Midterm Questions

Sample midterm questions discussed in class

What is archaeology?

Study of past human societies and changes through the material record

What is cultural anthropology?

Study of non-physical human characteristics in societies

What is physical anthropology?

Study of biological characteristics and what they reveal about societies

How do cultural and physical anthropology overlap with archaeology?

• methodology

• information can be used to understand similar societies of the past

What is the difference between ancient history and archaeology?

• ancient history is the study of the written record beginning in ~3000 B.C.

  • deals more with specifics

• archaeology studies the entirety of human history

In what ways do archaeologists and ancient historians cooperate?

• history no longer just written record → use of archaeological techniques/evidence

• history can provide context for archaeological evidence

In what way does archaeology overlap with the natural sciences?

• methodology → rise of scientific methods of dating, excavation/field work

• e.g. C¹⁴ dating, analysis of residue in pottery

Why does archaeology always have an anomalous position within academia?

• doesn’t fall into just one discipline → can’t be entirely categorised within sciences or humanities

• can cover large amounts of time

What are the 4 phases in the history of archaeology?

• Speculative Phase → before c. 1850

• Beginnings of Modern Archaeology → c. 1850-1900

• Classificatory-Historical period → 1900-1960

• New Archaeology/Post-Processual Archaeology → 1960-

Why did archaeology only emerge in the 19th century?

• deductive methods integral to basis of archaeology don’t emerge until ~1850

• systematic study through material aspects gradually emerges

• e.g. Thomas Jefferson excavating mound in Virginia challenging that the structures could not have been built by Indigenous societies

What three major developments in research triggered the birth of modern archaeology?

• antiquity of humankind → past biblical thought of only existing for a few thousand years

• C. J. Thomsen’s Three Age System → Stone, Bronze, and Iron created to classify finds in his collection

• Darwin’s theory of evolution → shaped archaeology (typology), political thought (Marx) and anthropology (E. B. Tylor and evolution of civilisation)

In what sense was the decipherment of hieroglyphics important for the understanding of ancient Egypt?

• deciphered by Jean-Francois Champollion in 1822

• allows using textual resources → emergence of Egyptology

• previous analysis had been largely fantastical; based on little evidence

• similar techniques applied to decipher cuneiform in 1850s

Why is Heinrich Schliemann less important for archaeology than General Pitt Rivers?

Schliemann:

• poor/imprecise excavation techniques

• reliance on Homer rather than research

• misidentification of artefacts → Mask of Agamemnon and Treasure of Priam

Pitt-Rivers:

• good precedent for technique

• total recording → idea of observing and recording entire context; still practiced

What three achievements were made by Sir Arthur Evans in his excavations at Knossos?

• identified Minoan civilisation at Crete → c. 3100-1450 B.C.

• discovery of Linear A and B texts → Linear A (Minoan) undeciphered; Linear B (early Greek) deciphered in 1952 by Michael Ventris et al.

• ‘restoration’ of Minoan palace → frowned upon now due to falsifying evidence and obscuring actual record

In what way was Sir Arthur Evans similar to Heinrich Schliemann when interpreting material remains?

• naming/contextualising much of work with Homer

• more interested in own interpretations than reality → restoration of palace

When and by whom was the tomb of Tutankhamun discovered?

• expedition led by Howard Carter, funded by Lord Carnarvon (V)

• discovered 1922 in Valley of Kings; cut into by tombs of Ramesses V and VI

• actually found by worker Hussein Adel Rasoul

Why was the tomb of Tutankhamun discovered later than other tombs in the Valley of the Kings?

• Tutankhamun not significant Pharaoh → tomb cut into by others for Ramesses V and VI

• largely intact due to being hidden and difficult to access

• added difficulty with deposits of debris from flash flooding

Who is the prehistorian who transformed archaeology in the early 20th century?

Gordon Childe:

• use of Marxist archaeology

• linking specific groups of people to assemblages

• argument against diffusionitive development in Europe → gradual Indigenous development rather than complete adaptation of outside developments

• addressed nature of change → Neolithic Revolution

What 3 achievements were made in archaeology after WWII?

• ecological approach → examining surrounding landscape with specialists looking specifically at environment of sites

• Libby’s invention of C¹⁴ dating in 1949

• larger scientific development and dating methods → trace element analysis; invention of computer aiding data analysis

In what 2 ways were some archaeologists dissatisfied with the discipline in the 50s and 60s?

• disdain for vagueness and ‘counterfeit’ history of traditional archaeology

• little analysis of cultural processes → C¹⁴ and other dating methods allow focus on complex questions

In what 7 ways did New Archaeology disagree with traditional archaeological theory/practice?

• explanation vs. description → answering complex questions

• cultural process vs. cultural history → less based on historical explanation

• deductive vs. inductive → use of model/hypothesis

• testing vs. authority → need for evidence over personal conclusions

• project design vs. data accumulation → starting with research question and aim

• quantitative vs. qualitative → data sampling, significance tests

• optimism vs. pessimism → any question can be answered with enough research

Who was the big name in New Archaeology?

Lewis Binford → New Perspectives in Archaeology, 1968

In what 3 ways did New Archaeology transform the conduction of fieldwork?

• project design → well-defined research objective with specific questions

• ecological approach → study of entirety of site and surrounding environment

• general development of new techniques → surveys/selective excavations, advanced sampling/recording of finds, GIS

What is post-processional archaeology?

• not specific school of thought → theories/interpretations since New Archaeology

• no objective truth/interpretation

• more emphasis on human side of story

• context-specific approaches

• pessimistic → not every question has an exact answer in record

What are the 3 basic categories of archaeological finds?

• artefacts → portable objects used, modified, or made by people

  • tools, pottery, metal weapons, jewellery

• features → non-portable objects/humanly modified parts of a site

  • hearths, postholes, storage pits, ditches

• ecofacts → non-artefactual organic and environmental remains

  • skeletons, animal bones, plant remains

What is an archaeological site vs. a region?

• site → place where finds can be found or where significant traces of human activity are present

• region → connected group of sites

To what 3 elements do we look to establish the archaeological context of a find?

• matrix → immediate surrounding context, including materials, soils, and sediments

• provenience → horizontal and vertical position of find within matrix

• other finds → surrounding finds or parts of same find nearby the original

What is the difference between a primary and secondary context?

• primary context → original context that has been undisturbed

• secondary context → context disturbed by humans/nature recently or in the past

  • discovery of modern objects such as cans or cigarettes

What are cultural formation processes and their 3 categories?

Processes from deliberate or accidental activities of human beings

• original human behaviour → tools, buildings

• deliberate burial → hoard/burial of dead

• human destruction of archaeological record → ploughing

What are natural formation processes?

Natural events that govern burial and survival or archaeological record

• inorganic materials → stone, clay, metals

• organic materials → animals, skeletons

In which 4 exceptional natural circumstances can organic finds be preserved?

• extreme dry conditions → starting in 1896 Oxyrhynchus papyri

• extreme wet conditions → 1865 gold coins found in shipwreck

• extreme cold conditions → 1991 Ötzi the Iceman

• natural disaster → eruption of Vesuvius

• other → 1940 Caves of Lascaux

What are the 4 steps of archaeological project design?

• formulation of strategy

• collecting and recording of evidence

• processing and analysis of data

• publication

What are 5 ways of discovering a site?

Ground reconnaissance:

• historical sources → place names (chester from castra), biblical archaeology, Schliemann using Homer

• salvage/rescue archaeology → brief access to sites under modern cities; Aswan in Egypt

• reconnaissance survey → finding sites based on landscape; Valley of Almiros-Sourpi at Halos

Aerial reconnaissance:

• aerial photography → oblique (overview of features); vertical (whole landscapes/patterns of change); require interpretation/correction

• high altitude remote sensing → records visible wavelengths from large distance, usually space; satellite images taken of Aswan

What are the 5 elements of modern archaeological survey?

• records prominent and less prominent features in landscape

• records human and natural remains

• looks at sites and environment/landscape

• landscape archaeology → distribution of sites within a region and looking for settlement patterns

• separate project rather than pre-stage of excavation → still combined for better understanding of regions

What are the 5 advantages of surveys over excavations?

• cheaper

• quicker

• relatively non-destructive (no digging)

• less tools/physical labour required

• gives broad overview over long period of time in a region/large area

Explain the following sentence:
‘Excavations tell us a lot about a little of a site, and can only be done once, whereas survey tells us a little about a lot of sites, and can be repeated’

• ideal → combination of survey and excavation to know about a variety of sites as well as each one in detail

What is a systematic survey?

Survey conducted with a specific plan and aim → unsystematic are considered archaic and outdated

What are intensive and extensive surveys?

• intensive → walking at close (~5m) intervals to get more detailed knowledge of small area

• extensive → walking at 10-15m intervals and recording finds over larger distances

• data can be combined from different regions to study large-scale developments

What are 3 examples of methods for recording and mapping sites?

• recording it → ie. just writing it down

• topographic and planimetric maps

• GIS

What are 3 examples of methods for assessing the layout of a site?

• site surface survey

• probing → probing soil with rods or augers and noting positions that strike solids or hollows; depth of midden at Ozette site, Washington

• ground-based remote sensing → non-destructive geophysical sensing methods

What is the difference between a reconnaissance survey and a site surface survey?

Reconnaissance surveys are generally to establish the location of a site whereas a site surface survey is conducted at a pre-established site to gather context

What is the difference between planimetric and topographic maps?

• planimetric → indicate important features

• topographic → use contour lines to show landscape

• maps can be both planimetric and topographic

State the following for the Groningen University surveys of New Halos:
Were the surveys systematic or unsystematic?
Were the surveys intensive or extensive?
How was the field work organised?

• systematic

• extensive

• individuals walked lines 10-15m apart, with one carrying a stick that is raised to signal when a find has been made and needs recording

What were the 2 aims of the Wroxeter Hinterland Project?

• develop different aspects of regional archaeology using only GIS and remote sensing

• study the nature of Romanisation/rural relationships during the Iron Age

What were the 7 techniques used in the Wroxeter Hinterland Project?

• magnetometry

• resistivity

• electrical imaging

• seismic scanning

• ground probing radar

• airborne hyper- and multi-spectral scanning

• satellite imaging

Of the techniques used in the Wroxeter Hinterland Project, which were cases of high altitude remote sensing?

• airborne hyper- and multi-spectral scanning → phenomena detected in visual and infrared wavelengths

• satellite imaging

Of the techniques used in the Wroxeter Hinterland Project, which were cases of ground-based remote sensing, and were they active or passive?

• magnetometry → measures distortions in magnetic field caused by buried features; passive

• resistivity → water in soil pores conducts electricity differently than finds; active

• electrical imaging → active

• seismic scanning → acoustic response of lithics through echo-sounding; active

• ground probing radar → sends radio waves through soil to produce map of buried remains; active

What is a GIS?

Geographical information system → map-based interface or database for collection, storage, retrieval, analysis, and display of spatial data

In what 4 ways was GIS of use in the Wroxeter Hinterland Project?

• viewing data from different sources as one set of layered maps

• analysing and interpreting data on the basis of non-destructive techniques

• making models for the landscape

• spatial analysis

What is stratigraphy?

• analysis in the vertical time dimension of a series of layers in the horizontal space dimension

• vertical is sequence of time and horizontal is contemporaneous human activities

• study and validation of stratification (the layers of soil)

• based on Law of Superposition → when one layer overlies another, the lower was deposited first

What are 3 excavation techniques?

• Wheeler box-grid → squares of a grid separated by intact balks of earth for correlation with vertical time direction

• Open-area excavation → opening up of large areas with vertical section made only when needed for stratigraphy

• Step trenching → large area open at top, gradually narrows and descends in series of large steps

What excavation technique was used to assess the site of Uffington Castle?

Magnetometric survey → measures magnetic fields to locate finds; ground-based remote sensing method

What is the Harris Matrix?

• diagram using uniquely numbered boxes and lines to relate them

• represents stratigraphic relationship of the contexts

• lower boxes are earlier than higher ones; boxes on the same level are contemporaneous

What are the main 3 ways in which we usually pinpoint time?

• B.C. (before Christ)/A.D. (anno domini) → either counting down or up from 1 A.D., the birth of Christ

• B.C.E. (before common era)/C.E. (common era) → still based on B.C./A.D., but uses labels with less religious connotation

• B.P. (before present, i.e. 1950) → usually used in science; 1950 used as a reference point because of spikes in background radiation from nuclear testing

What are 4 methods for relative dating and in what period were they developed?

Beginnings of Archaeology (c.1850-1900)/Classificatory-Historical period (1900-1960):

• stratigraphy

• typology → based on principle ‘like goes with like’, often used for pot sherds

• seriation → based on same principle as typology, but looks at assemblages (e.g. groups of pots/tools)

  • contextual seriation → arranges artefacts according to duration, e.g. Flinders Petrie organising graves through pottery found within

  • frequency seriation → measures changes in proportional abundance of a style, idea of battleship curve on graph

New Archaeology (1960-):

• pollen dating → sequences in pollen to fit samples into existing record and determine detailed dates

What is the difference between relative and absolute dating and why does relative dating need absolute dating?

• relative dating → only orders finds in relation to one another and lacks context outside that of the materials ordered

• absolute dating → dates finds to a specific time, either a range or single date

• need to be paired in order to establish context for understanding significance of finds and patterns

• coat and hanger analogy → need something with which to anchor

What are the 3 disadvantages of using historical texts for absolute dating?

• may be incomplete or inaccurate → re-dating of Greek colonisation replacing traditional dates given by Thucydides

• must link to our own system (Gregorian calendar) → Egyption chronologies based on lunar system and must be translated to ours

• individual artefacts need to be related → may not be referenced

What do terminus ante quem and teminus post quem mean?

• terminus ante quem → date before which, e.g. Greek pottery found in Egyptian tombs must date before the tomb

• terminus post quem → date after which, e.g. coin minted under Augustus found in Greece must be used after A.D. 14 (or mint date)

What 3 principles make C¹⁴ dating useful for absolute dating?

• proportion of radiocarbon in atmosphere is generally stable because of cosmic radiation

• goes into all living organisms

• after organisms die, radiocarbon decreases in a proportioned way (half life 5730 years)

ergo: measurements of the proportion of C¹⁴ in organic remains can be used to calculate an exact date

What are the 2 advantages and 3 disadvantages for C¹⁴ dating?

advantages:

• applies worldwide

• covers last 50,000 years

• due to Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) small samples can be used (in mg)

disadvantages:

• sample contamination → errors before, during, or after sampling; sample could have different date from context (if reused)

• mistakes in laboratories

• cosmic radiation less stable than Libby predicted → dates problematic/need calibration before 1000 B.C. and after A.D. 1950

  • use standard deviation and confidence

What 4 principles make dendrochronology good for absolute dating?

• trees get new rings with every cycle of seasons, typically yearly

• rings become narrower as tree gets older

• growth of the tree and rings depends on climatic change

• similar trees in same area produce similar patterns

ergo: graphing thickness between rings and overlapping with existing sequences (going from present back) can give date within a year

What are the 2 advantages and 3 disadvantages of dendrochronology?

advantages:

• covers last 8000 years

• very detailed (can date to a year)

• can calibrate radiocarbon dates

disadvantages:

• not applicable in tropics due to less seasonal variation

• only works for wood used in the past

• wood must have an existing regional sequence from present day backwards

• sapwood (outermost rings) must remain

• only gives felling date of tree → could be older than context if reused or younger if replaced

What is TL dating?

• dates crystalline materials that have been fired → pottery, baked clay

• when objects are fired, their electron traps are set to zero

• energy then accumulates constantly from environmental radiation

• reheating the objects and measuring the TL released can calculate when it was fired

What are the 2 advantages and 1 disadvantage of TL dating?

advantages:

• dates inorganic remains

• goes beyond 50,000 years in the past

disadvantage:

• far less reliable → background radiation for materials varies; dates rarely have precision above ±10%

What 4 dating methods have produced dates for the eruption on the island of Thera?

• typology of pottery sherds → 1520 B.C.

• dendrochronology → 1628-1626 B.C.

• acidity peaks of ice cores in Greenland → 1645-1390 B.C.

• radiocarbon dating of olive tree → 1627-1600 B.C., 94.5% accuracy

ergo: fall of Minoans cannot definitively be linked to eruption on Thera and debate continues on when the eruption occurred

What 4 implications do new scientific methods have for the chronology of Iron Age Italy?

• Greek pottery previously dated based on Thucydides must be re-dated by absolute methods

• traditional conception of Greek colonisation as sudden is refuted → started earlier and ended later than thought, from 4th C to 8th C

• Iron Age starts earlier than thought and changes occurred more gradually

• Dark Ages are transitional period between Bronze and Iron Ages

What is Magna Graecia?

• Greater Greece → the colonies

• specifically southern Italy, including Neapolis, Syracuse, and Agrigentum

What has changed in the analysis of grave fields since the 1960s?

• scientific dating allows analysis of graves beyond just for chronology

• processual questions and analysis of social factors

What 6 indicators are there for analysing grave fields?

general indicators:

• relation of grave field with the surroundings

• dispersion of graves within the field

individual indicators:

• grave form, e.g. fossa or pozzi

• rites

• skeletal remains

• artefacts

To what culture does Quattro Fontanilli belong to and to when does it date?

Villanovan civilisation → 900-675 B.C., the graves dating to between the 9th and 8th centuries

What does the analysis of 100 graves from Quattro Fontanilli say, in general, about the society to which the buried belonged?

• smaller wealth gap than seen with Romans

• patriarchal structure → women’s graves more contemporary and adorned than men’s

• shift away from cremation to inhumation → more fossa graves than pozzi

About which 3 social factors do the indicators of Quattro Fontanilli say something?

• gender

  • 5 (skeletal remains) → children buried with mothers

  • 6 (artefacts) → women/children burials more common, more elaborate

• status

  • 2 (dispersal) → no clustering, though some rich graves are free-lying

  • 3 (shape of grave) → larger meaning more affluent

  • 6 (artefacts) → more valuable

• rites

  • 4 (rites) → more fossa means more inhumation; evidence of cremations occuring on graves

What change in ritual practices can be observed in the period of Quattro Fontanilli?

• moving away from cremation, favouring inhumation

• 75% of graves fossa

Why is the shift in ritual practice more observable in women’s graves at Quattro Fontanilli?

• patriarchal society → men likely displayed wealth through what they provided for wives

• women’s graves more contemporary (fossa) and have more valuable artefacts