ANTH 100 Archaeology of Non-States

Around what the warming of the begin?

12,000 BC

What isolated the Americas from the rest of the world until 1492?

rising global sea levels

What was a consequence from the Old World and New World being isolated from each other?

deadly diseases developed

When were the Clovis in North America?

approximately 11-9,000 BC

What was the earliest recognized culture in North America?

Clovis culture

What did the Clovis people use to hunt?

fluted Clovis spear points

How long have many Clovis sites have been known?

over 100 years

Where does Clovis cultre place the arrival of the first Americans?

12,000 BC to 11,000 BC (around the time the ice age was ending)

What does the question, “Clovis first or pre-Clovis first?” mean?

Were there human migrations before 12,000 BC?

Which site is the oldest, located near the southern end of South America, and has evidence of people around 12,000 BC?

Monte Verde in Chile

How old were the footprints found at White Sands, New Mexico?

about 23,000 BC

What was also found around the footprints at the White Sands, New Mexico site?

Carbon-14 dated seeds

What were the three major languages of indigenous peoples that suggest at least three separate migration waves?

• Amerind (South, Central, and North America)

• Na-Dene (Southwest U.S. Navajo and Apache)

• Athapaskan (Northwest U.S., Canada, Alaska)

What about each of the three major languages of the indigenous supports the land bridge theory?

Each language group is closely related to Asian languages

The language theory strongly suggests that the first Americans arrived at…

30,000 BC

What was a disease(s) that Europeans brought that swept through the American population?

smallpox and measles

About what percentage of the American population died In the first century after contact?

about 90%

What is an uncentralized (egalitarian) political system?

aspects of society are equally distributed across society, ex. bands and tribes

What is a centralized (non-egalitarian) political system?

aspects in society that are centralized in the hands of the elite, ex. chiefdoms and states

The world’s population can be divided into what economic system?

food collections (wild foods) and food producers (domesticated foods)

What kind of relationship do political and economic systems have?

a close relationship between what economic activities are conducted in societies and their political systems

As societies become larger, what happens to their political and economic systms?

they change

What is cultural evolution?

a movement which has taken us from Hunting and Gathering to industrial societies

Cultural evolution is marked by what?

• Increasing levels of specialization

• increasing levels of surplus production

• increasing levels of resource ownership

• larger market systems

• larger populations

• decreasing levels of self-sufficiency

What happens to societies through time?

they get more complex

Archaeology is the study of what?

ancient cultures and how they change

Everyone was living in a band society and being supported by hunting and gathering how many years ago?

10,000 years ago

How did the shift from bands to tribes to chiefdoms and states occur in different regions of the world?

independently at different times

Most of human history has been a movement away from what towards what?

social equality, social inequality

What are some characteristics of bands?

• very small (less than 250 people)

• breaks up into groups of 10-30

• low population density

• successful under certain conditions

• hunters and gatherers (foraging)

• nomadic (moves from place to place)

What is the oldest, simplest, and most long-lasting form of social and economic organization?

bands

How many years ago did bands start?

100,000 years ago

What did band’s food-getting strategies focus on?

wild plants and animals through gathering, hunting, or fishing

What kind of society were bands in?

egalitarian (uncentralized)

Because bands are an egalitarian society this means that…

• everyone of the same age and sex carries out the same economic tasks

• everyone has access to the same resources

• everyone is thought of on equal terms

• no political or social ranking among the members except those divisions based on age and gender

• no sharp social distinctions

• little economic specialization

• leadership is temporary

• big decisions are made by the entire group

• no one has power over anyone else

• little private ownership

• democracy

What happens when bands have serious disagreements?

they divide

Instead of market systems, what economic system do bands use?

reciprocity

What is reciprocity?

the primary mechanism of exchange and distribution of goods within bands and tribes

What are some misconceptions about hunters and gathers?

they have no leisure time, they are starving and malnourished, and they don’t have a stable food supply

What happened to tribes today?

they’ve been pushed out most areas of the world by agriculturalists, most only exist in marginal areas where there is no good agricultural land (deserts, artic, dense tropical forests, coastlines)

What do modern hunter and gatherers do?

trade with, provide labor for, and have been influenced by neighboring agriculture and the modern world