arch exam 1

archaeology is

· A discipline and a method focused on material remains
Study of human beings at all times in all places (past cultures based on their material remains

Artifacts

Portable human handiwork

Ecofacts

Natural resources used for subsistence, etc

Features

Non-portable human made structures

Sites

Loci of past human activitys

Cultural Landscapes

Association of sites and features across broader regions

"global" networks

flows of goods and resources across large areas

Goals of Archaeology

1. Reconstruct histories of particular past cultures
2. Interpreting symbolic and cognitive aspects of past cultures
3. Explaining changes over time in cultures
4. Preserving the archaeological record
5. Understand patterns in archaeology
*Excavation destroys the in situ archaeological record of a site, but we preserve details by analyzing in detail

European Views before 1750

· Closely tied to Christian theological teachings
· Earth was young (Annales veteris created by James Usher)
· Medieval scholars tried to understand prehistoric period by compiling folklore
· Prehistoric monuments sometimes attributed to people in pseudo-historical chronicles
·

Renaissance shifts

Recognized the ancient world was very different

Enlightenment Paradigm

· Systematic thinking applied to all forms of inquiry: natural law and science
Natural world governed by Laws and Conditions discovered through Rational Inquiry (observation, experiment, analogy)

The Renaissance and the Enlightenment intellectual shifts in Europe resulted in:

1. Emergence of science of nature
2. Material culture as an index of cultural change
3. Establishing the antiquity of mankind
4. Darwinian evolution by natural selection

Applied field geology

· Survey map and land forms
· Map and predict useful deposits
Systematic analysis led to general inferences

Stratigraphy : The law of superposition

· Sterno and Smith
Sedimentary layers are deposited in a time sequence, with the oldest on the bottom and the youngest on the top

Faunal Succession

· The fossils in various strata provide a definite sequence
Same sequence can be found elsewhere (strata can be correlated)

Law of Uniformitarianism

· Charles Lyell
· Deposits can be understood in terms of processes observable today

Linnean Classification

Classification by form

Paleontology

Existence of past now-extinct species became widely accepted among scholars

Gradualism

· Lyell
· Champion of uniformitarianism
· Species did not chance (no concept of evolution yet), only went extinct

Catastrophism

· George Cuvier
· Global scale disasters unknown today wiped our life of earlier worlds
· Our world follows a great flood (diluvium) and humans didn't exist before then
Relatively shallow human history

Antiquarianism

· Roman and pre-Roman
· Material remains document material conditions in the past

European Exploration

"primitive others" and "living fossils"

Law of Association

Artifacts in the same context date to same period

Three age system

Stone age, bronze age, iron age (technological process)

Stratigraphic Excavation

· Jens Worsae
Way to read change

Abbeville, France

• Boucher de Perthes found stone tools in association with extinct Ice Age animal bones
• Claims verified

Brixham Cave, England

· Gathered here to test assumption of association of stone tools with extinct fauna
· Long span of human "pre-history" widely accepted by scholars
CHALLENGE CATASTROPHIC VIEW

Problem With Darwin

Spurred interest in "stone age" to resolve the debate on human antiquity

Cultural Evolution

· Lewis Henry morgan
· Cultural evolution is: savagery to barbarism to civilization
Unilinear evolution (Eurocentric yardstick)

Racism

Unilinear evolution made Europeans more empowered to justify colonialism and genocide and to document "human progress"

Eurocentrism

· A million attempts to connect the Mediterranean and African sites to Europe
· Legitimized colonial rule

Great Zimbabwe

· J Theodore Bent found artifacts similar to household material culture used by Shona people, so he concluded they were from Arabia
· Richard Nicklin Hall wanted to find evidence of white builders and ended up destroying parts of Great Zimbabwe
· Gertrude Caton-Thompson excavated and found pottery and architecture with clear African origins

The Moundbuilders

· Westward expansion began the recording of "Moundbuilder" monuments
· The Moundbuilders were Europeans, Mediterranean populations, but not NAs)
· If they attributed the works to Native Americans, then they were not "improving" the land
If they admitted that the native Americans made them, it would undercut their argument for appropriation of land

Samuel Morton

Studied skulls and found no difference between contemporary deceased Native Americans

Direct Historical Approach

· Work directly back from arch. Site occupied in historical record to understand link to prehistoric period
· Cyrus Thomas
· Bureau of American Ethnology
Requires close link between past and present activities and material culture

Development of Systematic Techniques of Excavation, Classification, and Dating in Europe and in America

- Less emphasis on spectacular discoveries and treasuers of antiquity
- Careful systematic recordings of mundane finds and spatial relationships
- Comparison with living people to understand past
- Used to determine temporal ordering/interpretation
In US: part of 4-field anthro (culture, material culture, language and biology of Native Americans

The Role of Theory

· Theory: set of ideas about the way that the world works
Can be conscious or unconscious

Cultural history vs Evolutionism

· Franz Boas: cultural relativism (no universal standard for comparison)
· Vs historical particularism: each culture is the product of unique historical circumstances

Culture History (1900s to 1960)

Primary Purpose: record sequences of cultures over time and across space
This meant trait lists and culture histories (assumed similar artifacts in different sites is one culture)

Time/Space Systematics

· Organize cultural units within a temporal and spatial framework
Interpreted as migration of people or diffusion of ideas

Methodology

Excavate units within sites (usually small) and compare assemblages

Processual Arch (1960s - Present)

· Objects reflect social and ecological processes
· Culture vs adaptive
· New methodologies: broad sample of materials needed to capture cultural processes
Ethnoarchaeology: use the modern world to understand past

Ethnoarcheology

Allows archaeologist to identify signatures of human behavior using living populations

post- Processual Archaeology (mid 1980s to present)

· Critique of processual arch
· There are multiple truths and scientific approach provides just one answer
· There are multiple people who have a say in what happens to artifacts (acknowledges potential biases and that arch is not the exclusive domain of the archaeologist)

Kennewick Man

· Found a 9000 year old body near the Tri Cities WA
· James Chatters found it
· Contention between 5 native tribes and scientists because of NAGPRA
· Congress didn't consider remains as old as Kennewick in NAGPRA legislation (but remains should have been returned immediately because of treaty between Umatilla and federal government)
· aDNA was analyzed; closely related to modern NA of Pacific NW
· repatriated in 2017; given a proper burial with a bunch of tribes in a secret location

NAGPRA

· Passed in 1990 by the Bush administration
· Requires human remains and other similar objects be repatriated
· Direct lineal descendants and "culturally affiliated" groups can make claims

African Burial Grounds in NY

· 1990: construction hit a bunch of graves
· Ended up being thousands of both free and enslaved Africans that were relegated to area in lower Manhattan for the burial
· Excavations done by General Services Administration
· Local black activism against recovery of burials (and how GSA handled the excavations)
· Archaeoligcal purpose was only to get information about people; little respect for diversity and feelings of African americans
· New research team comprised of POC and new research design:
1. Cultural background and origins of burial population
2. Cultural and biological transformations from African to AA identities
3. Quality of life brought about by enslavement in Americas
4. Modes of resistance to enslavement
Reinterned after a procession carried remains through boroughs

Archaeologist and Descendent Communities

· Must work with descendent communities to ask questions that are meaningful to these communities
· Create true partnerships
Recognize that peoples' worldviews may differ

Regional Survey

· Allow for a full picture of the lives of people
· Two approaches:
1. Total coverage: survey all of a region (generally totally impossible due to time and funding constraints)
Sampling: only survey part of a region

5 factors that inform survey methods

1. Research question
2. Nature of features
3. Formation process
4. Environment
5. Local policies
Funding and time constraints

Tobler's First Law of Geography

· Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things
Spatial autocorrelation

Simple random sample

· Probabilistic and replicable method
· Lessens bias of judgemental sampling based on local information
Treat entire survey area as one zone; choose \# of locations and then use randomization to select locations within the survey area

Stratified Random sample

· Combines replicability of random sampling with use of some judgement based on knowledge of topography and local knowledge
Multiple zones within overall survey area are designated and then random samples of diff densities applied to each zone

Systematic Random Sample (aligned selection)

Divide survey area into smaller areas and pick one square randomly in each

Systematic Random Sample (unaligned selection)

Divide survey area into smaller areas and pick one square randomly in each

pedestrian survey

· Done on foot
· Record visible sites and artifact scatters or surface collections
· When sites and artifacts not clearly visible, sample units: test pits, auguring

Remote Sensing

· Use methods to detect and measure characteristics of an archaeological site from a distance (above)
Can't take images at face value

Aerial imagery

Reveals sites and features that we can't easily detect from the ground

Satellite Imagery

Pictures from space

LiDAR

· Light Detection and Ranging
Pulses from laser hit objects, bounce back to detector

Context

· 3D relationship of material remains to each other
Material remains + context \= archaeological record

Site Survey

· Used to understand the horizontal structure of a site prior to excavation
· Do surface/subsurface collections (shovel test pits and geophysical surveys)
· Sampling procedures are same a regional survey

Surface Testing

Identify visible patterns in material culture across the surface of sites

Subsurface Testing

· Analyze artifact densities (augers/shovel test pits)
Soil chemistry (pH and phosphates)

Geophysical Survey

· Magnetometry: materials below ground can cause small disturbances in magnetic field
· Soil Resistivity: electrical resistance in soil varies; affected by presence of features
o Electrical current passed through the ground at regular points on a grid
· Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR): radar signal sent into ground
Subsurface objects and stratigraphy will cause reflections that are picked up by receiver

Excavation

· Reveals subsurface configuration of arch sites
· Is destructive
Must maintain close spatial control (of location, artifacts, features, etc)

Recovering Artifacts

· Understand artifacts within stratigraphic context
· Record x,y, z coordinates manually with tape or a gps
Screening, flotation, and soil sampling help us find little artifacts

Natural Levels

· Unit excavated according to arch stratigraphy (real deposition units)
Preferred method

Arbitrary Levels

· Used when stratigraphy is invisible
· 5cm, 10cm, 20cm etc
· Allows you to keep control over where your artifacts come from

Synchronic Views

Associations from one point in time

Diachronic View

Associations throughout time

Vertical Pits/Trenches

· Good for a diachronic view
Examine changes through time

Open area/block excavations

· Snapshot of activities at a moment in time
· A block near the surface or deep but ONLY that block

Judgement sampling

Gathering a selection of items for testing based on examiner's professional judgment, expertise, and knowledge to target known or probable areas of risk

Random Sampling

Randomly select sites to disrupt

Combination sampling

Can help reveal structure of a site

Why do we sample in our excavation?

· Ethics: not ethical to upheave the entire site
Time and money: it would take too long to do it all (we have to leave something behind for the future too) and there is not enough money

Time/space systematics

Chronology building: site chronologies, regional chronologies, cultural chronologies (traditions and horizons)

Relative Dating

Places artifacts/contexts in a relative context; older and newer

Absolute dating

Technique which gives you a calendar date; specific point in time

Typology/Typologies

Archs use typologies to sort assemblages into different types

Morphological types

· Abstraction of multiple cases of similar artifacts
Example: kitchen utensils

Temporal Types

· Time-sensitive morphological type
· Artifacts typical of a span of time
Example: American house architectural styles

Index fossils

· Species that is typical of a span of time
· Temporal type
Presence in geological layers can be used to date the layer

Cross Dating

Correlating geological layers using index fossils

Traditions vs Horizons

· Traditions: artifact assemblages that are enduring over time
· Horizons: artifact assemblages that are brief in time but spread quickly over large areas

Nels Nelson and the American Southwest

· Pueblo San Cristobal
· Stratigraphic excavation with arbitrary levels (found a lot of ceramics)
· Divided pottery into 5 types based on morphological features
Some formed a temporal sequence

Kidder's SW Cultural Sequence

· Refined Nelson's ceramic sequence
Cross dated his sites with Nelson's

What methods can we use for dating if we don't have clear stratigraphy?

· Seriation
Relative dating

Seriation

· Seeks to order artifacts in a series in which adjacent members are more similar to teach other than to members further away in the series
Based on idea that index fossils change in popularity over time

Stylistic Seriation

Orders artifacts and attributes according to similarity in style

Frequency Seriation

· Determining a sequence of sites or deposits by studying the relative frequencies of certain artifact types that they contain
· Popularity of given artifact peaks at a specific time
· Frequencies form lens shaped curves (battleship curves)
· Long, thin curves \= slow gradual change
· Short, fat curves \= swift change fads

Sir Flinders Petrie

· Excavated tombs in Egypt that were not built stratigraphically
· Used the Law of Association to invent stylistic seriation to order the tombs in time

Why do artifacts change in from and frequency?

· We can use relative dating to understand this
· Motif changes could be linked to ideological shifts

New England Gravestones

· Deetz and Dethlefson
· Looked at stylistic change in colonial grave markers
· 3 motifs: death's hand, cherub, willow and urn
· Motif changes linked to ideological shifts

What are some problems with relative dating?

· Which end is "up"?
· How long a time span are we talking about?
· How do events in one area relate chronologically to events in another area?

abolute dating

· Finding a specific point in time to date an object or artifact
· Historically derived dates (historical sequences and regional chronologies)
· Tree-ring dating (dendrochronology)
· Radiometric dating (radiocarbon or thermoluminescence) uses C-14

BP vs BCE vs CE

· BP \= years before present
· BCE \= before current era (uses christ's birth as a dividing point)
· CE \= current/common era (used to be common era)

Dated Historical Artifacts

· Some artifacts actually have dates on them and can be converted into our calendar
· Roman coin, English wine bottle, Chinese porcelains with dynasty recorded

Terminus Pos Quem

The date after which a layer must have been deposited