IDIS 240: Intro to Archaeology Midterm

Archaeology

Study of human cultures primarily through material objects; both a humanity and a science

History

Utilizes written evidence: humanity’s documentation of the past, as well as a study of the Past using documentary evidence

Prehistory

Period before written records

Artifacts

Portable, human-made or modified objects: button, hammer, jacket

Ecofacts

Organic and environmental remains are not made by humans; these can reveal past environments, diets, and human industries (biological items like seeds, bones, soils)

Features

Non-portable human-made traces (hearths, pits, kiln, ditch, fence, platform)

Structures (part of features)

Human-built architecture

Context

The most crucial concept in archaeology. Looting destroys context.

Consists of matrix, provenience, and association

Matrix

Surrounding material (like soil, concrete, or sand)

Provenience

Exact position (within the matrix (latitude and longitudes)

Association

Relationship to other finds (what other stuff has been found in that matrix and associated with it (at that site)

Formation processes (Taphonomy)

Cultural (C-transformations) and Natural (N-transformations)

C-Transformations

Human activities like building, burying, and destroying

• Directly resulting from human activities

• Building

  • Walls, plazas, kilns, etc.

• Digging

  • Irrigation canals, wells, pits, etc.

• Burning

  • On purpose or by accident

• Plowing and Harvesting

• Producing objects

• Cleaning up

  • Bad for archaeologists

N-transformations

Environmental events like erosion

• A wide range of natural (not human-caused) processes, including:

  • Earthquakes, volcanic activity, Floods, Erosion, Watercourse changes, etc.

Floralturbation

Caused by plants

Faunalturbation

Caused by animals

Cryoturbation

Caused by freezing/thawing

Argilliturbation

Caused by wet/dry cycles

Graviturbation

Caused by gravity

Preservation

Inorganic materials survive best. Organic materials require exceptional conditions, exemplified by Ötzi the Iceman or Old Croghan Man

Inorganic materials

Stone, fired clay, gold. It survives the best

Organic Materials

Wood, textiles, and bodies require exceptional conditions like waterlogged/anaerobic, extremely dry or very cold

Nabonidus (550 BCE)

500 BCE

The last Neo-Babylonian king restored temples, carried out excavations, and displayed artifacts. He had an archaeologist’s mentality

Helena Augusta

320 CE

Mother of Constantine; sought Christian sites/relics (Palestine and Jordan); patron saint of Archaeologists

British Corographer-Antiquarians

Pioneered systematic survey/recording

Sir Robert Sibbald first used the word “Archaeologie”

Thomas Jefferson

Conducted the “first scientific excavation” (Mound stratigraphy, 1784)

C.J. Thomsen

Three-Age System

Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages - Puts artifacts in serial order

The Three Age System established the principle that by studying and classifying prehistoric artifacts, they could be ordered chronologically.

Mortimer Wheeler

Revolutionized archaeological stratigraphy by introducing the Wheeler-Kenyon (or Box Grid) method, which transformed excavation from a loose search for artifacts into a controlled, scientific study of soil layers

Mapped square grids so as not to dig blindly

Kathleen Kenyon

Wheeler-Kenyon Box Grid Method

Processual/New Archaeology

The scientific method involves testing hypotheses

Scientific, objective, emphasized cultural process

Culture Process

Explanation/laws

Post processual

Emphasized subjectivity, symbolism, agency, and plural interpretations. Post-processualists see archaeology as “not just” a science

Ian Hodder (Post processual)

Ethnoarchaeology of female ear decoration near Lake Baringo, Kenya

Public Archaeology (Cultural Resource Management) aka Rescue Archaeology

Mandates the safeguarding of heritage during development.

Key Principles: material record is a public resource; mitigation is required; the developer pays

Research Design (Four Stages)

1. The formulation of a strategy — to resolve a question or test a hypothesis

2. The collection and recording of evidence against which to test that idea, usually by conducting fieldwork

3. The processing and analysis of these data and their interpretation

4. The publication of results

Non-destructive Methods

Used to assess sites before (or instead of) excavation, which is destructive

Survey

Systematic/Transects - random vs. systematic grid

Transects - can go up and down or diagonally, with some up and down - Not doing grid squares but instead survey in a line

Sampling strategies

Aerial Survey

Aerial photographs can be either oblique (better for pictorial effect and perspective) or vertical (better for maps and plans). Features visible from the air are classed as either earthworks, soil marks, or crop marks.

Remote Sensing includes:

Ground Penetrating Radar, Magnetometry, and LIDAR

GPR (Ground-Penetrating Radar)

Creates 3D maps of buried remains

Magnetometry

Measures magnetic distortions caused by features like kilns/pits

LIDAR (Laser Scanning)

Creates digital elevation models, penetrating the tree canopy (e.g., Caracol and Belize)

GIS (Geographic Information Systems)

Stores, manages, and analyzes spatial data in layers; used for mapping and predictive modeling

Excavations

Yields evidence of contemporary activities (horizontally in space) and changes over time (vertically in sequence)

Stratigraphy (Excavation)

The study of layers (strata) relies on the Law of Superposition (lower layer is usually older), but this can be complicated by formation processes

Wheeler Box-Grid (Method)

Retains balks for vertical profiles, criticized for hiding horizontal connections

Open-area (Method)

Large horizontal exposure, best for single-period sites/structures

Test Pits (Methods)

Small exploratory

Relative Dating

Orders items sequentially (older/younger) (e.g., stratigraphy, typology, seriation producing “battleship curves”)

Absolute Dating

Provides a calendar date or age range (time we can quantify)

Dating Systems

BC/AD (Christian Calendar), BCE/CE (Secular), BP (before present, fixed at 1950)

For BP, what is -26 BP

1976

BP, 1850

100 BP

1000 BP

950

TPQ

Terminus Post Quem - Date after which a deposit formed (e.g., date on a coin)

TAQ

Terminus Ante Quem - Date before which an event happened

Radiocarbon(C)

Decays at a constant rate ( half-life 5,730 years) Dates only organic materials like charcoal, bone, and wood. Calibration is mandatory because atmospheric ₁₄C concentration varies over time

Dendrochronology

Tree ring dating: annual precision (one year). Limited to temperate zones and specific species. Used to calibrate radiocarbon dates.

Micro botanical Remains

Pollen, Diatom, Phyoliths

Pollen

Reveals climate/vegetation, palynology

Phytoliths

Silica particles, survive burning

Diatoms

Algae shells, water salinity/environment

Faunal Analysis: Microfauna

Microfauna (insects and rodents) are better indicators of climate change than macrofauna (large mammals) because they are more sensitive to small variations

Subsistence/Diet

Distinction between meals and Diet

Difference between meals and diet?

Meals are stomach contents; feces —short-term

Diet is a long-term pattern

Domestication

(Can see in animal bones) Evidence includes physical changes (brittle rachis loss in cereals), the presence of non-native species, and deformities/diseases (for animals)

Isotopic Analysis

Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in human bone collagen/tooth enamel track long-term diet (e.g., proportion of marine vs. terrestrial food, or consumption of maize)

Bioarchaeology

The study of human remains is integrated with their socio-cultural context

Paleopathology

Studies ancient disease/trauma

Sex Determination

Most reliably done using the pelvis (wider in females), only doable well into puberty)

Age Determination

Relies on teeth (eruption/wear, microstructure) and bone fusion (e.g., clavicle, epiphyses)

Malnutrition Indicators

Harris Lines (on bones)

Irregular Enamel growth (enamel hypoplasia on teeth)

Both indicate a period of arrested growth

DNA/Relationships

mtDNA (female line) and Y-chromosome DNA (male line) are used to trace ancestry, migration, and biological relationships (e.g., early farming groups, Neanderthals)