Archaeology and Linguistics test

Archaeological record

All material evidence left behind by past human societies.

Site

A distinct spatial location with physical evidence of past human activity.

Fieldwork

The practical, hands-on work of gathering archaeological data through survey and excavation.

Artifact

Any portable object made, modified, or used by humans.

Ecofact

Natural organic or environmental remains found at an archaeological site that reveal human activity.

Context

The exact spatial and temporal association of an artifact, feature, and matrix in a site.

Taphonomy

The study of what happens to organic remains after death until their discovery.

LiDAR

Remote sensing technology using laser light to map ground surfaces and reveal hidden features.

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR)

Geophysical method that uses radar pulses to image subsurface structures.

Stratigraphy

The study of geological or cultural layers in a site.

Law of superposition

Geological principle stating that older layers lie beneath younger layers in undisturbed sequences.

Radiocarbon dating

Method for determining the age of organic materials based on carbon-14 decay.

Dendrochronology

Dating technique using the annual growth rings of trees.

Repatriation

The return of cultural artifacts, human remains, or sacred objects to their native communities.

NAGPRA (1990)

US federal law requiring institutions to return Native American cultural items to tribes.

The Ancient One/Kennewick Man

Ancient human skeleton whose discovery sparked intense debates over repatriation and Indigenous rights.

Assimilation

The process whereby a minority group adopts the customs of a dominant culture.

Decolonization (museums)

The process of restructuring museums to dismantle colonial hierarchies and share authority.

Cultural heritage

The legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes inherited from past generations.

Cultural Resource Management

The practice of managing and protecting cultural resources and heritage sites threatened by development.

Section 106

Provision requiring federal agencies to consider effects on historic properties.

Greenwood, Tulsa, Oklahoma

Historic Black community site of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

Indigenous archaeology

Archaeological research conducted by, with, or for Indigenous peoples, centering their perspectives.

Phonology

The study of the sound systems of languages.

Phoneme

The smallest unit of sound in a language that can distinguish meaning.

Morphology

The study of the internal structure of words.

Morpheme

The smallest meaningful unit of language.

Syntax

The set of rules governing the arrangement of words in sentences.

Pragmatics

The study of how context contributes to meaning in communication.

Speech act

An utterance that serves a function in communication, such as promising.

Arbitrariness

The lack of a natural connection between a linguistic sign and its meaning.

Duality of patterning

The property of human language where meaningless sounds combine to form meaningful units.

Displacement

The ability to communicate about things not immediately present.

Linguistic relativity

The hypothesis that language structure influences its speakers' worldview and cognition.

Linguistic profiling

The practice of identifying a person's social characteristics based on their speech.

Language variety/dialect ("non-standard")

A language variety associated with a social group lacking institutional prestige.

Standard language

The dialect of a language promoted and used by institutions as the norm.

Linguistic capital

Mastery of a dominant language variety leveraged for social and economic advantage.

Folk taxonomies

Cultural classification systems of the world expressed through language.

Code-switching

The practice of alternating between two or more languages in conversation.

Metaphor

A figure of speech where a term is applied to a non-literal object.

Analogical Change

Language change driven by the tendency to make irregular forms regular.

Borrowing

The adoption of a word or linguistic feature from another language.

Loanword

A word adopted from a foreign language with little or no modification.

Language revitalization

Efforts to halt or reverse the decline of endangered languages.

Language reclamation

Efforts by communities to reclaim and restore their ancestral languages.