Antro Final Exam

Archaeology

The study of human diversity through material remains

Garbology

projects that examine contemporary patterns of disposal to learn about society

Anthropology

the study of human variation in all its biological, social and cultural dimensions through all time and space

4 subfields of anthological inquiry organized in North America

• socio - cultural

• physical/biological

• linguistic

• archaeology

Holism

All aspects of human variation (economy, social organization, etc.) are relevant and interdependent

Comparison

comparison of cultures and adaptations to determine similarities and differences and for generalization

Cultural Relativism

the idea that different cultures need to be understood in their own terms and not according to the standards and values of others

• opposite of ethnocentrism

Culture

primary means through human social groups vary and are reproduced

Archaeology’s strengths

culture change and variation through time and across space

Archaeological record

the sum total of all material remains of past human activities

Provenience

the location of materials in three dimensional space

• traditionally recorded by hand using rulers, tape measures..

• measures distance of object ot known point

Laser scanner

• collect millions of points of total surface

• reconstruct site in 3D

Association

spatial relationship of different things and places

Context

an interpretation of the association of objects

Artifacts

portable modified objects

Classes of Artifact - additive

created by adding materials together

• pottery

Classes of artifact - subtractive

remove material from an object to create something

• stone tools

Classes of artifacts - composite

• combine different finished objects together

Ecofacts

unmodified or non-tool materials that result from human activity

• food remains

• commensal species

  • animals that live in proximity to humans

• environmental proxies

  • pollen

• paleofeces

Features

• non portable objects

• combinations of artifacts/ecofacts

Example of feature - Hearth

pit or surface used to burn materials

Example of feature - storage pit

pit used to hold materials may be reused as garbage pit

Example of feature - post mold

hole left behind after a post has rotted away

Example of feature - structure

combination of architectural elements (walls, floor, features, roofing materials)

Spatial scale

the significance and interpretation fo spatial patterning varies by scale

Time scales

• geological - long term (hundreds to millions of years)

• generational - over the course of a few lifespans

• events - instantanous moments

Stratigraphy

• recognition of different layers in the ground

• formed by human and natural deposit

• primary source of chronology

Superposition

• younger layers lie on top of older layers

• provides framework for ordering archaeological finds

Index artifiacts

objects with restricted temporal range and distant morphology/construction

Relative dating technique - cross dating

use of materials dated at one site to infer the age of similar materials at another site

Thomsen’s three age system

chronological model for europe

• iron age (latest)

• bronze age

• stone age (earliest)

dendrochronology

telling time with tree rings

radiocarbon

based on the half life of radioactive isotope to determine that age of organic materials

calendar

• bp = before present (1950)

• bc = before christ/common era

• ad/ce = after 2000 years/ common era

archaeological culture

materials that co occur in space and time

ethics in archaelogy

• record and store information

• avoid commercialization

NAGPRA

• native american graves protection repatriation act

Australopithecus afarensis

• small brained

• raymond dart made discoveries in south african cave

Homo erectus

• large brain, small teeth, bipedal

• Neanderthals

• large brain, small teeth, bipedal but after homo erectus

• Denisovans

• closely related to neanderthals

• known from well preseved bones found in denisova cave, souther siberia

• date at least between 48,000-30,000 years ago

Clovis First” vs. Pre-Clovis

• clovis first = groups with clovis like tehcnology migrated from sibera to north amercian around 13,000 years ago via land bridge

• pre clovis offers evidencde of human precesnce earlier than clovis culture

• Clovis and Megafauna

• overkill hypothesis - argues that Clovis hunters hunted megafauna species to extinction

• Younger-Dryas

rapid return of near glacial conditions, caused by large pulse of freshwater into atlantic

• Myth of the Pristine Primitive

the belief that the Americas were a sparsely populated, untouched wilderness before European colonization, where Native Americans had little impact on the environment

• Simple and Complex Hunter-Gatherers

• simple consume their food as soon as they harvest

• complex store large amounts of food

• Egalitarianism

everyone is able to assert autonomy

• “Voting with your feet”

• a safety valve to growing tensions and conlicts

• resolution of dispute

• Intensification

• Midden

an old dump for domestic waste

• Early Pottery in SE North America

• Laetoli

• Monte Verde

• Poverty Point

• Upper Paleolithic

• Neanderthals

• Clovis and Pre-Clovis

• Archaic/Mesolithic

• Stallings Island

• Australopithecus afarensis (Lucy)

definitive evicende of bipdealisms on early hominin

• Domestication as a Process

• Paleoethnobotany/Archaeobotany

• Zooarchaeology

• Gordon Childe and the Neolithic Revolution

• Implications/Consequences of Agriculture

• Eastern Agricultural Complex

• Teosinte and Maize

• Monuments

• Blue Stones and Sarsen Stones

• Çatalhöyük

• Stonehenge

• Natufians

• Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN)

• Chaco Phenomenon

  • Great Houses

  • Chaco Roads

  • Chaco monuments and pilgrimage

• Hohokam Villages and Ballcourts

• Hohokam Irrigation and Society

• Myth of the Moundbuilders

• Eastern Agricultural Complex

• Platform Mounds

• Southeastern Ceremonial Complex and Iconography

• Monks Mound

• Cahokia

• Snaketown

• Chaco Canyon

• Hopewell

• Mississippian

• Chaco/Ancestral Pueblo

• Hohokam

• Characteristics of States and their Archaeological Correlates

• Types of Writing Systems, the Major Writing Systems we have covered, and what kind of information they were used to convey

• Temples and their significance in States we have studied

Mesopotamia

Mesoamerica - Ziggurat

Mesoamerica - Queen Puabi

Mesoamerica - Beveled Rim Bowls and Taxation

mesopotamia - Clay Bulla and Tokens

Mesoamerica - Sacrifice/Autosacrifice

Mesoamerica - Technologies of Propaganda

Mesoamerica - Templo Mayor

Mesoamerica - Obsidian