Archaeology Midterm

Archaeology

study of humans, prehistory, material culture

Artifact

an object made, used, or modified by humans

Site

a location at which evidence of prehistoric human activity has been found

Ecofact

natural material that can inform us about the ancient environments in which people lived

feature

an immobile artifact

archaeological record

artifacts, sites, ecofacts, and features

Culture

Shared learned behavior; includes knowledge, behavior, belief, communication

cultural evolution

change in the information acquired and its transmission over time

Material culture

proxy for cultural change, manifestation of culture and cultural change in the material dimension; includes artifacts, ecofacts, features

Science

sense-making system that relies on consideration of multiple alternatives (theories), as a process of disconfirmation

Theory

existing knowledge, comprehensive explanation of some aspect of nature that is supported by a vast body of evidence, repeatedly confirmed

Common sense

sense-making system that we inherit from our culture that relies on a process of confirmation, highly variable across time and cultures, looks for evidence to confirm pre-existing beliefs

Hypothesis

proposed explanation for an observable phenomenon, testable, couched in existing knowledge

Experimental archaeology

tests archaeological hypotheses by replicating or approximating ancient tools, structures, and behaviors

ethnoarchaeology

studies modern cultures to draw inferences about the archaeological record

context

the 3D position of artifacts, ecofacts, and features in relation to one another and the natural environment, foundation of all archaeological research

Antiquarians

Early archaeologists, Nabonidus: King of babylon, Herodotus: Greek historian, Flavia Julia Helena Augusta: excavated Jerusalem, Song Dynasty scholars

Song Dynasty

scholars illustrated a catalogue of antiques, sought to reconstruct ancient ritual practices by emulating ancient objects

Enlightenment

discovery of pre-classical civilizations, european colonial expansion and encounters, Rationalism and systematic collection and classification, early excavations

Art history

studies of Greco-Roman sculpture to define standards of beauty, Enlightenment emphasis on rationalism and order, first discipline to study material culture

Catastrophism

Earth’s stages were progressive but discontinuous, Catastrophic events purged the earth of previous life forms, humans arose after the last catastrophe, humans and extinct species could never be found together

Uniformitarianism

Principle that the operations of nature are equable and steady, not unpredicted and catastrophic; laws of nature are constant; world must be very old; importance of erosion, sedimentation, volcanism, stratigraphy

Geology

Documented antiquity of the Earth, work on erosion and stratigraphy, Charles Lyell; importance of context

Darwinian Evolution

Gradual evolutionary change, establishes long timescale of thought, all animals and humans evolved from common ancestors

Agustus Pitt Rivers

pioneered methods, demonstrated value of archaeology as a method and recording context in excavations

Thomas Jefferson

first American archaeologist, excavated burial mound on his property

Cultural Evolution

19th century view, progress is linear and inevitable; role of the west was to lead others in progress and civilize less advanced peoples (savagery → barbarism → civilization)

John Lubbock

term Prehistory, misapplied Darwinian contexts, saw moral and technological progress, focus on cultural evolution

In situ

in primary context

ex situ

secondary context

cultural site formation

how people affect what survives

environmental site formation

how nature affects what survives

peridepositonal

at the time of deposition; rapid burial or submergences > preservative effect

postdepositional

after deposition; natural forces causes degradation, mechanical or chemical changes, movement

taphonomy

organic materials, how the remains of an organism came to be preserved

Pyroclastic flow

cloud of ash and gas explode high into atmosphere, saturated with water and the column collapses under its own weight, very destructive, seals underlying layers; ex: Pompei

Carbonization

the process by which organic matter (such as wood, seeds, nuts, and crops) is turned into a carbon-rich residue through incomplete combustion or pyrolysis at elevated temperatures; ex: Herculaneum

Must Farm

Late Bronze Age archaeological site near Whittlesey in Cambridgeshire, England; Fire and water preservation, preserved textiles

Geoarchaeology

multi-disciplinary approach that applies methods from geography, geology, and geophysics to archaeology; understanding processes of site formation and transformation; place sites and artifacts in context

Sedimentary rocks

made up of particles derived from the erosion of other rocks; classified by depositional environment and particle size

Coarse Sediments

Conglomerate (pebbles, cobbles, boulders), require higher energy and higher angle of slope to transport

marine sedimentary rocks

particles deposited in the sea; ex: Limestone

Lacustrine sedimentary rocks

particles deposited in Lakes

Fluvial (Alluvial) Sedimentary Rocks

particles deposited by flowing water in a river

Aeolian (Eolian) Sedimentary Rocks

particles deposited by the wind

River Flow

artifacts can become oriented in the same direction as flowing water

Floralturbation

trees and other plants affect the distribution of artifacts; Ex: tree roots

Faunalturbation

animals affect the distribution of artifacts; ex: rodent burrows

cyroturbation

freeze/thaw activity in soil pushes large artifacts towards the surface

Argilliturbation

wet/dry cycles in the soil pushes artifacts upwards during wet periods and downwards during dry periods

Reuse and reclamation

people recycle old items, pick up lost tools, or scavenge materials from older buildings

disturbance

people dig holes, plow fields, plant crops, or build new foundations

looting

people steal artifacts to sell

Aerial reconnaissance

discover sites by taking images from planes; underground features easier to see from air, vegetation changes, differential soil conditions

Positive crop marks

patterns where crops grow taller, denser, and greener over buried, moisture-retaining features like ancient ditches, pits, or graves

Negative Crop Marks

pale, stunted lines of vegetation that appear over buried hard structures like stone walls, foundations, or compacted roads

Soil Marks

visible color differences in exposed soil that reveal buried archaeological features

Satellite Imagery

analyze images to find sites, comparison over time, easy to acquire

LiDAR

light detection and ranging, a remote sensing method that uses pulsed laser light to map surface topography and uncover archaeological features hidden beneath dense tree canopies, vegetation, or soil

Ground Penetrating Radar

detect subsurface features, electromagnetic pulses into the ground, different materials reflect pulses differently, travel time indicates depth

Magnetometry

measures magnetism of sediment

resistivity

measures variation in current flow through sediment, more moisture = greater conductivity

Survey

walk around and look at ground; find artifacts and use their style to fit into local relative chronology

Transects

surveying system along arbitrary lines across the landscape

Non-probabilistic sampling

targeting, fully document known or observed sites, no idea of surrounding landscape

Simple Random Sampling

unbiased, select areas randomly; recover greater variety of sites; dispersion may be unlucky and all landscape is treated equaly

stratified random sampling

less unbiased; divide landscape into different environmental zones and randomly sample each zone; ensures some sampling of all environments

systematic sampling

unbiased, coverage of entire region based on set distances for sites; can miss sites that were systematically arranged

Excavation sampling

3D, judge how wide/deep to make your excavations, similar to survey sampling

selective excavation

not enough time/money to excavate total site; choose specific areas/parts, leave some of site for future excavators

Vertical excavation

selective trenching or pits into deep deposits

horizontal excavation

area or block excavation, exposes a large area

Profile/section

vertical surface that shows stratification, revealed by excavation; vertical profiles allow accurate recording; why square holes are used

ma/mya

million years ago

ka/kya

thousand years ago

BP

before present (1950)

BCE

before common era

cal BCE

calibrated before common era

CE

common era

Three Age System

stone age to bronze age to iron age; recognition of developmental change in remote antiquity; based on best available materials

Relative Dating

provides a sequence but not pace of change

Absolute dating

independent placement in time (ex: 3,500 BCE)

stratum

single layer

strata

plural layers

stratigraphy

the study of strata

stratification

the act or process of arranging or becoming arranged in strata

unconformity

a break in time in an otherwise continuous stratigraphy caused by a period of erosion or a pause in sedimentation

Law of superposition

layers at the bottom of a sequence of sediments are older than layers at the top

law of original horizozntality

strata are originally deposited horizontally due to gravity; any layers that are now folded or tilted have secondarily been altered by other forces

Law of cross-cutting relationships

the stratigraphic layer which cuts through another layer is the younger of the two layers

Law of lateral continuity

strata extend continuously until they encounter solid bodies that block their deposition or until they are acted upon by secondary processes

Law of association

artifacts associated with one another in a layer are of the same general or geological age

Horizontal stratigraphy

strata deposited next to eachother, superposition cannot be established

disturbance

original context of artifacts in strata lost as sediments become mixed

Deflation

sediments eroded away mixing artifacts into a single horizon; typical in arid environments with loose, fine sediments

Terminus Ante Quem (TAQ)

refers to the concept that all the sediments below a solid, undisturbed layer dates before that layer

Terminus Post Quem (TPQ)

a datable object provides only the date on or after which the layer that it contains was deposited

Typology

similar in style should equal similar in time; 1. objects from a given period/location have a distinct style and 2. changes in style tend to be gradual

Seriation

relative dating; chronological ordering of a group of artifacts where the most similar are close to each other in the series; Flinders Petrie; Battleship Curves

Dendrochronology

first absolute dating technique; trees produce annual rings that vary on environmental conditions; only outside tropical regions