Archaeology Midterm 2

Definition: Hominin Stone Tool Industries

Manufacturing methods used to create various types of stone tools made by different hominin species over time and space. This technology varies from simple flakes to complex multi-purpose forms.

Evidence: Hominin Stone Tool Industries

The Oldowan industry (ca. 2.6 million years ago), used by Homo habilis, consists of simple "choppers" and sharp flakes. This was followed by the Acheulean industry (ca. 1.7 million years ago), characterized by the symmetrical "handaxe" used by Homo erectus.

Meaning: Hominin Stone Tool Industries

Marks the first steps in human technological innovation, allowing for a shift in biology and behavior by facilitating meat processing and access to new food sources.

Definition: Writing

A system for fixing knowledge and preserving information beyond human memory.

Evidence: Writing

In Mesopotamia, cuneiform was used for administration and temple record keeping. In the Andes, Incan people used quipus (knotted strings) to store census data and manage resources.

Significance: Writing

Writing revolutionized human society by facilitating "control at a distance" for economic and political administration and allowed for reinforcement of social status through elite literacy and propaganda.

Definition: Surplus

The production of resources that exceeds what is required for the immediate survival of the producers.

Evidence: Surplus

In early Mesopotamian city-states, the presence of thousands of bevel-rimmed bowls—standardized, mass-produced ceramic vessels—indicates a system of distributing surplus grain as rations to workers.

Significance: Surplus

Surplus allowed for a division of labor where non-farmers could focus on specialized tasks. 

Definition: Beads

Non-utilitarian items of personal adornment used to identify, and distinguish individuals or groups. It was also used as a type of currency in some cultures.

Evidence: beads

The Sunghir site in Russia (ca. 28,000 years ago) contains the burials of two children interred with over 10,000 mammoth ivory beads. These beads were sewn into clothing and represented thousands of hours of collective labor.

Significance: beads

The use of beads serves as evidence of symbolic thought, personal identity, and social status/hierarchy.

Define: Urban infrastructure

planned systems, such as drainage, road grids, and public buildings, required to manage and large, dense urban populations.

Evidence: Urban infrastructure

Roman aqueducts (2nd century BC) and integrated sewage systems required centralized planning to connect the urban center with water sources and discharge systems.

Significance: Urban Infrastructure

Allows for large populations to concentrate in one area, which facilitates agricultural surpluses, specialization of labor, trade, and the rapid sharing of ideas

Define: Domestication

Process where humans select and nurture specific plant or animal species, leading to morphological changes and mutual dependency. 

Evidence: Domestication

Lipid residues on 5,200-year-old ceramics suggest the use of cows for milk production in the Sahara.

Significance: Domestication

Caused human life to shift from food gathering to food production, allowed for surplus and supports larger populations.

Define: Collapse

A rapid decline in social complexity often marked by political fragmentation, depopulation, and a loss of centralized institutions.

Evidence: Collapse

The Classic Maya society experienced a collapse evidenced by the loss of dated monuments that were used to record royal history at multiple sites within the span of around 100 years. This coincided with evidence of long, repetitive droughts from data recovered from lake cores.

Significance: Collapse

Understanding collapse can help us conceptualize the limits of social complexity, and also the methods of human resilience that may be directly applicable to modern challenges like climate change, resource depletion, and economic inequality

Define: Inequality

The unequal distribution of material or immaterial resources (like knowledge or status) that grants some individuals "power over" others.

Evidence: Inequality

In Mesopotamia the wealthy class used hand-made, decorated pottery, while the lower class workers used mass-produced bland, messy dishes.

Significance: Inequality

When inequality becomes institutionalized, authority no longer resides in a single charismatic individual but in a social role or office (such as a King or Chief) that allows status and privileges to be passed down through birth and kinship.

Define:Empire

A large political entity that integrates diverse territories and populations through centralized administration.

Evidence: Empire

The Roman Empire (800 BCE–400CE) built massive urban infrastructure to support its urban center. In Gaul, higher classes had access to “exotic” foods, while the lower the class the more local the food.

Significance: Empire

Empires facilitated the flow of people and ideas on a large scale. Additionally, they institutionalized significant social and economic disparities between the ruling center and its diverse subjects.

Define: Trade

The exchange of goods, materials, or ideas between different groups, connecting communities across long distances.

Evidence:Trade

The Neolithic Obsidian trade network in the Near East shows that volcanic glass was traded widely across groups, even when individual communities maintained distinct local identities and lithic traditions.

Significance: Trade

Trade facilitates the spread of new technologies and cultural ideas.