ANT003

Artifact

Portable

Ethnoarchaeology

Archaeological analysis of the past
waste to gain insight into people of the past

Archaeology is always scientific

false

Anthropology

study of humans

Archaeology

The study of ancient peoples

Ecofacts

non-artifactual organic remains

Sites

places where people did activities. fixed on a landscape

Features

non-portable artifacts

sites

not movable as a whole. ie pyramids

CRM

Cultural Resource Management
Origins: 1996 National Historic Preservation Act

Looting

taking artifacts from sites

Archaeological Data

Information from what is preserved within context

Scientific Archaeology

Starts with a theory and rejects ideas by falsification (hypothesis). Self-correcting

Non-scientific Archaeology

nationalist, archaeotourism, religous

Context

Circumstances where data is found

Stratigraphy

study of rock layers. oldest bottom

Survey

locate/map archaeological sites with non-destructive means
pedestrian

Excavation

destructive method to learn more about sites and preserve infos

Seriation

organizes by time. assumes unit of analysis is a short amount of time

Battleship Curve

Shape on a seriation graph formed by plotted points representing inception

Screening

uses a screen mesh to sort dirt for smaller artifacts

Flotation

use of fluid density (typically water) to capture tiny artifacts & /or ecofacts

Trinomial System

Three-part naming system for sites (US)
State Code (Number)

Complete Sampling

100% recovery of material within areas

Random Sampling

divide area into chunks

Stratified Random Sampling

divide areas into categorical chunks

Grid Sampling

Divides the sites into grids

Linear Sampling

sample the grids along a line

Uniformatarianism

Natural

Experimental Archaeology

reconstructing past technologies

Relative

Older/Younger than X

Absolute

Calendar Date

Arch. Dating

determine the ages of sites/artifacts using relative &/ absolute dating methods

Direct Date

dates the object itself

Indirect Date

dates the object by association

Accuracy

How close to the absolute age

Precision

How much variation in age estimates

Arch. Theories

frameworks used to understand past human behavior

probablistic

Findings are not expected to explain all cases all of the time

Datum

Fixed reference point for measurements (2D/3D)

Emeryville Shellmound

Mound created by seashells and other remains from Ohlone native americans. Stratigraphed by Max Uhle

Monticello

T. Jefferson's estate. Arch. reveals diets of slave workers and James Heming's Kitchen > TJ's Chef (European Style by a slave)

Trench

long narrow ditch for stratigraphy

Law of Superposition

generally each layer of rock is older the deeper it is

Blackwater Draw

Ridgely Whiteman found ancient giant creatures (ie giant ground sloths

Geoglyphs

drawings on earth's surface in Nazca

Isotopes

Atoms of the same element that have different numbers of neutrons

Radiometric Decay

rate of change of radioactive isotopes disintegrate (half-life)

lithic

made of or pertaining to stone

King Nabonidus of Babylon

Excavated mounds ("First archaeologist")
Made Temples for Goddess Ishtar
Used archaelogy to justify his rule and nationalism

Bioturbation

activities of plants and animals in the earth

Nationalistic Archaeology

not scientific

Midden

a garbage mound left by prehistoric people

Palynology

the study of fossil pollen grains and spores to reconstruct past climates and human behavior

Wet Screening

Hosing down a screen with water may require approval from a county or government

Max Uhle

developed the use of stratigraphy and seriation

Indiana Jones

looter

Teotihuacan

large pyramids in mesoamerica

Pompeii

Roman town destroyed by the eruption

Phytolith

A fossilized particle of plant tissue helps indicate the past vegetation

Paleontology

the study of fossils