ANT 101 Exam #1

What is Archaeology? What do Archaeologists study? What materials do archaeologists study?

1. systematic study of the past*

   1. Information of human past beyond range of written documents

      1. Find and analyze sites of past humans

      2. Excavate and recover sites through studying sites + remains

      3. One part of anthropology

archaeological sites

1. Area altered by human activity, occupied for any span of time from minutes to millennia (any place where humans carried out activities in past)

2. Ex. hunter/gatherer fishing sites, houses, caves, fields, canals, roads, cities, kill-sites, rock art

archaeological artifacts

1. Objects made, used, modified by humans; plain or decorated, may used for one or more activities

2. Ex. pottery, metal, wood, bone, gourd, stone, cloth, figurines, human remains, food remains

Archaeological Interpetation (analogy and scientific method)

1. Specifically by analogy

   1. To known ethnographic cases or results from experiments

2. Generally by scientific method

   1. Observations, hypothesis, test, revision, etc

News from the Past: Tomb reveals warrior women who roamed ancient caucasus

• Three skeletons found

• Originated from Armenia

• Buried with dagger and arrows, signs of horse riders

What is Anthropology? What do Anthropologists study?

1. Study of people from origins to present

   1. Why are we the kind of organism we are?

   2. Why do we behave so?

   3. Why are different groups of people different?

2. Grew out of 18th/19th century european interest in explaining human diversity

   1. Western discipline

   2. Cpt. James Cooke (1728-1779)

Anthropology as a discipline

history, multi-disciplinarity, as a science and a humanity

• Multidisciplinary

  1. Humans are biological and social creatures

     1. Biology, political science, geology, psychology, etc

• Anthropology as a humanity

  1. Study deals with people, their perceptions, values, esthetics 

  2. Ethnohistory

     1. Using historical documents to derive anthropological data and theories about past societies

anthropology as a science: scientific Method and problems with it

1. Scientific method

   1. Develop hypothesis

   2. Derive test implications 

   3. Test them

   4. Reject, modify, or fail to reject hypothesis

2. Theory

   1. Set of well supported hypotheses

3. Difficulties with scientific approach

   1. Unconscious desire to validate hypothesis 

   2. Difficulty in avoiding culture-bound hypotheses and tests

   3. To avoid these problems:

      1. Anthropologists immerse themselves in data until inherent patterns become clear

   4. Replication both in sociocultural and anthropology/archaeology

The four fields of Anthropology—What are they? What areas do they emphasize?

1. Physical (biology) anthropology

   1. Focuses on humans as biological organisms

      1. Human growth, adaptation, variation 

      2. Genetics

      3. Paleoanthropology

      4. Primatology 

2. Sociocultural anthropology

   1. Focus on humans as culture-producing creatures

3. Linguistic anthropology

   1. Study of human language

      1. History

      2. Structure

4. Archaeology 

   1. Systematic study of human past

Kinds of Archaeology

1. Prehistoric archaeology

   1. No system of writing

   2. Gets info from excavating 

2. Historic archaeology

   1. System of writing

   2. Study remains left behind

3. Classical archaeology

   1. Mediterranean civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome 

4. Underwater archaeology

   1. Set of techniques used to study human objects found underwater 

   2. Ex. shipwrecks, depressed landscapes

archaeological features

1. Non-portable object modified by human activity

2. Ex. house

What is involved in Systematic Survey?

1. Systematic survey: finding sites

   1. Walking transects

   2. Depends on research goals, logistics

   3. Sometimes its obvious, others its not 

      1. Soil change

      2. Vegetation change

      3. LiDAR - radar waves

What is involved in Systematic Excavation?

1. Recovering context

2. Draw, measure, record, photograph

3. Screen deposits 

4. Spatial control of material

   1. Datum: reference point

   2. Vertical and horizontal control

   3. Careful mapping

Excavation and Destruction

1. Excavation is destruction

   1. What is destroyed?

      1. Context

         1. The relationship in space and time of all remains round in a site

2. datum, spatial control

Where do we get out hypotheses?

1. Ethnographic analogy

   1. Contemporary or historically recorded group

2. Ethnoarchaeology

   1. Observe living people/emphasis on material culture

3. Experimental archaeology

   1. Reproduce ancient materials/perform experiments 

   2. Ex. flintknapping 

reflections of human behavior

Material remains as reflections of the past—what archaeologists study

News from the past: The repatriation of Java Man

• Evolution of homo ergaster/erectus

• Excavated skull flap by dutch man (Dubois)

  • Brought 28000 bones to Europe, now back to Indonesia after 130 years

• First ancestor to leave Africa

The Society for American Archaeology

Revised Principles of Archaeological Ethics approved overwhelmingly
in 2024 (know the definition of each)

Principle 1: Stewardship

1. Involves collaborative management of archaeological record for benefit of all people

Principle 2: Responsibility

1. Research is a privilege, act transparently and honestly

Principle 3: Commercialization

1. Sale or authentication of objects/data for profit should not be practiced by archaeologists

Principle 4: Public education and community engagement

Archaeologists share what they learn with any publics interested or affected by archaeology

Principle 5: Preservation of archaeological record

Collections and documentation generated through archaeological research are part of archaeological record, must be treated with stewardship

Principle 6: Reporting

Must share and publish results in a timely and accessible manner

Principle 7: Training and resources

As a multidisciplinary field, it requires a holistic approach to training, research, and professional conduct

Principle 8: Safe educational and workplace environments

Must create safe and supportive environment in all areas of practice

Principle 9: Diversity and Inclusion

1. Collective responsibility to facilitate accessibly, inclusive, and equitable opportunities and environments

Caltech crew drills holes in sacred Native American petroglyph site

University apologized and offered to pay damages

World’s largest collection of ancient rock art threatened by Australia’s petrochemical
plants

1. Acidic emissions are destroying images, said to get worse from fertilizer/natural gas plants 

2. Gov officials only said to review projects

Archaeologists helped quell a COVID surge in Madagascar

1. George Manahira from Penn State brought PPE to village 

2. Raised $10,000 to distribute further in the area

News from the Past: Hand stencil in Indonesian cave seen as the oldest-known rock art

• Maya calendar may be over 3000 years old

  • Dates back to 1100BCE (formative era)

  • 260 day calendar, 13 numbers, 20 symbols

  • Alignments of stars, features, landmarks

  • Guide agriculture, politics, more

  • Lidar technology revealed new documents 

• The hand stencil found in Liang Metanduno on Muna Island in Indonesia is the oldest known example of rock art in the world and may have been made by people from Asia who later populated Australia.

Space and Time

Building blocks of context and therefore of archaeological record

Human perception of time (Maya example)

1. All people must have been aware of time from earliest hominins on

2. Clear evidence for precise time measurement is a recent occurrence

   1. Maya concepts of time:

      1. Cyclical, not linear

      2. Long count date: 13.0.10.15.11

      3. Tzolk’in and Haab

1. Relative time

1. younger/older than

2. Techniques

   1. Stratigraphy/superpositions

      1. Reading of layers vs way layers accumulate to form stratigraph

      2. Bottom is oldest

   2. seriation??

   3. Cross dating

      1. Dating across stratigraphic layers based on where they occur

   4. Reference of geological events

      1. How things change over time

      2. Ex. glacial deposits

Absolute (or Chronometric) Time

1. Putting value in years, actual dates

2. Dating techniques (count in years)

   1. Historical records and objects of known age

      1. Not before x object

   2. Dendrochronology

      1. Tree ring dating

      2. Area with varied climate, often marginal regions with water/desert

      3. Master signature- sequence of lines, drill oldest tree, work backwards

   3. Thermoluminescence (TL)

      1. Materials heated to high temp, release radiation, impurities trapped in material

      2. Many factors affect accumulation

   4. Potassium-argon dating

      1. Radiometric decay of K-40 to AR-40

      2. 1.25 billion years (4.3 billion to 200,000 years)

      3. Used for very old materials

   5. Radiocarbon dating

      1. Decay of C-14 into nitrogen

      2. Most common

      3. 40k-50k years ago

      4. Present is 1950

      5. Ex. plants, bone shell

      6. Carbon dating techniques:

         1. Counting (less accurate)

         2. AMS (accelerator more accurate)

      7. Basic problems:

         1. Changes in cosmic ray input

         2. Sample quality

         3. Short half-life

   6. radiocarbon calibration??

Archaeological finds recorded in three dimensions of space:

1. Latitude

2. Longitude

3. Altitude

Spatial analysis

1. Spatial analysis

   1. Analysis of spatial patterning of archaeological materials

2. Two basic levels of archaeological space

   1. Between sites

      1. Features around

   2. Within a site

      1. Site maps

3. Associations in space

   1. Similar artifacts at sites of same age in same area likely the products of same culture 

Spatial relations

1. Study of spatial relations leads in two major directions

   1. Descriptions and ordering of finds

   2. Studying specific activities within a settlement

2. Context in space based on associations between artifacts and other nearby evidence of human behavior

   1. Law of stratigraphic association:

      1. Principle that an artifact is a contemporary with the other objects found in same archaeological level

      2. Not same as principle of stratigraphic superposition**

   2. Primary vs secondary context

      1. Primary: originally deposited, single place

      2. Secondary: removed from original position before excavation

Human behavior in the archaeological record

1. Def’n: individual or groups → artifact patterning and associations in the archaeological record

   1. Subassemblage

      1. Part of toolkit that reflects a specific activity carried out by a group

   2. assemblage

      1. Set of sub-assemblages found in same sites or related sites and dating to the same period

human behavior: Archaeological sites classified in several ways

1. By location

2. By types of activities

3. Or combine: activity area

   1. Def’n: Identified from characteristic artifact patternings that reflect set of tasks

   2. Spatially restricted areas where specific activities were carried out

   3. Sites often occupied more than once, each different occupation is a Component

      1. Household unites

         1. In and around a single dwelling

4. Archaeological cultures

   1. Def’n: defined by shared assemblages from a number of sites = human society

   2. Culture area

      1. Geographic region over which the assemblage of a culture are defined in time and space

   3. Settlement patterns

      1. Used to study behavior at level of whole societies

More on Stratigraphy

1. Oldest levels are at bottom

2. Levels become progressively younger as we move up sequence

3. The order of levels can be disturbed

4. Understanding sequence well is the core to understanding what happened in this place in pre-history

News from the Past: A Study reconstructs scents of ancient Pompeii

• An early version of pizza may have been found in 2000 year old painting

  • Discovered in ruins of Pompeii

  • Fresco on wall in home atrium of bakery shows silver tray including pizza

  • 19th century first explored but later excavated in 2023

  • Ancient “smellscape”

    • Showed wealthy homes smelled woody, earthy, hints of citrus

site formation processes

1. Archaeological record undergoes continuous changes

cultural processes (4 forces of c-transforms):

1. What humans do to create and alter archaeological sites

2. 4 primary forces

   1. Deposition

      1. Related to refuse; discard (how materials were deposited/discarded)

   2. Reclamation

      1. Take things from archaeological context and use them again (for similar purpose)

   3. Disturbance

      1. Looted cemetery, Peru

   4. Re-use

      1. An object re-used for something different than its original use

natural processes (2 forces of N-Transforms)

1. Non-human factors that shape archaeological sites (natural)

2. 2 primary forces

   1. Depositional processes

   2. Disturbance

      1. Mechanical processes (land slides, earthquakes, volcanoes)

taphonomy (part of natural processes)

1. A study of how animals and plants become part of the fossil record

2. Bioturbation - results from plants and animals

Preservation

1. Organic remains tend not to survive well in archaeological contexts

2. There are three conditions under which organic remains survive better

   1. Permanently frozen

   2. Permanently waterlogged

   3. Permanently dry

1. Introduction to Pompeii

1. Rome and chronology

   1. 509-27 BC Roman Republic

   2. 27 BC - AD 476 Roman Empire

2. Pompeii

   1. Iron age settlement (pre-roman)

   2. Transformed into formal roman colony in 80 BC

   3. Prosperous commercial and aristocratic city during following century and a half

   4. Archaeological site discovered in 18th century

   5. Remarkable preservation, well-planned

   6. Destroyed by volcano in 79 BC

      1. Rapidly buried by 4-6cm of volcanic ash

      2. Naturally protected from further destruction

Parts of the city: pompeii

1. Forum

   1. All planned cities had fora, plural of forum

   2. Places where commercial, religious, economic, political, legal, and social activities take place

   3. Grand stages for public performance

2.  Amphitheater

   1. Place for public spectacle often put on by government

3. Streets 

   1. They patched potholes with iron

4. Bath houses

   1. Clean, important social gathering places

End of Pompeii

1. Human and other animal casts found in ash

   1. 1150 bodies found, some vaporized, others rotted

   2. Horses caught by Mount Vesuvius eruption found outside Pompeii

2. Survivors from volcano?

   1. Stayed along southern italian coast

3. Transformations

   1. Deposition (C & N)

   2. Re-use (C )

   3. Disturbance ( C & N)

   4. Reclamation (C )

Archaeology of the historic period (for which we have some written record)

1. The time for which we have some written record, no matter how incomplete

2. Could include:

   1. Primary docs

   2. Sumerian civilization of 2700 BC

   3. Time of King Arthur in Britain

   4. Excavation of WWII German POW camp

1. North American Historical Archaeology

1. More restricted meaning related to discovery, exploration and post-contact period

   1. Period of european contact

   2. Expansion of European powers began in late 15th century

1. Distinct from prehistoric archaeology

1. Digs recorded similarly, look the same

2. Difference is use of written records to complement the interpretation of artifacts

3. Less concerned with environmental reconstruction

4. More concerned with multiple technologies reflected

5. Wider group of sub-specialists involved in project with common purpose

   1. Paleobotany (plants/trees)

   2. Entomology (insects)

   3. Paleopathology (age, health at death)

   4. Nuclear chemistry (determining diet by carbon isotope ratios)

   5. Faunal specialists identify domestic animals

   6. Conservators (clean/stabilize artifacts/remains)

Importance of discipline

1. Sheds light on past, leads to new interpretations

2. Colonization

   1. Recent focus on European expansion and native peoples (specifically North America)

3. Archaeological significance in perspective

   1. Lifestyle and tech changes from a generation ago are as extinct as one four centuries old

Maine: unique natural laboratory

1. Sites well preserved

2. 17th century focus

   1. Coastal or along waterways

   2. Fishing, fur, lumbering, agricultural settlements

   3. Sites threatened by coastal erosion and sea level changes 

3. Also threatened by coastal development

   1. St.Castin

      1. Began overgrown orchard

      2. Roads, houses, wharf built

      3. Subdivided and foundation eventually removed

4. Strategic importance to English, French, Dutch

5. Area of penobscot was not Yankee homeland

   1. SW-border of French Acadia for colonial period

6. Secured trade links through Quebec

7. Importance contests of American revolution

8. Many Maine industries await

   1. Study of logging camps

   2. Fishing industry

   3. Slate mining, granite quarrying, lime kilns

   4. Archaeology of tourism

Case Study: Fort Pentagoet

1. One of first catholic churches built

2. Accessible to penobscot bay

3. Multiple occupations

4. in Castine, Maine

1. Material culture

1. Reflects mundane day-to-day activities

   1. Garbage, by-products of living

   2. Remains of past culture

2. Tend to be:

   1. Nails, broken clay pipes, ceramics, copper fragments, food remains, landfill

3. Objective:

   1. Learn about past lifeways

   2. Unselfconscious data

1. History 

1. can be elitist

2. Always incomplete 

   1. Record not specific and didn't record everything

3. Primary sources

   1. First-hand experience, recorded when event occurred

   2. Lack objectivity

      1. Reflect era they’re recorded

      2. Newburyport example

         1. Recorded to be illiterate but found inkwells, slate pencils, etc

      3. Ethnocentric view of indigenous peoples

4. Secondary sources

   1. written after, more interpretation

1. Archaeological data

1. Necessarily incomplete

   1. Differential preservation

   2. Few organics and iron objects

   3. New gen obliterate old gens

   4. Subject to multiple interpretations

2. Primary in a sense

3. Gives far better info on diet from contemporary cookbook

4. 17th century Acadian dress

   1. Different than conventional French frontiersman stereotype

   2. Elegant clothing, dressed like cavaliers → out place as no horses to ride

5. Own biases

6. Non-repeatable experiments

   1. Only dig once

   2. Destructive testing

7. Doesn't always deal with politically important events

   1. Reverse of history’s elitism

News from the Past: Why scientists dug up the father of genetics, Gregor Mendel, and analyzed
his DNA

• 200th birthday 

• Czech republic

• Requested autopsy when he died

• Found 5 bodies instead of 4 in tomb

  • Identified body

  • Genetic variants showed epilepsy and other neurological disorders 

What is Evolution? (development of evolutionary theory)

1. Def’n: change; biological change through time

2. heritable traits carried through genes, variable

3. Occurs at population level

4. Across many generations

5. *Works through the operation of natural selection on variable traits are carried by genes, passed down heredity

Path to natural selection: Carolus Linnaeus 

1. System of classification/basis for taxonomy

2. Binomial system - genus (noun), species (adjective), subspecies

   1. Humans: Homo, sapiens; sapiens

3. Taxonomy

   1. Kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species, subspecies

      1. Ex. wolves: animilia, chordata, mammalia, carnivora, canidae, canis, lupus, familiarias

   2. Australopithecus africana - same family, different species

   3. Homo ergaster - same work man

path to natural selection: Who is John Baptiste Lamarck?

1. First scientist to produce explanation for evolutionary process

2. Notion of acquired characteristics

   1. Now rejected theory

   2. What is Lamarck’s notion of acquired characteristics???

Charles Darwin(alred russel wallace), Evolution, and Natural Selection

1. Both influenced by thomas robert malthus who wrote book on population pressures

2. Realized if a trait gives an advantage, will be passed along

3. Darwin's notion of natural selection

   1. Trust must be inherited not acquired to have importance

   2. Cannot occur without variation in inherited characteristics 

   3. Fitness = reproductive success: a relative measure that will change as the environment changes

   4. Supported by mounting body of evidence, most fundamental unifying force in biological sciences, basic tenets with same from 1859

Features of living systems

1. Variation

   1. Individuals in a population vary from one another

2. Inheritance

   1. Parents pass on their traits to their offspring genetically

3. Selection

   1. Some variants reproduce more than others 

4. Time

   1. Successful variations accumulate over many generations

News from the Past: Human gene linked to bigger brains was born from seemingly useless DNA

• Large complex human brain

• Made rodent brains grow bigger, more human like

• May have role in brain development/cognition in evolution of humans 

1. Natural selection

1. Operates at population level

2. Mechanical change and variation: 

   1. Gregor mendel

      1. Experiments on plant hybridization

         1. Seven pea plant traits

            1. Dominant vs recessive alleles

      2. Heredity

         1. Gene: basic unit of heredity

            1. Stretches of DNA found on chromosomes

            2. single/combo of genes code for different traits

3. Leads to extinction or adaptation

   1. Adaptation never perfect

      1. Limited gene pool

      2. Conditions change rapidly

1. Mendelian traits

1. Combo or single locus in the genome

2. Simple traits in humans:

   1. Detached - dominant or attached - recessive

      1. Ex. earlobes, widows peak, cleft chin

3. Genotype

4. Phenotype

5. From individuals to populations

6. Gene pool

1. Genotype

1. Composition of alleles of an organism

phenotype

1. Observable traits or properties of an organism

2. Alleles may or may not be expressed in the phenotype

from individual to population

1. Individual

   1. Interested in transmission of traits from parents to child

2. Population

   1. Expression of allele frequency and distribution across a population (population genetics

   2. Def’n: group of individuals that breed; sexual reproduction is key

gene pool

1. Evolution defined as heritable change in genotype that becomes effective in the gene pool of a population 

Evolutionary forces and macroevolution (population genetics)

• mutation

• genetic drift: founder effect

• gene flow

1. Mutation

1. Chemical alternation of genetic material

2. Produces new variation (ultimate source)

molecular clock

1. Rate of molecular change, often based on appearance of mutant genes within a species

1. Gene flow

1. Intro of new alleles (movement) from nearby populations through sexual reproduction

2. Spreads beneficial mutations

3. Prevents breeding isolation → speciation by splitting

4. Reduces adverse effects of inbreeding

1. Genetic drift

1. Chance fluctuations in allele frequencies within a particular population

2. Effect increases as population size decreases 

3. Founder effect

   1. A kind of genetic drift

natural selection: species concept

1. May involve nearly imperceptible graduations over many generations, hard to observe

   1. Examples: 

      1. British moths in industrialization (1800s)

      2. insecticides/house flies

2. What is a species?

   1. Biological species concept

      1. Group of organisms that interbreed in nature and are reproductively isolated*

         1. Members of a group do not mate successfully with members outside the group

         2. No gene flow

         3. Key to formation of new species 

         4. Isolating mechanisms:

            1. Geography

            2. Behavior (selective mating)

            3. Anatomical structure

Microevolution and Macroevolution

1. Microevolution

   1. Change in gene/allele frequencies within pop

2. Macroevolution (speciation)

   1. Long term effects of microevolution

   2. Can lead to speciation among isolated populations 

   3. Time and scale is difference from microevolution

1. Hybrids and notion of viable offspring

1. Horse + donkey = mule

2. hybrids can’t have viable offspring

1. Paleospecies (paleo = old)

1. Group of similar fossils whose range of variation does not exceed human variation 

1. Speciation and chance

1. Chance provides genetic variation

2. Natural selection sorts out variation

3. Evolution has no pre-determined goal