Weeks 1-3

ARCL Research Process and AR Records

schools of thought for models of processual questions

materialist theories and eco-functional theories

Past cultures components

demography, technology, economy, organization, and ideology

components

assemblages from a single later, living floor, or occupation horizon

Types of Data

nominal, ordinal, interval

four key processes of systemic context influence creation of sites

cultural deposition, reclamation process, cultural disturbance, reuse process

taphonomy

assessing how ecofacts came to be preserves and if it was influences by humans, animals, and/or the environment

Phases of Archaeological Research

asking questions, building models, collecting data, analyzing data, evaluating results

Materialist theories

major cultural shaping controlled by materials (technology, resources, etc.)

lithics

stone tools

environment

natural and social milieu in which human societies operate

economy

how people obtain food, water, and resources to sustain life through technology and organization

complexity

more units in society and more integration between those units

ideology

the way people view and understand the world

archaeological record

includes both past materials and context in which they are found

scales

has to do with size, both space and time

attributes

characteristics of artifacts, features, sites, etc including traits, measurements, properties; classified by age, form, technology, and style

features

Immovable structures, layers, pits, and posts in the ground

activity areas

combination of artifacts and features where specific tasks or behaviours occurred

assemblages

a related set of different things

sites

accumulation of artifacts and features; distinguished as surface or buries

nonsite/offsite

area between sites with occasional traces of human activity

regions and landscapes

physical/geographic entity; natural and cultural landscapes

archaeological contexts

buried or surface context in which artifacts/features are found

interpretive theories

similar to behaviorist but believes that the archaeological record gives insight into thoughts

taphonomic theories

theory that questions the information we get from the archaeological record; believes that the past can never be recreated

reactionary theories

believes that the archaeological record is a mirror reflecting ourselves, not the true past

nominal data

categorial, segregated into distinct categories

reuse process

an object moves through series of behavioral settings before it enters the archaeological record

cryoturbation

process in which freeze/thaw activity in soil pushes larger artifacts to the surface of a site

graviturbation

artifacts moved downslope through gravity

Two types of questions

descriptive and processual

Descriptive Questions

what, who, when, where leading to cultural history

Processual Questions

how and why of the cultural history, cultural change, and stability

three basic methods for collecting data

pedestrian survey, test excavations, and remote sensing

iconography

pictorial representations of ideology

artifacts

objects and materials people have made and used

ecofacts

unmodified natural items found in archaeological contexts; organic or inorganic

tradition

continuity of similar artifacts and design through time

residential sites based on size

camp, hamlet, village, town, cities

secondary context

artifacts that have been redeposited or shifted from their original position

behaviorist theories

the idea that suggests that the archaeological record is a snapshot of ancient behavior

ordinal data

categories ordered in a meaningful way

interval data

ratio data; constant interval between categories

operationalization

collecting accurate data to answer our questions

cultural deposition

discard, loss, caching, ritual internment

floralturbation

process in which trees and plants affect distribution of artifacts

argilliturbation

wet/dry cycles push artifacts up as sediment swells (mainly in clay)

Eco-functional theories

human adaption shaped by environment

ceramics

utensils

demography

study of human populations in the past

technology

interface. between human society and their environment; includes tools, facilities, etc., can appear in a region through invention, diffusion, or migration

organization

how social relationships are arranged and how interaction occurs

form of archaeological record

attributes, artifacts, ecofacts, features, assemblages, sites, regions, or landscapes

horizon

geographic extant of similar artifacts and design

phase

set of sites or assemblages in a certain region

context

immediate matrix, provenience, and association

primary context

original position of discard/deposition

systemic context

a living behavioral system in which artifacts are part of an ongoing system of manufacture, use, reuse, and discard

site formation processes

formation, transformation, cultural, and natural

culture-historical theory

the idea that we can reconstruct cultural history of a location by the superposition of archaeological materials

sample methods

stratified, cluster, random, non-random

reclamation process

human behaviors that result in artifacts moving from archaeological contexts back to systemic context

cultural disturbance

human processes modify artifacts

faunalturbation

process in which animals affect distribution of materials

preservation

one of the primary processes affecting the formation of an archaeological site