ARKY TEST 2

chapters 4-7

Absolute chronology

The exact date when something happened (down to the day).

Relative chronology

A date that is in relation to something else (determining the sequencial order).

The law of stratigraphic superposition

The stuff on the bottom is older than the stuff above.
- But doesn’t tell you the time between the layers.

Index fossils

The fossil remains of an organism that lived in a particular age, used to identify or date the rock layer in which it’s found.

Dating bone deposits

Measures nitrogen, fluorine, and uranium content of bones. Used to determine whether or not bones found together date to the same time.

Typology

Sorting artifacts into groups based on shared traits.
- Fashion changes faster than technology

Seriation

Putting artifacts in chronological order based on stylistic changes over time.

Jehoash/Yehoash inscription

One of the most contentiously debated topics in biblical epigraphy. If authentic, the inscription would date to the late 9th century BCE (the reign of King Jehoash of Judah, c. 835–796 BCE). However, the vast majority of philologists, linguists, and paleographers classify it as a modern forgery due to severe linguistic anomalies.

Deep Sea Ice Cores

Cores consist of shells of foraminifera. The temperature of water affects the ratio of oxygen isotopes in the foraminifera. Thus, we know ocean temperatures for the last 2.5 million years

Faunal dating

A relative dating technique that uses the evolutionary changes of animal species in different sediment layers to estimate the age of a site.

Rome calenders (arbitrary absolute measures)

• Year and months (originally 10 lunar months in 1 solar year, Julian Reforms - added 2 more months to the year, Gregorian reforms - to add in a leap year in 1582CE)

• Days (The Romans had 3 named days + 3 days before that and/or 3 days after)

• Hours (ante meridiem, post meridiem, where we get AM - before the middle of the day, and PM - after the middle of the day, but daylight changes in summer/winter so not entirely accurate)

Terminus ante quem

The date before which something happened.
- the latest possible date an event could have happened

Terminus post quem

The date after which something happened.
- The most recent object determines the oldest possible date

Varves

The annual layers of sediment deposited in lakes by the meltwater from glaciers.

Dendrochronology

The scientific method of dating and analyzing annual growth rings in trees. If a pattern persists in multiple trees, it indicates when an event has happened. We know when the tree was cut down.
1. As a tree gets older, rings get thinner
2. The thickness fluctuates based on the climate

Radiocarbon Dating

A method used to determine the age of organic materials by measuring the remaining amount of carbon-14.

C-14 dating

C-14 in the atmosphere is ingested by anything living. When an organism dies, the C-14 starts to decay. We measure how much C-14 is left in a sample to determine the age.

Half-life

• Libby thought it took 5568 years for HALF of C-14 to decay in any sample

• Approximately 50000 years, there are no radiocarbons left in the sample.

• If there’s 40 C-14, and in 6000 years, there’s 20 left. After another 6000 years, there’s 10 left. After another 6000 years, there’s 5 left. And so on.

Methods of radiocarbon dating

• Geiger counters

• Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS)

Radiocarbon dating rules

• Compare the radiocarbon dates. The sample you take will vary based on your time and space in the atmosphere. If you don’t compare the radiocarbon dates, the date is not accurate

• 3700+/-100 BP (P-685). This means 3700BP, plus or minus 100 years, meaning it could range from 3600-3800BP. P is the lab that did the radiocarbon dating. 685 is the sample number.

Potassium-Argon dating

Rocks contain a radioactive isotope called potassium-40. Potassium-40 slowly decays into a gas called argon-40. Once the lava cools and hardens into solid rock, it forms a closed system. Any new argon-40 produced by decaying potassium-40 gets trapped inside the rock. Scientists measure the ratio of remaining potassium-40 to trapped argon-40

Uranium series dating

Minerals trap uranium as they form. Over time, the uranium turns into thorium. Scientists measure how much thorium is in the mineral.

Fission track dating

Many minerals and glasses contain small amounts of uranium. As the uranium decays, it leaves behind fission tracks. Scientists count the number of fission tracks that are left by the decay process.

Obsidian hydration dating

When someone chips or shapes obsidian, a brand-new surface is exposed to the air. The obsidian naturally attracts moisture from the atmosphere, which slowly diffuses into the outer edge of the stone. Over time, this absorbed water creates a distinct outer layer called a hydration rind. The longer the artifact sits exposed, the deeper the water diffuses, making the rind thicker. Scientists cut a microscopic slice of the artifact to measure the thickness of this rind.

Archaeomagnetic dating

Earth’s magnetic fields are constantly shifting. When iron minerals inside clay are heated to high temperatures and then cool down, they lock in the exact direction and strength of the Earth’s magnetic field at that specific moment in time.
- Absolute

Fluorine absorption dating

As bones sit in the ground, they slowly absorb fluorine from the surrounding groundwater while losing their natural nitrogen content.
- These chemical changes depend entirely on the unique composition of the local soil, so the method can’t provide an absolute numeric age, but it can confidently prove whether multiple bones found together date to the same time.

Contextual seriation

When you arrange artifacts based on the presence or absence of specific design styles
Tomb A: wavy, lug, black
Tomb B: Lug, black ,red
Tomb C: Wavy, no handle, bowl
Tomb D: red
C, A, B, D or D, B, A, C

Frequency seriation

When you arrange artifacts based on how often a specific design style is present.

Palynology

The study of microscopic pollen grains and spores preserved in sediment, used to reconstruct what ancient environments looked like and the changes in vegetation over time.

2 approaches to categorizing societies

• Top down approach (to identify the largest social unit = polity)

• Bottom up (to start with an individual, and how they relate to the large society that they live in)

Elman service

Created the system of classification: Bands, tribes, chiefdoms, states.

Single site approach

Excavating single sites. Duh.

Multiple site approach

How all the sites work together

2 types of settlements

1. Dispersed

2. Nucleated (together)

Tassilin’ Ajjer

• A mountain range and plateau in the Sahara Desert

• Circa 6000 BCE - 1 BCE

Catal Hoyuk

A city representing one of humanity’s earliest transitions from hunting and gathering to permanent settlements.

Stonehenge

Stone circle
- Circa 3100 BCE - 1900 BCE
- Hidden landscapes project used non-invasive geophysical and remote-sensing technology to map and image the subsurface landscape around Stonehenge

Pyramids of Giza

• Egypt (now within Cairo)
  Old kingdom:

• Khufu (Cheops) 2589-2566 BCE

• Khafre (Khephron) 2558-2532 BCE

• Menkhaure (Mycerinus) 2432-2503 BCE

Colosseum in Rome

A massive ancient stone amphitheater in the center of Rome.
- AKA Flavian Amphitheatre
- Building began under Emperor Vespasian in 72 CE
- Inaugurated by Emperor Titus in 80CE (100 day ceremony, 5000 animals slaughtered)
- Last wild beast show in 526 CE (Except a bull fight in 1332)
- Originally sat 50000 spectators
- 48m high, 189m long

Ecosystem

A community of living organisms that live and interact within a specific environment.

Ecozone

A distinct geographic area/biome where an ecosystem is.

Ecotone

Where two ecozones overlap; An area of ecozone transition.

Paleoenvironment

A past environment

Paleoclimate

A past climate.
- Climate: Long term
- Weather: Short term

Julian Steward

Cultural ecology.
- Cultures in similar environments have similar adaptive mechanisms
- All adaptations are short lived and constantly changing
- Changes alter existing cultures or make new ones

Karl Butzer

Argued that archaeology is human ecology. Believed interaction between humans and the environment is unavoidable, and a balance between them can never be reached.Argued that archaeology is human ecology. Believed interaction between humans and the environment is unavoidable, and a balance between them can never be reached.

Micheal Schiffer

Argued that the archaeological record is not a perfect record of past human behavior. Instead, artifacts and sites are constantly altered over time by C and N transforms.
- C-transforms (cultural): Human-made activities that alter or move artifacts after their active use
- N-Transforms (natural): Envrionmental processes that alter or move artifacts after their active use

Easter Island (Rapa Nui)

Was settled by voyagers. The population grew up to 30,000 and people began carving hundreds of giant statues, placing them on stone platforms. However, clearing land for crops, using logs to move the statues, and an infestation of seed-eating rats caused deforestation, which caused soil erosion, crop failures, violent warfare, and cannibalism, causing the society to collapse. When Dutch explorers arrived on Easter Day, only 750 people remained, the coastal statues had been vandalized and knocked down, and the surviving population was soon targeted by slave traders.

3 elements of ancient food

• Diet (cuisine)

• Technology

• Organization

Paleobotany/Archaeobotany

• Paleobotany focuses on plant evolution

• Archaeobotany focuses on the evolution of how humans interacted with plants

Kebarian Period

The birth of agriculture, permanent settlements, and adoption of cereals into diet. Used stone mortars and pounding equipment for grains.

Natufian Period

When permanent settlements were created before agriculture. But they did rely on cereal, and used grinding stones, hearths, and storage pits.

Zooarchaeologists

The study of animal remains.
1. Collect animal bones and teeth from a site
2. Identify and quantify amounts of bones retrieved

Quantifying animal bones

1. Number of identified specimens (NISP)

2. Minimum number of individuals (MNI)
   - Lowest number of animals that could account for a specimen

Medicine wheels

Ancient, sacred stone structures built by North American Indigenous cultures.
Dating back anywhere from a few hundred to over 5,000 years, these monuments are among the oldest continuously used religious and ceremonial sites in the world.

Fincastle

A prehistoric bison kill and butchering site. The site represents a single, massive ambush event rather than a traditional bison jump. Excavations have unearthed over 290,000 fragments of bison bone

Otzi the Iceman

Ötzi the Iceman is a remarkably well-preserved natural mummy of a man who lived around 3,300 BCE during the late Neolithic Copper Age. Discovered accidentally by hikers in 1991 in the Ötztal Alps near the Austrian-Italian border, he is Europe’s oldest known natural human mummy, offering an unprecedented look into prehistoric European life.

(AAR) Amino-acid racemization

A method used to estimate the age of organic remains by measuring how much their amino acids have degraded since death.

Australopithecus

An extinct genus of early humans that lived about 4.4 million to 1.4 million years ago. They are key figures in human evolution and are widely considered close relatives or direct ancestors of the genus Homo, which includes modern humans.

Electron spin resonance (ESR)

Artifacts absorb natural radiation over time. ESR tests that. Somehow. With like a radiation microwave or some conspiracy stuff that I don’t understand.

STONE Ages

1. Paleolithic

2. Mesolithic

3. Neolithic: Characterized by farming, domestication, and permanent settlements.

Geomagnetic reversal

A planetary event where Earth’s magnetic north and magnetic south poles swap positions. Happens irregularily. Takes thousands of years.

Lexicostatistics

A technique that compares core vocabulary lists between different languages to measure how closely they are related and to estimate when they split from a common ancestor.

Maya calender

An interlocking system of three separate calendars to track time, spiritual cycles, and history. Rather than measuring time on a straight linear line like Western civilizations, the Maya viewed time as deeply cyclical and repeating.

Tephra

Volcanic ash and rock ejected into the atmosphere during an eruption and deposited over the landscape, which archaeologists use as a time marker to date and correlate ancient sites and layers of soil.

Thermoluminescence

A technique used to determine the age of inorganic materials, like pottery or bricks, by measuring the trapped radiation released as light when the object is heated.

Stela/Stelae

A pillar or tablet erected as an ancient monument.
- Features text, decorative carvings, or paintings

Central place theory

A spatial model used to explain how ancient settlements were organized, sized, and distributed across a landscape.
- The weird hexagon thingies

Site catchment analysis

A method where you study the relationship between a human settlement and the natural resources in its surrounding environment.

Ethnos

A research strategy where archaeologists study living societies to better understand and interpret the material record of the past.

Polity

Any politically independent, self-governing social group.

Geomorphology

The study of how landforms form and change over time.

Sedimentology

The study of sediments and how they accumulated.

Raised beach

An old shoreline or beach that is now high above the current sea level.

Diatom analysis

Diatoms are microscopic algae. Because different types of diatoms live in different types of water, fossilized ones tell archaeologists about past water quality and climates.

Fossil cuticles

The preserved, waxy outer skin of ancient leaves and plants that survive long after the rest of the plant rots, allowing scientists to identify exactly what kinds of vegetation grew near a site.

Paleoentomology

The study of fossilized insects.
- Because bugs are highly sensitive to their environments, finding specific bugs can reveal the exact conditions of an ancient living space

Phytoliths

Microscopic stones that form inside plant cells. When the plant dies, these rocks stay in the dirt for thousands of years, telling archaeologists exactly what plants were present.

Coprolites

Fossilized or preserved ancient shit. They show exactly what an individual ate, what parasites they had, and what the local environment was like.

Flotation

A field method where dirt from a dig is mixed into a tank of swirling water. The heavy dirt sinks, while tiny, lightweight treasures like ancient seeds, charcoal, and small bones float to the top so they can be easily scooped up and studied.

NISP (Number of Identified Specimens)

The total count of every single bone or bone fragment found for a specific animal species. If a site has 50 broken pieces of deer bone, the NISP is 50.

MNI (Minimum Number of Individuals)

The smallest number of actual animals needed to account for all the bones found. For example, if you find 5 right back legs of a deer, you know you have a minimum of 5 individual deer, even if you found 100 total bone fragments (NISP).

Attritional age profile

A pattern where the bones found belong mostly to the very young, the old, and the sick. This resembles natural death patterns and suggests ancient humans were scavenging or hunting the easiest, weakest targets.

Catastrophic age profile

A pattern showing a mix of animals of all ages (young, prime adults, and old) in the exact proportions you would find in a living herd. This indicates a sudden, all-inclusive event, like a natural disaster or a mass hunting trap where an entire herd was wiped out at once.

Midden

Ancient trash or garbage dump.
- These mounds are filled with everyday items like food bones, broken pottery, discarded tools, and shells. They are among the best places for archaeologists to learn about what ancient people ate and how they lived.

Isotopic analysis

A chemical test that reads the chemicals locked inside ancient bones and teeth.”You are what you eat (and drink)”. Every time you eat or drink, your body absorbs the unique chemical elements from that specific geographic region and locks them directly into your bones and teeth. It can tell where you are and what you ate.

Taphonomy

The study of what happens to a plant or animal’s remains after it dies.
- It tracks how bones are modified by natural forces - like being chewed by wolves, weathered by the sun, or moved by river currents.