ANTH 1003 - Exam 2 Study Guide

3 BIG FIELDS OF WORK

• Academic & Educational Settings: universities & museums

• Government: Federal, state, and local agencies that manage cultural resources

• Public (contract) archaeology: emerged in response to the needs of the legal system and is currently the largest employer of archaeologists.

National Register lists sites that:

• Are linked to significant historical events

• Are associated with important people and their lives

• Embody the distinctive design, construction, or artistic value

• Have yielded or likely to yield important info

Archaeological Resources Protection Act (1979)

Prohibits excavation, removal, or displacement of archaeological resources without permits

3 STEP PROCESS TO ASSESS POTENTIAL IMPACTS

1. Looking for stuff. Is there anything here? (Only thing required by law)

2. determine whether stuff has important archaeological integrity, drawing the limits of the site

3. decide whether or not to excavate

Human remains

Estimates suggest that the remains of about half a million people are held by museums in the US, many of which are Indigenous people from various places.

Monterey (CA) reburial of the remains of 17 Native Americans

James Melaart & the Dorak Affair

• James Melaart excavated famous sites in Turkey

• Went with a woman to look at artifacts that she had looted

• None of the artifacts that she had talked about could be identified and neither could she.

Kennewick Man AKA “The Ancient One”

• Found in 1996 on the Columbia River

• Thought to be modern murder victim

• Discovered to be ~9000 year old human remains

• Sparked debate between scientists, native Americans, and federal authorities over what happened to his body, studying his body, and the topic of repatriation

Kennewick Man Controversy

Side 1: argued that the Kennewick Man wasn't Native American → Native American tribes were not allowed to claim him

Side 2: argued he was Native American.

• In 2004, anthropologists won the lawsuit and were given 16 days to study the remains

• Initially thought to be the ancestor of the Moriori people (NZ)

• In 2015, a DNA study revealed that he was most related to Native Americans → remains were returned and ultimately buried by Native Americans in a secret location

Law and Archaeology U.S

• Archaeological resources belong to the landowner, not the nation

• Legal rules depend on ownership

  • Federal law → federal land

  • state law → state land

• Laws can also apply if the government is involved (permits, highway projects, etc)

US LAW ISSUES

• Limited staff vs. vast land to protect

• Fines are small compared to potential profits → people would rather just pay the fine

• Hard to prove theft or intentional damage of artifacts/sites

“Moundbuilder” culture

• Colonizers used archaeology to justify taking Native lands

• Andrew Jackson cited “Moundbuilder” as myths/fake stories to displace Native Americans

• Europeans claimed ancient mounds were built by a “lost white race”/vanished people predating Native Americans

Nazi archaeology

• Archaeologists sought/used evidence to justify German conquests during WWII

• Research was politicized/twisted to support Nazi ideology (territorial expansion + racial policies)

• Noncompliant archaeologists were often demoted or fired

NAGPRA

Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act

• Gives Native Americans rights to ancestral human remains and sacred objects

• Requires federal agencies and institutions to return remains and artifacts to affiliated tribes

NAGPRA PROVISIONS

• Must submit a plan of action to the department of the interior and affected tribes

• Federally funded institutions must inventory protected objects and identify cultural affiliation

Reburial/repatriation request

Returning Native American human remains and artifacts from museums or collections back to their tribes for proper reburial

Stewardship

responsibility for conserving and restoring the Earth's resources for future generations

UNESCO Convention (1970)

• Aims to prevent illegal import, export, or sale of cultural property between countries

• Only applies to artifacts found after 1970

• Only applied to countries that have signed the treaty → protections depend on international cooperation

• Obliges countries to take legal measures to stop illicit trade and to return stolen cultural property to its country of origin when possible

UNESCO FLAWS

• It’s hard to enforce one country’s rules in another, especially if the second country didn’t sign the treaty or has weak enforcement overall

• Parthenon Marbles Case: Ancient Greek Sculptures taken from the parthenon and held in the British Museum

  • Shows the limits of UNESCO: International agreements don’t automatically force countries to return artifacts

West Kennet Avenue and Windmill Hill ("Charlie" - 2009)

• In 2009, CBDO requested return for reburial after 50+ years on display

  • Argument: display is disrespectful, OG burial intent was landscape, europeans are genealogical descendants (mtDNA) + spiritual/cultural ties

• Part of ongoing Pagan efforts in Britain/Ireland for ethical treatment of human remains

Atapuerca (Spain)

• 500,00 - 400,000 BP; early Neanderthals

• 28+ Individuals remains in a sinkhole

• Only one oddly colored hand-axe → possible symbolic significance

• Evidence of defleshing before deposition → potential ritual behavior

Boxgrove, England (ca 500,000 bp)

• Flint-rich site with hand axes

• Well-preserved: distinct tool-making areas identified

• Animal bones indicate hunting and butchering activities

Homo floresiensis (the “Hobbit), Flores, Indonesia

• Small-bodied pre-”hobbit” hominins

• Stone tools and fauna found → hunting/scavenging

• Evidence suggests boat use

Koobi Fora, Kenya

• early hominin fossils: homo habilis, homo erectus

• Stone tools and animal bones found

• boens show cut marks and gnaw marks → sequence of human and animal activitiy

• Key site for early human evolution and behavior studies

Lomekwi, Kenya (3.3 mya)

• Early stone tools + cores → earliest known lithic technology

• Discovered via surfaces finds, then excavated

• Dated using stratigraphy, magentic reversals, and sedimentation rates

• Suggests tool use predates Homo

Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

Site where stratified early hominin archaeological sites are associated with long dried-up Lower and Middle Pleistocene lakes dated to between 1.75 million and 100,000 years ago

Indicates humans using tools to butcher animals, but because marks are both above and below the gnaw marks also indicates that they were scavenging + hunting

Wonderwerk Cave, South Africa

• Evidence of controlled fire (ash + burned bones)

• Shift from oldowan tools → early handaxes (acheulean)

• indicates advances in technology and behavior

Zhoukoudien, China

• Homo erectus site

• ~40m of deposits → long-term occupation

• Evidence of fire use

• No hand axes, but cleavers (regional tool variation)

Lower Paleolithic

• Early stone tools (oldowan → handaxes/acheulean)

• Stone and bone accumulations at sites

• limited evidence of symbolic behavior → emerging cognition

• transition from australopithecus → genus Homo

Middle Paleolithic

Upper Paleolithic

• Neaderthals: flake tools, cave sites, cold climates, limited symbolic burials

• Modern humans (~200k BP): advanced tools (stone, bone, wood), art, ornaments, symbolic, thinking

• More burials, especially with grave goods → increased cultural complexity

CHANGES IN TOOLS: LOWER → MIDDLE → UPPER PALEOLITHIC

• Generic sharp stones → specialized, intentional tools

• tool types become more regionally and time-specific

• increasing use of diverse and composite materials (stone, bone, wood, etc)

Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH)

• Emergence: Africa ~300k BP

• Migration: Near East Asia ~92k BP; Europe 40-30k BP

• Behavior: burials with grave goods, symbolic behavior

• Art: Elaborate cave paintings + portable art

Australopithecines

• Early hominins found only in Africa

• Likely first stone tool makers

• Ancestors of genus Homo → modern humans

Denisovans

• Extinct hominins known mostly from DNA

• Distinct from Neanderthals and modern humans

• Not yet given a formal species name (limited fossils)

• Evidence of DNA from a third, unknown hominin → possible other human groups

Homo floresiensis (“Hobbit”)

• small-bodied hominin species

• discovered in lian bua cave, flores, indonesia

• possibly a distinct species of Homo

• Lived as recently as ~50,000 years ago

Neanderthal decline/extinction due to:

• Competition & violence with modern humans

• New disease introduced by modern humans

• Limited cognitive ability → disadvantages

• Climate change reducing resources

• Lower reproduction and long gestation

• Absorption into modern human populations

• Neanderthals are genetically related to modern humans (1-2% of non-African DNA)

Neanderthals

• Group hunting, care for sick, ritual burials

• Wooden tools and fire. use

• Patrilocal social structure: males related, females not

• Highly effective hunting techniques

Neanderthals capacity for language

• Hyoid bone: similar to modern humans → speech possible

• FoxP2 gene: linked to language

• Brain lateralization: right-handedness → hemispheric specialization

• Suggests Neanderthals could communicate verbally

Neanderthals and burial

• Not universal: sporadic treatment of the dead per region

• No clear ritual or grave goods evidence

• Approximately 30-35 known burials

Neanderthal Symbolic Behavior

• Ornaments found at European sites → personal or social signaling

• raptor talons and feather intentionally collected → evidence of early symbolic behavior

Stone tools

• Intentional breakage: material choice matters

• used 2.5 mya - 10 kya

• Lower paleolithic (2.5-0.2 mya): oldowan cores and falkes

• Middle paleolithic (200 - 40 kya): mostyle flake tools, more specialized

• Upper paleolithic (40-10 kya): diverse, specialized, composite tools

Core tools

• Made from a stone core flaked to produce cutting edges

• Flakes may also be used as separate tools

• Common in Lower Paleolithic stone tool industries

Flake tools

• Made by chipping hting flakes from a larger stone

• Flakes used for cutting, scraping or other tasks

• core may also be used

• common in middle paleolithic stone tool industries

Humans vs Neanderthals

• Cranial capacity: similar or greater

• Body: shorter, stockier, robust skeleton

• Face/skull: no chin, projecting midface, long low skull

• Adaptation: physically demanding lifestyle, cold climates

Hominin versus hominid

• Hominin: humans + extinct bipedal ancestors

• Hominid: humans + great apes (chimps, gorillas, orangutans) + their ancestors

• Key difference: bipedalism / direct human ancestry

Fire

• Evidence: burnt items, ash, co-occurence with human activity → intentional use

• control vs creation:

  • Control: using natural fire

  • Making: producing fire intentionally (striking, sparks)

• Evolution: using → controlling → making fire

Fire use

Cooking, warmth, light, protection, object production, conviviality, ritual

Pleistocene

Geological term for the ice age

Parthenon Marbles Case

• Thomas Bruce (7th early of Elgin) removed half of the Parthenon’s sculptures and sold transported them to Britain → sold to British Museum

• Greece: argues the marbles were taken without proper permission and are integral to Greek Heritage

• UK/British: Claim they had legal permission at the time and are better preserved and accessible in the museum