Archaeology Exam 1: Key Sites

Tenochtitlan

• Located in Central Mexico, Tenochtitlan was a capital city of the Aztec Empire

Gatecliff shelter

• gatecliff is located in Nevada

• Its stratigraphic profile is 40 feet and covers more than 7000 years. There was also a wide collection of artifacts found at Gatecliff— namely projectile points— that aided in the dating of the site by using the typology of the projectile points and where they were found in the strata

Stonehenge

• Salisbury Plain, England

• Stonehenge consists of stone post-and-lintel structures and monoliths arranged in a circular. However, using geophysical survey methods, at least 70 other unidentified monuments were found underground. Using this information, archaeologists were able to determine that Stonehenge was possibly used for astronomical purposes

Carson Desert

• located in Nevada, Carson Desert has sites that date back from the Late Pleistocene to the Holocene periods. Sites were identified using various stratigraphic methods, large-scale systematic surveys, and radiocarbon dating

Santa Catalina de Guale

• on the coats of Georgia in the U.S. a Spanish mission site was discovered through various historical documents and systematic surveys

Folsom

• A site located in northeastern Mexico that contained bison bones and spear points. However, the site was washed away during flooding and heavy rains so when the site was professionally excavated, the context of these artifacts were unknown. Context as well as provenience is important as it provides insight towards an artifacts relationship to the site, other artifacts, features, and geological strata.

Chaco Canyon

Located in northwestern New Mexico and was the center of a vast social and political network that dates back to 950-850ya. Throughout the area, big and small Pueblo sites were present. This site was discovered through different types of archaeological methods of discovery such as surface surveys and a road system by remote sensing.

Nazca Lines

• Located in Peru

• The Nazca lines are gigantic soil-etchings depicting animal-like figures and other shapes. The entirety of the site was captured using non-invasive methods such as aerial photography, remote sensing, and mapping.

Piltdown

• Sussex England

• Site of an “early human fossil” that later turned out to be a hoax. By using Radiometric dating, the skull was proved to be fake.

Cahokia

• Illinois

• Mississippian urban center with earthen mounds and “wood henge”

• North America’s first urban complex that showed evidence of social hierarchy, trade and early agriculture

• Similar to stone henge in structure (circular) and function (calendar)— formal vs. relational analogy

Ozette

• Washington State

• Village buried by a mudslide and later exposed by a storm

• To preserve the site since it was mostly waterlogged, the archaeologists who discovered the site used methods such as water-screening to maintain the integrity of the site. The site was important in that it contained preserved wood, which is rare unless waterlogged.

Hudson-Ming

• A massive kill site with hundreds of bison remains located in Nebraska. To determine how many bison were actually at the site archaeologists use NISP and MNI guidelines as well as taphonomy and skeletal patterns. From these they were able to infer subsistence strategies, and put a number— around 500— to the amount of bison skeletons found at the site.

Laetoli

• In Tanzania, Africa, footprints were found that date back to 3.5 Mya. And were likely made by Australopithecus afarensis.

Cagney-l’Epinette

A site in northern France where archaeologists found stone tools from the Lower Paleolithic age and fragmented animal bones.

San Cristobal

Large Pueblo site in New Mexico known for its extensive surface remains.

Poverty Point

• Louisiana

• A vast network of mounds and architecture that served as a settlement, trading center, and speculated ceremonial complex, built by hunter gatherers

Olduvai Gorge

• Tanzania Africa

• Canyon with extensive evidence or early human life and early use.

Meadowcroft Rockshelter

• Pennsylvania

• Many stratigraphic layers— 70 associated radiocarbon dates

• A very dry site that had little to no movement

• And supports the overland theory— early humans migrated into North America on foot.