mod 6. bio archaeology

Uni dimensional sort

beginnings of symbolic rather than simple motor play (2-4 years). Sorting objects in one dimension, single criteria or rule

Multidimensional sort

organized, logical thought (7-11years),

multiple classification tasks, able to adopt new rules, at least two or multiple criteria

arrangement of archaeological remains

arranging / ordering objects into classes or groups on the basis of shared characteristics (attributes).

Attributes can be any observable trait that can be defined and isolated -> can be grouped into different categories of attributes, usually observable (colour, texture, decoration, alterations)

classification

assignment to class based upon pre defined 'rules', definitive. one or more sets of empirical arrangements designed to order objects based on similarities and differences

group

no particular condition is necessary or sufficient for membership in a group, apart from being assigned to the group, descriptive, what defines the group is what is in the group, thing can only belong to one group.

includes Central tendency (common uses / more than one) and attribute association

taxonomic classification

includes everything that is observable but also must be arranged to either have definitive classifications or ordered groups

Paradigmatic Classification

All attributes contribute equally to the classification, many possible attributes and classes, less efficient for large assemblages. can have two criteria and still end up with four categories

Typology

is a theoretically oriented classification aimed at solving problems, ' what was the function used for'

why categorize?

1. to create order -> classes and sub-classes

2. 2. Summarize characteristics -> classification (sorting classes by shared attributes) and Typologies (problem orientated classification based upon clusters of attributes)

3. 3. define variability

4. 4. explore relationships amongst classes

the significance of types

classification is a working tool, no right classification, attributes = issue being explored (eg food storage patterns)

Industries

classified according to materials used and manufacturing techniques

types of industries

1. subtractive (stone, most organics)

2. 2. Additive (ceramics, textiles)

3. 3. Transformative (metallurgy - taking raw material but modifying it in an extreme way that changes its physical and chemical properties, iron metallurgy and alloid metallurgy )

Lithic technology

earliest tech on the plant made by things non human.

manufacture

how its made

use

how it was used

to separate manufacture and use by

ethnographic observation, experimental archaeology - flintknapping, use wear (use traces on boots)

stone tool assemblages - two groups

two groups -

1. chipped stone tech (using force to extract a portion of original raw material off of itself and making it into smth new)

2. ground stone tech (subtractive tech using friction to shape the tool or in the use of it)

chipped stone tech

materials -> hard, non resilient, homogeneous materials (flint, obsidian, basalt, quartz).

fracture -> uniform, non natural cleavage, force detaches fragment called a flake.

production -> remove flakes to sharpen core (core tools) or using detached flake (flake or blade tools)

direct percussion

hard hammering - (direct percussion, hard hammer technique, hard implant)

or soft hammer like a bone or antler which allows u to be more precise when delivering that force (to refine something that was broken off by hard hammering)

Indirect percussion

punch of bone or wood, softens blow, produce long, thin flakes, highly precise

pressure flaking

to refine the object even further, using a specifically designed instrument and to create flakes (notching), using hard or soft tool.

another method - supported pressure flaking -> dealing with materials that are so dense that you need more pressure than just your hands

upper palaeolithic tools

hafting, locally distinctive industries, attaching multiple tools of different materials together to make the most efficient thing to be made, but using friction to form tools (earliest Australians 60 kya, japan 40 kya, europe and africa 18kya)

the swiss army effect

the integration of organics into lithic technology because bone, antler, ivory wood and easier to shape than stone and create a diversity of tools (weapons, clothes)

lithic classifications

1. conventional (form analysis)

2. 2. current (technology, function )

3. 3. Operation sequences (sequence of steps and stages in transforming matter, knowledge and gestures are culturally grounded, treating it as a series of decisions and how they are made)

early oldowan tool classifications

1. spheroid, chopper and flake.

lilthic classification use wear

blood (distinguish animals),

silica (grain harvesting)

pigments (processign using grinding stones)

Ceramic technology

objects modified or moulded from clay and then fired

. 1. Pottery (sculptures, small tools)

2. Structure (tiles, drain pipes)

3. Refractory (bricks, insulation)

4. Electrical (spark plugs)

5. Abrasives ‘

6. Glass

why study ceramics?

pottery producing cultures are found all over the world, Extreme Durability, Great variety in form and function,

How to categories diff kinds of ceramics

Porosity (how many open spaces within an object that allows air to move)

2. How high a temp that object was fired at (higher temp = changes of chemistry and change of physical attributes and reduces amount of water)

Earliest Ceramic Technology

middle - upper Palaeolithic expression of ourselves in ceramics. Has been around for at least 35,000 years.

Clay was also used as a binder for pigments as a main ingredient for pigments

earliest Ceramic Containers

East Asia (China/korea/japan), SW Asia (neolithic), S. America. all functions are used for rituals

Ceramic Manufacture - 7 steps

at least 7 major steps -

1. Procurement

2. Clay prep

3. shaping

4. Decoration

5. Drying

6. Firing

7. post firing.

1, 3, and 6 are required to be classified as a ceramic

ceramic manufacturing Techniques

1. coil building (rolling out coils and wrapping them around each other)

2. 2. slab building (big chunks of clay and melding them together, storage units)

3. 3. Throwing with a wheel (developed from turn table, rotating something at high speed and holding onto it and shaping it in a direction)

Decoration Techniques

1. cut into wet clay, stab or add to wet clay 2. glazes 3. Polishing or burnishing

Firing strategies

3 groups - least simple to most ->

1. bon firing (no structuring, cant rlly control atmosphere)

2. Pit firing (most straight forward, layering diff types of fuels at diff times, controlled atmosphere and control time)

3. Kiln -> up taking air and controlling air as it gets inside

Ceramic production

us trying to understand who made the pottery and the organization of their labour.

small scale -> replacing things that have broken (domestic replacement).

Large scale -> mass production, specialization, make it for everyone else

development of ceramic technology

Typologies of production.

Household production -> Workshop industry -> Village industry -> Retainers / Corvee.

increases in production intensity and production scale (output)

Ceramic analysis - attributes

groups created based off attributes ->

1. Form attributes (using geometric solids, sphere, cone)

2. Stylistic attributes (form + decoration)

3. technological attributes (function - evidence of traces of use, cooking)

Metallurgy

transformative technology,

process of extracting metal from ores to produce metal artefacts. earliest evidence - SW Asia 9-8kya use of copper.

early metallurgy

exploitation of three hard metals - copper, tin, iron.

lesser extent - silver and gold (harder to get). americas did not have the classic three ages as they were focused on silver and gold to make weapons

metal technology - two techniques

1. Cold hammering 7000BC Annealing - (taking metal, heating it up, shaping it and letting it cool down)

2. 2. Casting 4000 BC Melting and casting in moulds (need lot of temp, melt everything, pour it into a shape and clench it)

Bronze technology

3000 BC Alloy of tin or arsenic and copper, harder metal, sharper edge,

iron technology

1500 BC, meteoric iron used during bronze age, it is the most complicated / sophisticated, hard, heavy and lasts for a long while, if it gets damaged, it can be melted down and recycled into smaller pieces

Analysis of metallurgy - 3 types

1. stylistic analysis

2. 2. reconstruct manufacturing

3. 3. composition and the hardest problem is recycling. the point is to figure out and understand how these things are made

organic artifacts categories

wood, plant, bone, antler, ivory, shell

subtractive industries of organic artifacts

analysis -> biotic resources exploited, interaction spheres. classification -> form with functional overtones. issues -> preervation

bone tools

origins uncertain (at least 1.3 mya). spear points, barbed points, fish hooks, hide and cloth working

wood tools

origins uncertain,

isolated finds (needed watery or very dry conditions),

manufacture inferred indirectly by stone or metal markings

shell artifact

unknown origin but likely early (bloombos), has many forms -> cups, spoons, fish hooks and variety of ornaments and jewelry

feature

non portable artefact; evidence of different kind of technologies that were working in a society.

two types -> constructed features or cumulative features

constructed features

channel use of space, demarcate space for activities, puts up physical boundaries. ex -> temples, tombs, roadways. in the analyis -> want to understand how it was made because to make it requires other technologies, to create inferences about behaviour on construction and use. Internal arrangement, elaboration and orientation of features are often important attributes. ex - teotihuacan, built upon cave system, believed to be entrance to underworld

cumulative features

gradual accumulation of artefacts and ecofacts, common around workshops or middens. can also result from progressive removal of materials, mines or quarries

bio-archaeology

application of biological sciences to archaeological problems.

branches -> 1. zoo-arhcaeology 2. archaeology 3. human skeletal biology

types of residues

1. those produced by humans 2. those introduced by natural process

zoo -archaeology

study of animals in past human societies and past ecosystems, study of animal and human relationships occurring within and ecosystem.

animals are not just food, animal remains also used as building materials.

Animals species are chosen because they are good to think (animals can be good references for things).

two types -> vertebrate (mammals, reptiles, birds, fish) and Invertebrate (snails, insects, parasites)

recovery techniques for zoo archaeology - 4 ways

1. excavation and dry sieving, 2. flotation,

2. 3. preliminary identification

3. 4. radiocarbon dating

archaeobotany (or paleobotany)

study of plant remains in archaeology.

can vary from microscopic plant remains to large wood pieces or complete trees.

aims to reconstruct past ecology, role of humans in selecting and modifying the flora of their environment

recovery techniques of

1. dry sieving 2 flotation 3. small as 300 microns

analysis of archaeobotany - 4 types

1. environment reconstruction

2. 2. plant domestication

3. 3. food residues

4. 4. artefact production (dyes, fibres)

environmental archaeology

Varves, thick sediments in lake beds, dispositional history of local history and plant remains