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WEEK 1: INTRODUCTIONScience
Front: What is science?
Back: A systematic way of understanding the world using observation, evidence, testing, and reasoning.
Scientific Method
Front: What is the scientific method?
Back: A process involving observation, hypothesis formation, data collection, testing, and interpretation to explain phenomena.
Truth vs. Fact
Front: What is the difference between truth and fact?
Back: Facts are evidence-based and verifiable; truth can be subjective, culturally influenced, or belief-based.
Anthropology
Front: What is anthropology?
Back: The holistic study of humanity across time and space, integrating biological, cultural, linguistic, and archaeological perspectives.
Holistic Discipline
Front: What does “holistic” mean in anthropology?
Back: Studying humans as interconnected biological, cultural, social, and historical beings rather than isolating one aspect.
Four Subfields of Anthropology
Front: What are the four subfields of anthropology?
Back:
Archaeology
Biological Anthropology
Linguistic Anthropology
Cultural (Social) Anthropology
Archaeology
Front: What is archaeology?
Back: The study of past human societies through material remains.
Biological Anthropology
Front: What is biological anthropology?
Back: The study of human evolution, genetics, primates, and biological variation.
Linguistic Anthropology
Front: What is linguistic anthropology?
Back: The study of language, communication, and how language shapes culture.
Cultural Anthropology
Front: What is cultural (social) anthropology?
Back: The study of living societies, beliefs, practices, and social systems.
Equifinality
Front: What is equifinality?
Back: The principle that different processes can produce the same archaeological outcome.
Time Frame of Archaeology
Front: What time period does archaeology study?
Back: From the earliest hominin tool use (Paleolithic) to recent historical periods.
Oldest Contexts of Archaeology
Front: What are the oldest archaeological contexts?
Back: Paleolithic contexts involving stone tools and early hominins.
Synchronic vs. Diachronic
Front: What is a synchronic view?
Back: Studying a society at one point in time.
Front: What is a diachronic view?
Back: Studying change in a society over time.
Challenges of Archaeological Work
Front: What are major challenges in archaeology?
Back: Preservation issues, incomplete data, site destruction, looting, and interpretation bias.
Reasons for Doing Archaeology
Front: Why do archaeologists study the past?
Back: To understand human behavior, cultural change, identity, and long-term human-environment relationships.
Important Questions of Archaeology
Front: What kinds of questions does archaeology ask?
Back: How societies lived, adapted, organized, changed, and interacted.
Institutions that Fund Archaeology
Front: Who funds or conducts archaeology?
Back: Universities, governments, museums, private firms, and CRM organizations.
Private Archaeology
Front: What is private archaeology?
Back: Archaeology conducted by private firms, often tied to development projects.
Public Archaeology
Front: What is public archaeology?
Back: Archaeology focused on public engagement, education, and heritage access.
Cultural Resource Management (CRM)
Front: What is CRM?
Back: Archaeology conducted to comply with laws protecting cultural resources during development.
Types of Archaeology
Front: What are different types of archaeology?
Back: Academic, CRM, public, historical, prehistoric, underwater, and more.
North American vs. European/Asian Archaeology
Front: How does North American archaeology differ?
Back: Strong focus on CRM and Indigenous heritage; Europe/Asia emphasize long-term national histories.
Archaeological Specializations
Front: What are geographic, temporal, and cultural specializations?
Back: Archaeologists focus on specific regions, time periods, or cultural groups.
Archaeometry
Front: What is archaeometry?
Back: The application of scientific techniques (e.g., chemistry, physics) to analyze archaeological materials.
WEEK 2: RESPONSIBILITIES & ETHICSGoals of Archaeology
Front: What are the goals of archaeology?
Back: To document, interpret, and preserve evidence of the human past responsibly.
Excavation
Front: Why is excavation destructive?
Back: Once a site is excavated, it can never be reconstructed exactly as it was.
Preservation & Consolidation
Front: What is preservation?
Back: Protecting archaeological materials from damage.
Front: What is consolidation?
Back: Stabilizing fragile materials after excavation.
Formation Processes (Taphonomy)
Front: What is taphonomy?
Back: The study of processes that affect materials from deposition to discovery.
Natural Formation Processes
Front: What are natural formation processes?
Back: Environmental forces affecting sites.
Weathering: Breakdown due to exposure
Decay: Biological decomposition
Erosion: Movement by wind or water
Cultural Formation Processes
Front: What are cultural formation processes?
Back: Human actions affecting sites.
Modern development
Looting
Intentional erasure
Preservation Conditions
Front: What conditions aid preservation?
Back: Cold, dry, or oxygen-poor environments.
Understanding the Past
Front: What is culture-history?
Back: A framework focusing on classification and chronology of cultures.
Front: What is ethnohistory?
Back: Using historical documents and Indigenous accounts to study the past.
Stakeholders & Ownership
Front: Who are stakeholders in the past?
Back: Descendant communities, governments, scholars, and the public.
Front: Who owns the past?
Back: A contested issue involving legal, ethical, and cultural claims.
Pseudoarchaeology
Front: What is pseudoarchaeology?
Back: Claims about the past that lack scientific evidence.
Front: Why is pseudoarchaeology harmful?
Back: It spreads misinformation and often erases Indigenous histories.
Laws
Front: What is the American Antiquities Act (1906)?
Back: First U.S. law protecting archaeological sites on federal land.
Front: What is NAGPRA (1990)?
Back: A law requiring the return of Native American human remains and sacred objects to descendant communities.
THE EMERGENCE OF ARCHAEOLOGYStasis
Front: What is stasis?
Back: The belief that the world has remained unchanged since creation.
Young World
Front: Who proposed the young Earth theory?
Back: Bishop James Ussher, dating creation to 4004 BCE.
Antiquarianism
Front: What is antiquarianism?
Back: The collection and study of ancient objects without systematic context.
Enlightenment
Front: What was the Enlightenment?
Back: An intellectual movement emphasizing reason, observation, and evidence.
Impact of Geology
Front: Why was geology important to archaeology?
Back: It introduced deep time and stratigraphy.
George-Louis Leclerc (Buffon)
Front: Who was Buffon?
Back: A naturalist who argued for an old Earth and biological change.
Uniformitarianism
Front: What is uniformitarianism?
Back: The idea that geological processes today operated the same in the past.
Front: Who proposed uniformitarianism?
Back: James Hutton; later expanded by Charles Lyell.
Stratigraphy
Front: What is stratigraphy?
Back: The study of layered deposits to establish relative chronology.
Evolutionary Theory
Front: Who proposed natural selection?
Back: Charles Darwin.
Impact of Evolution
Front: How did evolution affect archaeology?
Back: It introduced ideas of long-term change and human origins.
Unilineal Cultural Evolution
Front: What is unilineal cultural evolution?
Back: The idea that all societies progress through the same stages.
Three-Stage System
Front: What are the three stages?
Back: Savagery → Barbarism → Civilization.
Ethnocentrism
Front: What is ethnocentrism?
Back: Judging other cultures by the standards of one’s own.
Nationalism
Front: How did nationalism affect archaeology?
Back: Archaeology was used to build national identities and unified histories.
WEEK 3: MODERN ARCHAEOLOGYCulture-Historical Framework
Front: What is the culture-historical approach?
Back: Focuses on typologies, classification, and diffusion.
Typologies
Front: What are typologies?
Back: Systems for grouping artifacts by shared characteristics.
Diffusion
Front: What is diffusion?
Back: The spread of ideas, technology, or styles between cultures.
Hyper-Diffusionism
Front: What is hyper-diffusionism?
Back: The belief that most cultural innovations came from a single source.
Franz Boas
Front: Who was Franz Boas?
Back: Founder of cultural particularism; rejected unilineal evolution.
Functionalism
Front: What is functionalism?
Back: Views culture as a system where parts serve functions.
Processualism (New Archaeology)
Front: What is processual archaeology?
Back: A scientific, hypothesis-driven approach focusing on systems and processes.
Postprocessualism
Front: What is postprocessual archaeology?
Back: Emphasizes meaning, symbolism, agency, and interpretation.
Feminist Archaeology
Front: What is feminist archaeology?
Back: Challenges male bias and highlights gender roles.
Black Feminist Archaeology
Front: What is Black feminist archaeology?
Back: Examines race, gender, power, and inequality in the past.
Agency & Practice Theory
Front: What is agency?
Back: The ability of individuals to act and influence society.
Phenomenology
Front: What is phenomenology?
Back: Studying how people experienced landscapes and spaces.
Emic vs. Etic
Front: What is an emic perspective?
Back: Insider viewpoint.
Front: What is an etic perspective?
Back: Outsider, analytical viewpoint.
Key Figures
Front: Who is Lewis Binford?
Back: Leader of processual archaeology.
Front: Who is Ian Hodder?
Back: Leader of postprocessual archaeology.
Front: Who is Michael Schiffer?
Back: Formation process theory.
Formation Processes (Schiffer)
Front: What is N-transform?
Back: Natural transformations.
Front: What is C-transform?
Back: Cultural transformations.
Context
Front: What is primary context?
Back: Artifacts found where they were originally used.
Front: What is secondary context?
Back: Artifacts moved from original location.
STARTING A PROJECTResearch Question
Front: What is a research question?
Back: A focused question guiding archaeological investigation.
Data Types
Front: What is categorical data?
Back: Data grouped into categories.
Front: Nominal data?
Back: Categories with no order.
Front: Ordinal data?
Back: Ordered categories.
Front: Continuous data?
Back: Measured on a scale.
Front: Interval vs. Ratio?
Back: Ratio has a true zero; interval does not.
Research Design
Front: Why is research design important?
Back: It ensures systematic, unbiased data collection.
Sampling Strategies
Front: What is probabilistic sampling?
Back: Every unit has a known chance of selection.
Front: Examples?
Back: Random, systematic, stratified, adaptive.
Front: What is non-probabilistic sampling?
Back: Selection based on judgment or convenience.
BASIC TERMSArtifact
Front: What is an artifact?
Back: An object made or modified by humans.
Ecofact
Front: What is an ecofact?
Back: Natural remains associated with human activity.
Feature
Front: What is a feature?
Back: Non-movable human-made structures (e.g., hearths).
Matrix
Front: What is matrix?
Back: The surrounding soil or sediment.
Provenience
Front: What is provenience?
Back: Exact location where an artifact is found.
Association
Front: What is association?
Back: Relationship between artifacts found together.