Archeology week 5 to week 8

Antiquities Act 1906: Authorized the president to declare historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of scientific interest as national monuments, explicitly establishing the importance of archaeological sites on public land in the U.S. legal code.

Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) 1979: Enacted after the Antiquities Act of 1906 was determined to be unconstitutionally vague and requires that archaeological sites be protected.

code of ethics: A written statement of ethical guidelines for groups, organizations, and individuals in their professional occupation

cultural heritage: Expressions of how societies live or lived, including their homes and cities, customs and practices, utensils and are, ethics and values that represent a legacy of a particular group.

Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of an Armed Conflict: , which was intended to protect and potentially prevent such destruction globally, has yet to be ratified by the United States and the United Kingdom.

National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) 1969: A national policy of protecting the environment that requires proposed actions funded by the federal government to evaluate both natural and cultural; resources.

National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) 1966: Intended to preserve historic and archaeological sites on public lands.

Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) 1990: Established rules and responsibilities when Native American burials and other items associated with a Native American burial are found through excavation and are housed in museum an university collections.

Reactions to NAGPRA: Called unscientific and some scientist attempted to sue the Native people

Repatriation: Returning objects to the original owners

Kennewick Man/ The ancient one:

Antiquarianism: (pre-1850s Focus on the rarity of the object rather than their story. Post this era; Governmental legislation regarding antiquarianism

Culture history: (1850-) Outlines general trends of cultural change & continuity through space and time. Identifying sequence and distribution of past events. Assume materials remains reflect past behavior and norms.

Myth of moundbuilders: White people claimed that they built the mounds

State line sites: Based on geography and timeline, materials, are likely Miami Shawnee possibly Delaware.

European archeology: Typically study European sites, geology and classics, study ancient societies with no modern correlates

AMerican Archeology: Study’s other people’s ancestors, anthropology.

Cultural resources: Physical features associated with human activity like sites/ structures/ objects possessing significance in history, architecture, human development.

Sacred items: Ceremonial items necessary for current practice of traditional Native American religions

Funerary items: Items placed with a body. Items made to contain human remains at the time of burial

Objects of cultural patrimony: Objects with ongoing historical, traditional, or cultural importance that were once owned by the entire Tribe and no one gave the rights to give them away

Pseudoarcheology & fraud: Ancient aliens, Da Vinci Code, Piltdown Man

Sites can get damage from: Agriculture, war, human behavior.

SItes can be protected by: tents etc

Responsibility of archeologists: To the people of the past and their descendants, the disciplines, the world at large, prevent damage to sites, ethics, share their research.

Ethics: the science of morals