Anth 112 Archeology exam 1

Artifact

Portable objects made or modified by humans

Definition of culture

Difference between fields of archeology and history

Archeology

• Study cultures in the human past

• Recovery of material culture left behind

Material culture=things

• Any objects made, used, or modified by humans in the past

• Built environments

• Can provide information about the past without writings 

History 

• Studies written language 

• letters and archives 

• Works on interpreting the past

Material culture 

Ecofact

Natural (organic or environmental) remains that can tell us about the human past

Feature

Non-portable artifacts (human-made or modified)

Archeological site 

Any place with remains (material culture) of past human activity

Deposition

How an object gets into the archeological record 

In situ

The practice of leaving archaeological artifacts, features, and sites in their original location and undisturbed context to preserve their relationship to the surrounding environment and other finds, providing a more authentic representation of past cultures for interpretation and analysis.

Provenience

Horizontal and vertical position of the artifact (exact position)

Matrix

Sediment such as sand, gravel or clay soil an artifact is buried in

Taphonomy

Study of the postmortem_processes (such as burial, decay, and preservation) that affect organic remains from the time of death until their discovery or fossilization

Stratigraphy

The study of distinct, sequential layers of soil and debris, known as strata, to reconstruct the history and chronology of a site

Site formation processes

CULTURAL FORMATION PROCESSES

Deliberate discard

Intentional burial

Loss

Abandonment

NATURAL FORMATION PROCESSES

Natural soil formation

By water

Through the air

Over land

By animals

Preservation of organic materials

• Charred organic materials last longer

• Dry conditions (no moisture = no microorganisms)

• Desiccation= good preservation

• Extreme cold- natural refrigerator

• Water-logged environments (lack of oxygen) = consistent wet airless environment

• Cave sites

• Ash layer

• Some soils are better than others (airless pockets in clay matrix)

• Soil containing copper

Preservation of inorganic materials

Most common types of inorganic materials recovered from archaeological sites are artifacts and features made of stone, clay, and metal.

Inorganic will almost always preserve better than organic

Evidence for materials such as wood/clothing/hides/fibers at sites where soft organic materials do not preserve

Imprints in pottery, metal, etc.

Charred remains

Traces of fibers left behind

Beads or objects that were typically sewn on or added on to clothing

Casts left behind in sediments

Otzi preservation

Quick death in a high-altitude, snow-covered mountain gully, which led to rapid freeze-drying of his body, followed by his prolonged burial under snow and ice that protected him for thousands of years

Bog bodies preservation

Cold, high acidic, oxygen poor environment

Absolute dating techniques

Dendrochronology, Radio-carbon, potassium/argon, argon/argon, Thermoluminescence, and Archaeomagnetism

Radio-carbon dating 

• Uses half life: how long it takes half of the material to decay (Older=less concentrated C-14)

• All living things (organic material) contain carbon

• Anything that was once alive can be dated by C-14

• Can date material from as recent as 300 and as long ago as  ~50,000- 70,000 years ago

(charred firewood, human remains, animal bones, plant remains)

*shellfish can be tricky!