Archaeological Techniques

Flashcards on Archaeological Techniques and Concepts

Archaeology

The study of the human past using scientific methods and techniques.

Archaeological Survey

Finding surface artifacts or cultural debris.

Archaeological Excavation

Digging into an archaeological site to find cultural materials.

Archaeological Site

Six cultural objects found in close proximity to one another.

Grid System

Roping off measured squares over the surface of a site to enable archaeologists to document and map all artifacts and features.

In Situ

In the original location.

Ecofacts

Objects of natural origins.

Zooarchaeology

Study animal remains.

Archaeobotanists

Specialize in the analysis of floral (plant) remains with an interest in the historical relationships between plants and people over time.

Coordinates

An object’s primary context.

Secondary Context

Objects that have been removed from their primary context.

Strata

Layers of different types of stone.

Law of Superposition

The strata at the bottom were older than the strata higher up

Stratigraphic Superposition

Application of the law of superposition to archaeological fieldwork

Archaeological Stratification

Looking for stratified layers of artifacts to determine human cultural contexts.

Typological Sequences

Compare created objects to other objects of similar appearance with the goal of determining how they are related

Seriation

A relative dating method in which artifacts are placed in chronological order once they are determined to be of the same culture

Chronometric Dating Methods

Methods of dating that rely on chemical or physical analysis of the properties of archaeological objects.

Radiocarbon Dating

Uses the radioactive isotope carbon-14 to date organic materials.

Dendrochronology

Uses tree rings to determine the age of ancient structures or dwellings that are made of wood.

Cross Dating

Matching patterns of wide and narrow rings between core samples taken from similar trees in different locations.

Conservation

Preserve significant natural ecosystems for parks or wilderness areas so that sportspeople and outdoor enthusiasts would have places to hunt, fish, and explore

Naturalism

Seeks to understand the world and the laws that govern it by direct observation of nature

Salvage Anthropology

Collecting the material culture of Indigenous peoples in the United States and other parts of the world who were believed to be going extinct.

Analysis of Language

An anthropologist can understand the meaning of words and their context as well as gain a sense of a culture’s philosophy and worldviews.

Albert Gatschet

Swiss philologist and ethnologist who emigrated to the United States in 1868. He had a great interest in linguistics and Native American languages

Interpretation

Based on the interpretations proposed by the authors of history.

Ethnography

A method used by cultural anthropologists to create a description of a culture or society.

Armchair Anthropology

Theories about human societies and human behaviors were proposed solely based on secondhand information.

Franz Boas

Insisted that scholars obtain ethnographical information directly from the peoples they aimed to write about, rather than collecting information from other published sources

Ethnology

A cross-cultural comparison of different groups.

Ethnoarchaeology

Archaeologists access ethnographic information about recent or existing human cultures to draw conclusions about human cultures in the archaeological past.

Ethnocentric or Etic Perspective

judging a culture according to the standards of their own culture and belief system.

Emic Perspective

observe a culture from the perspective of the people being researched

Feminist Anthropology

Attempts to address this male bias.

Indigenous Anthropology

Practitioners with this type of background are part of a subfield.

Participant Observation

Directly participating in the activities and events of a host culture and keeping records of observations about these activities.

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

Committees housed within a university that must review and approve research plans before any research begins

Ethical Considerations

Researchers conducting sociocultural, medical, or clinical studies must gain written consent for all interviews from their informants,

Intellectual property protocols

Researchers often assign ultimate ownership of the material they collect to the culture-bearers who provided the information.

Quantitative Information

Measurable or countable data that can provide insight into research questions.

Qualitative Data

Understand culture based on more subjective analyses of language, behavior, ritual, symbolism, and interrelationships of people.

Modeling

Create models to help others visualize and understand their research findings.

Global Position System (GPS)

increasingly used in archaeology.

Archival collections

Contain published, re-created, or original manuscripts that are deemed significant enough to be placed in conditions designed to preserve them against damage or loss.

Three-Dimensional Collections

Collections of objects such as basketry and pottery are normally housed separately from manuscript collections

Repatriation

Restoring human remains and/or objects of religious or cultural importance to the peoples from whom they originated

National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA)

Ensure that federal agencies would identify and take actions to protect and preserve the nation’s historic sites and locations

American Antiquities Act (1906)

Made it illegal for nonscientists to remove artifacts from archaeological sites on federal lands

Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)

Made it possible for tribes to repatriate objects covered under the act, such as human remains and funerary objects.

Provenance

Detailed information about where they were found.

The Summers Collection

A collection of more than 600 Native objects from the West Coast of the United States, collected by the Reverend Robert Summers