unit notes3

1. Anthropology and its 4 subfields

   • Archaeology’s Strengths

     • culture change and variation through time and across space

   • Holism, Relativism, Comparison

     • holism

       • all aspects of human variation are relevant and interdependent

     • comparison

       • comparison of cultures or adaptions for generalization and prediction when possible

     • cultural relativism

       • the idea that different cultures need to be understood in their own terms instead of the standard of others

   • Culture vs. Archaeological Culture

     • culture

       • the primary means through which human social groups vary and reproduced

     • material culture

       • interest in patterns an processes

     • archaeological culture

       • materials that co-occur in space and time

2. Archaeological Record

   • archaeological record initially forms through the actions of humans

   • Provenience

     • the location of materials in three-dimensional space

     • traditionally recorded by hand using rulers, tape measures, etc.

   • Context

     • an interpretation of the association of objects

   • Association

     • spatial relationship of different things and places

   • without provenience, context and association we learn less about the past

   • Artifact, Feature, Ecofact

     • artifact:

       • portable, modified objects

       • additive: created by adding materials together like pottery

       • subtractive: remove material from and object to create something like stone tools

       • composite: combining different finished objects together, spear

     • ecofacts

       • unmodified or non-tool materials that result from human activity

       • ex: human remains, animals that live in proximity (commensal species), pollen and charcoal (environmental proxies

     • features

       • non-portable objects and combinations of artifacts

       • hearth - pit or surface used ot burn materials

       • storage pit - pit used to hold materials, maybe be reused as garbage pit

       • post mold - hole left behind after a post has rotted away

       • structure - combination of architectural elements (walls, floor, roofing materials)

3. Archaeological Site Variation

   • Scale and site types

     • scale

       • the size of an area studied or described

       • the significance of spatial patterning varies by scale

       • small scale: objects and features

       • medium scale: sites

       • large scale: region or landscape

     • time scales:

       • the duration of time for a series or events to occur

       • geological: long term (hundreds to millions of years)

       • generational: over the course of a few lifespans

       • events: instantaneous moments

   • Primary vs. Secondary Refuse

     • primary

       • materials deposited where they were used or produced

       • ex: trash receptacles in separate rooms

     • secondary

       • materials removed from their place of production or use

       • often combined with materials elsewhere

       • ex: trashcans for all household gargage

   • Anthropogenic

     • disturbances caused by humans such as digging, deposition and recycling

   • palimpsest

     • something that has been altered or resued but still retains trace of its earlier form

     • ex: writing material used one or more times after earlier writing has been erased

   • Activity areas

     • locations where objects, features, ecofacts may be concentrated

     • differentiated by distance between objects, density and kinds of objects

   • disposal patterns

     • the context of discard influences what we know about the use of spice

4. Methods of Archaeological Discovery

   • Survey

   • Remote Sensing

     • the art and science of obtaining information about an object without being in direct physical contact with the object

     • provides capability of efficiently identifying patterns and recovering information about archaeological landscapes

     • still must archaeologically test features identified in remote sensing

     • terrestrial remote sensing

       • using techniques to identify below-surface anomalies that may be features, with the goal to identify nature and distribution

     • aerial remote sensing

     • LiDAR

       • laser scanner collects large quantity of elevation points

       • uses in forested regions

     • underwater remote sensing

   • Excavation

     • size and extent of excavation units depends of research question and nature of archaeological record

     • after excavation obects are curated so future generations can study

5. Relative Dating Techniques

   • Stratigraphy

     • recognition of different layers in the ground formed by natural or human deposit

     • primary source of chronology

   • Law of Superposition

     • younger layers lie on the top of older layers

     • provides framework for ordering archaeological finds

   • Cross-Dating

     • use of materials dates at one site to infer the age of similar materials at another site

   • Index Artifact

     • objects with restricted temporal range and dinstinct morphology/construction

6. Absolute Dating Techniques (what is dated, how far back in time can the technique be used, important assumptions of the method)

   • Dendrochronology

     • using tree rings to determine the age and climate conditions

     • not every tree species is suitable

     • trees add one growth ring per year

   • Radiometric techniques

     • Radiocarbon Dating

       • used to death of organism using date bone, teeth, plant material, shell, ect.

     • Potassium-Argon Dating

       • used to date volcanic eruptions using layers of volcanic rock and ash

   • Site Formation Processes (Geological, Biological/Bioturbation, Anthropogenic)

     • Taphonomy

       • the study of the formation of the archaeological record

       • post-depositional process

         • processes that occur after something is put in the ground that influence what is how is preserved and how

     • Pompeii Premise

       • the assumption that what we find in the ground represents exactly how people in the past left it

     • Geological

       • Disturbance caused by earth processes like chemical weathering, deposition/erosion, sea level change, catastrophic events and temperature change

     • bioturbation

       • disturbances caused by organisms like digging animals and vegetation

   • Sources of Inference

     • Ethnoarchaeology

     • Experimental Archaeology

   • Archaeological Techniques

     • Ancient DNA

     • Stable Isotope Analysis

       • stable isotopes are incorporated into living animal tissue from the environment

       • ex: shellfish incorporate oxygen from water into their shells

       • isotope ratios vary by season due to temperature or rainfall

7. Preservation

   1. some conditions that promote organic preservation

      1. anaerobic such as low oxygen

      2. neutral soils such as low acidity

      3. constant environment such as temperature and humidity

   2. destruction

      1. many objects are preserved by burning

      2. fire carbonizes organic matter

      3. much more chemically stable

   3. conditions for good preservation

      1. stable geology/hydrology such as caves

      2. few microbes such as under water, mud and clay

      3. constant temperature or constantly wet or dry

      4. chemical stability such as fire or balanced pH

8. Varieties of Sites

   1. encampment

      1. duration: short term

      2. artifacts: low density and low diversity

      3. features: low density and low diversity

      4. refuse types: mostly primary

      5. seasonality: single

      6. reoccupation: unlikely

   2. extraction site/quarry

      1. duration: varies

      2. artifacts: high density and low diversity

      3. features: low density and low diversity

      4. refuse types: mostly primary

      5. seasonality: varies

      6. reoccupation: likely

   3. structure/homestead

      1. duration: multi-seasonal to generational

      2. artifacts: high density and high diversity

      3. features: high density and high diversity

      4. refuse types: mostly secondary

      5. seasonality: varies

      6. reoccupation: likely

   4. Towns and Cities:

      1. duration: generational

      2. artifacts: high density and high diversity

      3. features: high density and high diversity

      4. refuse types: mostly secondary

      5. seasonality: varies

      6. reoccupation: likely

   5. monuments:

      1. duration: varies from short term to generational

      2. artifacts: varied density and low diversity

      3. features: varied density and low diversity

      4. refuse types: mostly secondary

      5. seasonality: varies

      6. reoccupation: likely

 Archaeological Ethics:

1. Cultural Resources

   1. the evidence of past and contemporary cultures

   2. physical such as objects and places

   3. intangible such as language and knowledge

2. Threats to cultural resources

   1. looting

      1. for economic interest in the past

   2. collecting

      1. antiquities markets fuel destruction such as art collector and museums

      2. organized crime including drug cartels

   3. war and conflict

      1. intentional harm directed at places of cultural importance

      2. items perceived to be valuable on the markets are looted and trafficked

   4. development

      1. US housing boom

      2. international development projects

   5. climate change

      1. rising sea levels erode cultural sites

      2. changing temperatures impact soil and stratigraphy

      3. long-frozen deposits can melt

3. Cultural Resource Management

   1. federal laws mandate that projects with federal funds and permits identifying significant cultural resources within project areas

      1. ex: pipelines, road construction, wind turbines

   2. basis for cultural resource management (CRM)

      1. most professional archaeologists are in the CRM industry

4. Anthropology and the ownership of the past (Who owns the past?)

   1. complicated issues because of many interested parties

   2. from a universal perspective cultural resources should not belong to anyone

5. Federal Laws

   • ARPA

     • protects cultural resources on federal property or stored in places with federal funding

   • NAGPRA

     • “Kennewick Man”

       • human remains identified causing long term court battle amongst local indigenous communities

     • Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act

     • legislation for protecting and repatriating burials on federal or tribal lands

   • Ethical Archaeological practice

   • Kinds of stewards

     • academics

       • trained, have research focus, publish

     • indigenous

       • protect and interpret own cultural heritage

     • private sector

       • trained, research driven by market (CRM)

     • avocational/amateur

       • generally untrained, but volunteer and provide information to professionals