Archaeology Midterm Review

Absolute Dating: the determination of age with reference to a specific timescale, such as a fixed calendrical system; also referred to as chronometric dating (cf. relative dating)

Aerial Survey: a technique, primarily employing aerial and satellite imagery, used in the discovery and recording of archaeological sites

Anthropology: the study of humanity— our physical characteristics as animals, and the unique non-biological characteristics we call culture; the subject is generally broken down into three subdisciplines: biological (or physical), cultural (or social), and archaeology

Artifact: any portable object used, modified, or made by humans, e.g. stone tools, pottery, and metal weapons

Assemblage: a group of artifacts recurring together at a particular time and place, and representing the sum of human activities

Association: the co-occurrence of an artifact with other archaeological remains, usually in the same matrix

Attribute: a minimal characteristic of an artifact such that it cannot be further subdivided; include aspects of form, style, decoration, color, and raw material

Building Archaeology: using archaeological techniques to document standing structures, such as drawing, photographing, measuring, recording and sampling, and historical record searching

Ecofact: non-artifactual organic and environmental remains that have cultural relevance, e.g. faunal and floral material, as well as soils and sediments

Ethnography: a subset of cultural anthropology concerned with the study of contemporary cultures through first-hand observation

Experimental Archaeology:  the study of past behavioral processes through experimental reconstruction under carefully controlled scientific conditions

Feature: a non-portable artifact, e.g. hearth, architectural element, or soil stain

Ground Survey: the wide variety of methods for identifying archaeological sites, including consultation of documentary sources, place-name evidence, local folklore and legend, but primarily actual fieldwork

Hoard: deliberately buried groups of valuables or prized possessions, often in times of conflict or war, and that, for one reason or another, have not been reclaimed

Indigenous Archaeology: involving indigenous and descendent communities, and their values and viewpoints, in the theory and practice of archaeology

Landscape Archaeology: the study of individual features, including settlements, seen as single components within the broader perspective of the patterning of human activity over a wide area

Material Culture: the buildings, tools, and other artifacts that constitute the physical remains of former societies

Matrix: the physical material within which artifacts are embedded or supported, e.g. gravel, clay, or sand

Open-area excavation: the opening up of large horizontal areas for excavation, used especially where single-period deposits lie close to the surface as, for example, with the remains of Native American or European Neolithic long houses

Postcolonial Theory: critical analysis of the cultural legacies of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the consequences of the control and exploitation of colonized people and lands

Post Holes: a small, round, dark stain that formed when a wooden post or pole rotted or burned in the ground; can indicate where a house or other structure may have stood

Processual Archaeology: an approach that stresses the dynamic relationship between social and economic aspects of culture and the environment as the basis for understanding the processes of culture change; it uses the scientific methodology of problem statement, hypothesis formulation, and subsequent testing

Post Processual Archaeology: a range of approaches formulated in reaction to the perceived limitations of functional-processual archaeology; it avoids generalization in favor of an individualizing approach that is influenced by structuralist archaeology and neo-Marxist thought

Prehistory: the period of human history before the advent of writing

Provenience: the place of origin or (earliest) known history of something; also the horizontal and vertical position of an artifact, ecofact, or feature within a matrix

Public Archaeology: archaeology supported through resources made available as a public obligation

Relative Dating: the determination of chronological sequence without recourse to a fixed time scale, e.g. the arrangement of artifacts in a typological sequence, or seriation (cf. absolute dating)

Repatriation: the process of returning human remains, sacred objects, and other cultural artifacts to their original owners

Site: a distinct spatial clustering of artifacts, features, structures, and organic and environmental remains– the residue of human activity

Step-trenching: an excavation method used on very deep sites, such as at Near Eastern tells, in which the excavation proceeds downward in a series of gradually narrowing steps

Stratigraphy: the study and validation of stratification: the analysis in the vertical, time dimension, of a series of layers in the horizontal, space dimension; is often used as a relative dating technique to assess the temporal sequence of artifact deposition

Subsurface Detection: the collective name for a variety of remote-sensing techniques operating at ground level, including both invasive and non-invasive techniques

Survey: a broad range of techniques involved in the location of archaeological sites, e.g. the recording of surface artifacts and features, and the sampling of natural and mineral resources

Taphonomy: the study of processes that have affected organic materials, such as bone after death; it also involves the microscopic analysis of tooth marks or cutmarks to assess the effects of butchery or scavenging activities

Test Pit: a method used in archaeology to investigate subsurface deposits by digging small, systematically placed holes at a site

Typology: the systematic organization of artifacts into types on the basis of shared attributes