Archeology

What is archeology

What is archeology

Study of human remains through material remains

2 branches of archeology

Historical archeology, prehistoric archeology

Why study archeology

Past cultures

Past ways of life

People and environment (how we shaped it and it shaped us)

Origins of species and institutions (ex when did gender roles or cities start)

How has society changed over time

Forgotten people

Elements of archeology

Methodology

Material remains

Interpretation

The human past

Anthropological questions

Ancient turning points

Emergence of human behavior

Development of agriculture

rise of inequalities, cities, and states

Artifact

A portable object use made by or altered by humans

Features

Non portable features made by or altered by humans

Ecofacts

plants, animals, sediments, etc. that result from human activity

Human remains

Remains of a human left behind not an ecofact

Site

Cluster of artifacts, features, ecofacts, or human remains where humans were gathered

Region

Group of sits in their environmental setting

Context

Where remains are found and what they are associated with

Taphonomy

The process of site formation

Cultural process

The formation of sites done by humans

What are the cultural processes

Acquisition

Manufacturing

Use/consumption

Deposition

Stratigraphy

Deposition over time

Midden

Trash deposition left behind by humans

Natural transformation after deposition

Natural processes destroy sites

Analogy

The unknown function of something is inferred from know based

Unilinear evolution

Human processes observed in one setting may have happened somewhere else

Specific anlogy

Compared to a better-known time period in the same cultural tradition

General analogy

Broad comparison across cultural traditions

Ethnography

Archeologist interpretation of what people where doing

Ethnohistory

Writings about a culture that usually hold some sort of bias

Ethnoarchaeology

Archeologist documenting the material culture of living people

Experimental archeology

Controlled replication of artifacts or activities

Speculative phase

A period when people started to become interested in past artifacts. It was more about how cool the objects were and not their context

Thomas Jefferson

First scientific excavation done where he correctly identified the purpose of a mound

What year was the beginning of archeology

1850

Who created the three age system

Christian Thomsen

Three ages

Stone age, bronze age, Iron age

What improved during the beginning of archeology era

Better excavation and record-keeping

Sir Charles Lyell

Wrote principles of geology and established Uniformitarianism

Uniformitarianism

The process that shaped the earth are the same as today (erosion) proved the earth is really old

Charles Darwin

Proposed that humans may have evolved from apes so we were able to recognize neanderthals and such as pre-humans

Lewis Henry Morgan

Proposed unilinear evolution

Unilinear evolution

All societies pass through the same stages of development

Lewis Henry Morgans proposed stages of Unilinear evolution

Savagery, barbarianism civilization

Culture historical years

1920-60

Franz boas

Proposed Cultural relativism

Cultural relativism

No universal standard for judging human progress and each culture is a product of its own historical circumstances

Functionalism

Culture is designed to fulfill important functions and meet human needs

Cultural ecology

Field walking

Identity sites by walking around

Limitations of field walking

Not visible ground, do not have permission to walk, rough terrain

Shovel testing

Identifying sites with bad surface visibility but digging small holes

Remote sensing

Identifying sites by air

Surface collection

Looking for artifacts and collecting them on surface

Mapping

Mapping any sites found

Subsurface sampling

Minimally invasive ways to see under the surface

Geological methods

Radar, soil resistance, magnetometry to see whats underground

Excavation

Digging fueled by research question takes a lot of time and resources

Test excavation

Digging a small hole to see whats going on

Why do they dig in squares

So they can keep track of distance everything is from one another

Flogtation

Passing dirt through water to separate any artifacts

Screening

Finding the little stuff in the dirt

Judgement sampling

Seek out data directly related to your research question

Random sampling

Seek out data that is representative of the population

Seriation

Dating something based on its style of when it occurred more frequently

Radio potassium dating

dates rocks based on how much k-ar 2 billion to 200,000 years ago

Radio carbon dating

Dates organic material based on how much c-14 decayed to c-12 40,00-300 years ago

dendrochronology

Dating something based on when the wood used to date it was cut down

Australopithecine

Apes that were bipedal about 4-1 mya

Early homo

2.75-1.6 mya were the first tool makers

Oldowan tools

First tools used by early homo were extremely primitive and just were stones

Oldovai gorge

1.8 mya In Tanzania has bones left by humans that showed cut marks likely done by humans batching animals

Homo erectus

First humans to have human proportions. They had shorter arms, longer legs to the torso, and wider hips for larger heads. Meat eaters. Likely the first to leave Africa. Likely had fire.

acheulean tools

Hand axes used by homo eretus

Ologesaile

Kenya, lots of hand axes and bones

Neanderthals

Europe, big game hunters used natural rock shelters, buried their dead, cared for old sick members of groups, used Mousterian tools

Mousterian tools

Used by neanderthals and where more complex, they typically stones attached to sticks used to hunt big game

Anatomically modern homo sapiens

In Africa by at least 300 kya middle east as early as 100 kya. Exhibited early signs of behavioral complexity.

Behavioral complexity of anatomically modern homo sapiens

Wide range of prey, used water resources, dog domestication, built shelters, made clothing, water crafts, music, art, possibly religion.

Pleistocene

Ice age to 10,000 BC where the earth was cold

Holocene

After 9,000 BC when the earth was getting warmer

Mesolithic

Eurasia/Africa during Holocene 9,000-3,500 BC

Archaic

Americas in holocene 8000-1,500 BC

Upper Paleolithic

Eurasia/Africa in the Pleistocene

paleoindian

Americas in Pleistocene

Dolni Vestonich

Czech Republic, Paleolithic period. Salt licks near the site to attract animals. A large number of mammoth bones and a few plant fragments. About 5 larger dwellings complex ritual life.

Complex rituals at Dolni Vestonich

Figures, engravings, baskets, mystery triple burial

Cave sites of Spain and France

A lot of cave paintings that likely were shows shown under torch light.

Peopling of Australia

There was a water gap so they must have made boats to get from Asia and Australia.

Lake Mungo

Australia 38-24,000 BC. Had mungo man and woman, the first evidence of cremation. Evidence they used water resources

Paleodians

People of the Americas in the late Pleistocene

People of the Americas

They walked across the land bridge from Asia to Alaska and then likely took boats down to the west coast of Canada. To America.

Why do we think they took boats

They found Clovis culture that predated when people would have been able to walk through Canada

Monte Verde

Chile 12,000 BC widespread clovis culture

Clovis Culture

Sharp points that were used for killing big game

Peopling of the pacific

Took boats to find tiny islands in the pacific. Boats carried lots of people for weeks, Expert knowledge of the stars

Megafauna extinction

Due to overhunting and climate change

Mesolithic/Archaic adaptations

People exploited smaller areas more intensely, diverse resource bases, processing and storage of specific local resources.

Mesolithic/Archaic tools

Fish hooks and traps, bows, mortars, blades, microliths.

Mesolithic/Archaic lifeway

Cemeteries and evidence of violence

Carrier mills

Illinois 4000-3000 BC Fish hooks, grinders, jewelry for males

Ice cores

Used to study past environment shows atmospheric composition in the past

Tree ring series

Used to study past environment shows droughts

Who left Africa

Homo Sapiens

Formative period

When humans in the Americas started to form more permanent settlements

Multiple independent origins of agriculture

Agriculture arose in various different parts throughout the world despite having no contact with one another