)

Techniques used to determine the age of archaeological materials.

Relative Dating

Dating methods that determine if an object is older or younger than another object, without providing a precise numerical age.

Chronometric (Absolute) Dating

Dating methods that provide a specific numerical age or range (e.g., in years) for an object or event.

Stratigraphy

The study of layers (strata) of archaeological deposits, often revealing the sequence of events over time.

Law of Superposition

A principle of stratigraphy stating that in an undisturbed sequence of sedimentary layers, the oldest layers are at the bottom and the youngest layers are at the top.

Law of Association

A principle stating that artifacts found in the same archaeological layer and context were buried together and are likely to be of similar age or related in function/use.

Seriation

A relative dating method where artifacts are ordered chronologically by changes in their frequency or style, creating a sequence.

Radiocarbon Dating

A chronometric (absolute) dating method used to determine the age of organic materials by measuring the decay of carbon-14 isotopes.