Archaeology CHP 1 Second Half

Assyriology

The study of Assyria and ancient Mesopotamia (Modern Iraq. Syria, South Eastern Turkey, and Western Iraq)

Particularism

Look at particulars 1800-1945

Egyptology

Study of ancient Egyptian history and culture from 4000 BC - 300 AD

Stele

A stone with writing (10 Commandments, Law of Hammurabi, Monuments)

Antiquarianism

Simply collecting objects or artifacts with little or no understanding or explaning the cultures that created them (1300 - 1700)

Symbol

The representation (by word or visual image) of an idea or concept. The capacity to use symbols is a defining aspect of human cognition

Agency

Human intentions and actions

Ethnicity

A group of people who share cultural attributes that distinguish them. from other groups, including traditions, ancestry, language, history, nation, culture, or religion. Though. these are difficult to recognize from the archaeological record, the study of language and linguistic boundaries shows that ethnic groups often correlate with language areas

Humanistic

An approach that investigates the individual and social potential and agency of humans, focusing on values and subjective experience

Postprocessual Archaeology

A range of approaches formulated in reaction to the perceived limitations of function-processual archaeology. It avoids generalizations in favor of an individualizing approach that is influenced by struccturalist archaeology and neo-marxist thought.

Historical Archaeology

Sometimes known as the archaeology of the modern world, or the archaeology of capitalism; archaeology that studies the world from 1500 ce.

Typology

The systematic organization of artifacts into types on the basis of shared attributes

Induction

A method of reasoning in which one proceeds by generalizations from a series of specific observations so as to derive general conlcusions

Processual Archaeology

An approach that stresses the dynamic relationship between social and economic aspects of culture and the environment as the basis for understanding the processes of culture change. It uses the scientific methodology of problem statement, hypothesis, formulation, and subsequent testing. The earlier functional-processual approach has been contrasted with the cognitive processual approach where emphasis is. placed on integrating ideological and symbolic aspects

New Archaeology

A new approach advocated in the 1960s that argued for an explicitly scientific framework of archaeological method and theory, with hypotheses rigorously tested, as the proper basis for explanation, rather than simply description

World-Systems Theory

An approach pioneered by Immanuel Wallerstein that analyzes interaction on a global scale, rather than studying individual nations

Postcolonial Theory

Critical analysis of the cultural legacies of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the consequences of the control and exploitation of colonized people and lands

Cultural Resource Management (CRM)

The safeguarding of the archaeological heritage through the protection of sites and through salvage archaeolgy, generally within the framework of legislation

Rescue/Salvage Archaeology

The location and recording (usually through excavation) of archaeological sites in advance of highway construction, drainage projects, or urban development

Public Archaeology

Archaeology supported through resources made available as a public obligation

Empire

A territorially expansive state

Indigenous Archaeology

Involving Indigenous and descent communities and their values and viewpoints in the theory and practice of archaeology

Androcentrism

An attitude that values individuals who are male more than those of other genders

Gender Archaeology

Approaches that are central to archaeology research on a range of topics, from identity and personhood in the past to crafting and the division of household labor

DNA

The material that carries the hereditary instructions (the blueprint) that determine the formulation of all living organisms

Archaeogenetics

The study of ancient DNA using the technique of molecular genetics to address questions of early human population history

Molecular Archaeology

The application of physiochemical and biological techniques to the study of ancient artifacts and archaeological site samples at an atomic or molecular level

Biochemistry

The study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms

Cultural-Historical Approach

An approach to archaeological interpretation that uses the procedure of traditional historian (including emphasis on specific circumstances elaborated with rich detail, and processes of induction)

Cultural Ecology

A term devised to account for the dynamic relationship between human society and its environment in which culture is viewed as the primary adaptive mechanism

Urban Revolution

A term coined by Gordon Childe to describe the process by which small non-literate agricultural villages were transformed into large, socially complex urban cities

Neolithic Revolution

A term coined by Gordon Childe to describe the origin and consequences of farming, allowing the widespread development of settled village life

Assemblage

A group of artifacts recurring together at a particular time and place, and representing the sum of human activities

Midwestern Taxonomic System

A framework devised by W.C. McKern to systematic sequences in the great Plains area of the United States using the general principle of similarities between artifact assemblages

Reconnaissance

(Now more often called survey) a broad range of techniques involved in the location of archaeological sites e.g. the recording of surface artifacts and features, and the sampling of natural and mineral resources

Mesolithic

A chronological period in Europe, Africa, and Asia, beginning around 10,000 years ago between the Paleolithic and Neolithic

Survey

A broad range of techniques involved in the location of archaeological sites e.g. the recording of surface artifacts and features, and the sampling of natural and mineral resources