midterm acrhaeology

Archeology

Study of material culture (how people can be evaluated through stuff and use of space) as well as finding out about long-term human development.

What are the 4 types of Archaeology?

Cultural, linguistic, biological, Archaeological

What is the timeline?

3.3 mya to present

What are 5 archaeological methods?

Survey, Excavation, Analysis, Conservation, Publication

When would you use survey vs excavation?

Survey is used for large observations about landscapes and excavation is used to get more detailed information about a smaller area.

4 steps of research design

1. Formulation of research strategy

2. Collecting/ Recording evidence

3. Processing/analysis

4. Publication

2. Collecting/ Recording evidence

3.Processing/analysis

4.Publication

Ground vs Aerial survey

Ground survey takes place on the ground and aerial survey uses satellite or drones.

Systematic vs Unsystematic Survey

Systematic uses a grid system to limit bias and unsystematic involves randomly searching

Low-tech Survey

pedestrian survey, counting artifacts. Difficult to organize logistically, look how people impact landscape overall (larger scale than excavation)

High-tech Survey

geophysical survey, remote sensing, aerial photography, satellite photography

Excavation

Removal of overlaying soil (scraping or trenches), difficult to know if you want to dig deep or wide.

Electrical resistance survey

Send an electrical current into the group to discover unseen materials (current bounces back).

Ambient Magnetism (Survey)

used to find artifacts/buildings underground

Aerial photography/ survey

used in places you can access or to see crop marks which indicate stuff may be underground impacting the surface

LIDAR

Computerizes and colors images of a landscape. Most recent advance in remote sensing in archaeology

Survey pro/con

Pro: cheap, large-scale, landscape

Con: lack of detail

Excavation pro/con

Pro: capacity for detail

Con: expensive, time-consuming, can take years to analyze material, destructive

COREing

taking a tube to see all layers of the earth

Low-tech analysis

sorting, counting, weighting, measuring

High-tech analysis

chemical analysis, scanning-electron microscopy

Evolution

change over time (still occurring today)

variation

every organism differs from other members of the species

Genetic heritability

variation passed to offspring

differential reproductive success

difference in number if offspring who survive

Adaption

new, heritable feature that helps organism survive/reproduce

Mismatch hypothesis

features adaptive in environments for which we evolved but maladaptive in modern world [diabetes]

When and where did humans and chimps diverge?

8-5 mya likely near Ethiopia

LCA

last common ancestor between chimps and humans

Hominins

subset of ape family [more closely related to living humans than chimps or other apes]

Ardipithecus ramidus

famous female named ARDI hominin 4.5-4.3 mya

Adaptions that help us walk upright/ indicate habitual bipedalism

short upper pelvis, sideways s-shaped spine (torso above hips), short toes, stiff foot arch, large heel bone, wide hips

Why did hominids develop larger molars?

It was an adaption due to climate change which altered diet from soft fruits to leaves and bark.

Did we evolve to be healthy?

NO! We evolved to reproduce (Lieberman)

Alfred Russell Wallace

English naturalist who proposed, independently of Charles Darwin, the concept of natural selection as a mechanism for evolution and as a way to explain the great variety of living things. Life is a struggle to reproduce and provide for young. Weak will become extinct.

Are fossils made of bone?

NO! They are cursed by minerals surrounding and replacing the bone molecule for molecule. No DNA. Fossilization is rare. East Africa is a good environment for fossilization.

Australopithecines (australopiths)

4.2 mya, cranial capacity of 375-550 cc, ASSOCIATED WITH THE FIRST STONE TOOLS, habitually bipedal, LUCY, key stage in human evolution, ate tough foods and USOs due to Africa being cooler and dryer, varied diet, big, flat teeth

When did the earliest stone tools develop? What did they look like?

3.3 mya, mostly just sharp rocks.

Pros and cons of bipedalism

Pro: better visibility, heat management, efficient locomotion (pendular motion), carry objects

Con: difficulty giving birth

Ardipitheuis Kadabba

5.8-5.2 mya

Homo Erectus

Africa 1.9 mya, bigger brains, model-shaped bodies, hunter-gatherers, meat, bad sprinters, projecting external nose, gluteus Maximus,

What change is bipedalism associated with?

Late miocene cooling event 5mya

What type of animals are best suited to survive during scarcity?

Omnivores

Who created the method for naming all organisms? What is it?

Carolus Linnaeus. Genus Species

ex. Equus Caballus and Equus Asinus

Relative dating

compare age using layers of earth

absolute dating

results in a number [margin or error 40 yrs],3

Potassium-argon dating

measures rate of change from k to ar, uses volcanic deposits good for 100,000 to 4 billion years ago

Argon-Argon dating

measures rate of change from Ar-39 to Ar-40, uses smaller sample. Good for 20,000 to 4 billions years ago.

Classification

process of organizing data about species on the bases of morphology with inferences about reproductive ability

Pleistocene

The "ice age" about 3mya

Mary Leaky

Discovered homo Habilis and nudged it into homo

Did australopithecines or homo spread out of Africa?

homo (more specifically homo Erectus) 1.9 mya

When did the genus homo appear

1.9 mya

Homo characteristics

bigger brains, narrow waist, short toes, face more upright, bigger butt, more pronounced external nose, increasingly complex communication

What is cultural modernity and when did it appear?

Modify surroundings, fire, repeated use of locations, tools. Since the appearance of Homo the primary means of adaption is culture. Art, ornamentation, burials

Components of language

physical, cognitive, social, ornamentation

Mary Stiner

Shells/ beads/ bandwidth article emphasized the role of portable ornaments as a form of materialized communication --> bandwidth

Forms of art

ornaments, figurines, decorated tools, rock art

When did Homo sapiens arrive in Australia

50,000 years ago, needed a boat.

What marked the transition to the holocene?

Warmer, dryer weather. Human impact on the landscape are emphasized.

When did agriculture begin

10,000 years ago (start of the holocene)

When did humans arrive in North America

18,000 years ago

Archaeological site

place where human activities occurred

4 important laws that protect the past in the US

1906 - Antiquities Act

1935 - Historical Sites Act

1966 - Historic Preservation Act

1990 - NAGPRA

NAGPRA

Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act

When did cities and empires develop

6,000 years ago

Pros and Cons of agriculture

Pros: population growth, development of cities, parties, control over food supply, potential for surplus

Cons: worse diet, increased rates of cavities, injuries from farming, iron deficiency

Complexities of food production

Sedentism, specialization, storage, access, sex-based differences

What is millet? Where did millet originate?

a type of grain, very diverse and can grow in many climates, low water/ nutrient needs, short growing cycle. China. Adoption took a while. Valamoti: 85 sites that had neolithic and Bronze Age, mass piles of millet, skeletal analysis of humans.

Simple society

know everyone face-to-face, you know where your next meal in coming from, leaders can occasionally organize people to do something spectacular.

What can skeletal remains say about a population

health: lesions indicate disease, age of death, enamel develops as you grow and can show what someone ate as a child. Can show if someone immigrated.

AMS (accelerator mass spectrometry)

Type of radiocarbon dating (used on smaller sample size, more precise)

BP/ B2K

before present 1950!!!! Before the year 2,000 used for ice-core

Neolithic

refers to a time of plant/animal domestication

Cattle cult

people buried cattle showing belief in higher powers

Di Lernia

people can survive on just animal domestication

Complex societies

don't know everyone face-to-face, you don't know where your next meal is coming from but you have assurance you will get it, leaders organize people to do ordinary and spectacular things.

Radiocarbon dating

measures release of carbon from something once living

Cultural activités in South America began when

by 2200 years ago

when did Inca culture start

1200 AD, textiles, quipu, roads, religion

Landscapes of inequality

towns with a well-built half and a half with poor construction where workers lived.

Landscapes of ritual

plazas for ceremonies and feasting

Landscapes of control

leaders affect privacy and access

Artifact

Portable objects which are modified in whole or part by human activity

Features

Objects modified by humans that cannot be removed without being altered or destroyed

Ecofact

(a)biotic remains relevant to explaining human activity

Burials

info on biology, diet, health, and social status

Sites

Spatially bounded area containing 2 or more archaeological sites (w/ similar material culture)

Context

Investigation usually depends on the type of question you want to answer