Archaeology Week 1-3

studying for midterm

Looting

removing objects from sites without authorization leading to a loss of evidence, especially prevelant in warefare in Iraq and Syria

Antiquarianism

emphasis on discovering, collecting and display (find the treasure), can lead to lack of context, Belzoni(Egypt) and Layard(Iraq)

Culture History

uses styles and patterns to characterize and understand culture change, key figures Pitt-Rivers(systematic methods + records) and Petrie (style for chronology)

Processual archaeology

systematic, scientific methods, hypothesis and stats to explain (what caused this pattern?) 1960s

Post-processual archaeology

emphasizes belief, identity ideology, social life and choices made (what did these things mean to people?) 1980s

Theoretical pluralism

the recognition of the value of mutliple theories and perspectives

Napoleon

early expedition

Belzoni

early collecting and exploration in Egypt

Layard

Nimrud, Iraq, excavations in 1845

Pitt-Rivers

systematic archaeological methods and records

Petrie

pottery, seriation, and chronological sequences

Morgan

cultural evolution theories, historical hierarchy

Boas

critiques of simplistic racial/cultural explanations

Du Bois

race, education and black history

Childe

cultural evolution, diffusion, agriculture and states

Libby

associated with radiocarbon dating

Binford

processual or new archaeology

Hodder

post-processual archaeology and reflexive approcahes

Relative dating

tells you if something is older or younger than something else

Absolute dating

gives an estimated calender date or date range

Stratigraphy

the study of layers of soil and other stuff at an archaeological site

The Law of Superposition

the basic principle that in an undisturbed sequence of layers, lower layers were deposited before the layers above them

Cross Dating

uses an object whose age is already known to help estimate the age of another object

Seriation

a method of arranging artifacts into a likely chronological sequence based on style, shape and decoration

Battleship curve

a pattern used to show how the popularity/frecuency of style changes over time

Horizon style

a style or artifact type associated with a relatively specific period

3 Age System

stone age, bronze age, iron age

Dendrochonology

the dating/studying of wood using tree rings (thicker rings = higher rainfall)

Radiocarbon dating

estimates the age of once living material by measuring radioactive carbon remaining in it

• useful for within 50-60,000 years

• must be compared with calibrated records

Potassium argon dating

uses argon-40 to determine the age of rocks

Optical stimulated luminescence (OSL)

measures ionizing radiation stored inside the crystal

Nimrud (Iraq)

associated with Austen Henry Layard’s excavations in 1845. can be connected with early archaeological exploration and the history of collecting antiquities

Copan (Maya region)

• ruled by a dynasty of kinds who used monuments to show authority

• helps archaeologists understand Maya writing, religion, leadership and cultural beliefs

Great Zimbabwe (southern Africa)

• debate if site was built by the Indigenous Shona or the outsiders (the Phoenicians)

• can be connected with colonial assumptions and the interpretation of archaeological evidence

Giza (Egypt)

• associated with the pyramids and Sphinx along with Flinders Petrie

• known as a conspicuous site

Artifacts

a portable object made, modified, or used by people (ex. pottery, stone, etc.)

Feature

a human made or human modified part of a site that is not easily moved without changing or destroying it

Attribute

a specific characteristic used to describe or classify something (ex. shape, material, decoration)

Settlement pattern

the spatial arrangement of places where people lived or carried out activities

Ceramicist

studies pottery

Lithic specialist

studies stone tools and materials

Zooarchaeologist

studies animal remains, diet and domestication

Paleoethnobotanist

studies plants, plant diets and plant use

Bioarchaeologist

studies human skeletal remains

Conservator

helps preserve and stabilize objects

Geophysicist

uses geophysical materials to investigate underground

Conspicuous-site survey

visually obvious sites (ex. pyramids

Vehicle or windshield survey

looking for sites when traveling by vehicle

• relatively inexpensive

• is superficial and dependent on visibility

Local informants

archaeologists ask local people for information about places where artifacts or archaeological remains may be found

Systematic foot survey

archaeologists walk across a landscape following planned routes

• common method is transects which are planned lines or strips used to organize coverage

Aerial photography

photographs taken above which can reveal crop patterns, landscape features and possible buried structures

Satellite imagery

helps researches examine broad landscapes and identify possible sites or patterns

LIDAR

uses laser measurements to map the landscape

• is good for finding things when there is lots of forest canopy

Total sampling

study of all the defined population or area

Random sampling

selects units randomly

Systematic sampling

selects units according to a regular plan, such as every set distance

Expedient sampling

choose what is easiest or quickest to access

Stratified sampling

divide the population or area into meaningful groups, then sample within those groups

Judgemental sampling

select places or objects because the researchers beleive they are especially relevant to the question

NAGRPA (native american graves protection and repatriation act of 1990)

protects native american cemeteries and sacred sites on federal land and provides for the repatriation of ancestors and associated funerary objects to federally recognized tribes

Ancestral Pueblo

• sites: mesa verde and pueblo bonito

• methods: survey, settlement pattern analysis, tree-ring dating

• other evidence: important macaws suggest long-distance conncetions

• broader lesson: indigenous knowledge can contribute to understanding and managing environments

The Sahara, Gilf Kebir and the Cave of Swimmers

• period: green sahara, approximately 8000-3500 BCE

• places: Gilf Kabir and the Cave of Swimmers

• people: Almasy, Prince Kemal el-Din, Rudolf Kuper, Harkhuf

• project: ACACIA- investigated environmental change and human activity

• method: environmental reconstruction, survey, test excavation and specialist analysis

• big idea: todays environment is not a reliable guide to what an ancient environment was like

The Maya, Palenque, Pakal and drought

site: Palenque

ruler: Pakal

research questions: climate, drought, settlement, warefare and culture change

methods: radiocarbon dating, isotopes, historical records, monuments and archaeological evidence

Stonehenge, Woodhenge, and Bluestonehenge

• stonehenge: associated with funerary and afterlife rituals

• woodhenge: associated with fertility and life riturals

Deductive reasoning

starts with a general idea or hypothesis and tests it against evidence

Inductive reasoning

starts with observations and uses them to develop a broader explanation

Charles Redman

• starts with a research problem

• uses deductive and inductive reasoning

• uses feedback at each stage

• may begin with broad, random sampling and move to more targeted investigation

Ian Hodder

• emphasizes reflexivity and continual reevaluation

• questions whethere archaeology can be treated as a fully replicable experiment

• emphasizes careful recording because excavation destroys the original context

• emphasizes reconsidering the interpretations as new information emerges

Total station

a surveying instrument used to measure angles and distances so that locations can be mapped accurately

Global positioning system (GPS)

helps establish geographic positions for archaeological sites and features

Photogrammetry

uses overlpaping photographs to create measurements, maps or 3-dimensional models

Magnetometry

measures variations in magnetic properties in the ground (magnetic differences)

Resistivity

measures differences in how strongly the ground resists electrical current (electrical resistance)

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR)

sends radar signals into the ground and records their reflections to investigate buried features (radar reflections)

Auger coring

used to collect a narror core of soil or sediment

Test pits

a small excavation used to investigate what lies below the surface

Sondage, test trench or step trench

used to investigate the layers of a site though a long stratigraphic profile that requires less effort

Broad exposure

means excavating a larger areas to reveal the spatial relationships between features and deposits

Wheller-Kenyon grid

organized excavation and recording of spatial/stratigraphic relationships

Analogy

interpreting something by comparing it with something similar

ethnoarchaeology

studies living epople and their material practices to help interpret archaeological evidence

experimental archaeology

involves recreating or testing past technologies and activities to investigate how they might have worked

chronological typology

changes over time

isochrestic style

stylistic choices among alternatives that serve a similar purpose

functional typology

intended use or function

holocene

the current geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago

anthropocene

a proposed term used to describe a period in which human activity has become a major influence on Earth’s systems

Use-wear analysis

examines mark or wear on an object to investigate how it was used

Trace-element analysis

examines the chemical composition of materials to help investigate their origin, production or relationships with other materials

Tombos, Sudan

a cemetery in Sudanese Nubia with a chronology extending approximately

• raises questions about colonialism, cultural interaction and political change

• learned that some burial practices reflected Nubian funerary influence after the Egyptian Empire

Amara West and Neves

• in the amara west, sudan: magnetometry using a gradiometer as a way to investigate buried features

• neves, caribbean: shows soil resistivity in connection with a Jewish cemetery

Kiva Bluff, Utah

emphasizes collaboration with the tribe and minimizing disturbance, used ground penetrating radar at the ancetral pueblo site

Ulu Burun, Turkey

an underwater archaeological site and shows why sometimes specialized expertise is necessary

Ugarit, Syria

sondage/test-trench excavation; stratigraphy and chronology