Archaeology chapter 2&3 vocab
Ardipithecus ramidus
Found at Gona, Afar region of Ethiopia ¨ Cranium features similar to modern chimpanzees ¨ Foramen magnum very close to the cranial base, ¨ Postcranial evidence seems to indicate that A. ramidus was bipedal. ¨ This species lived in a wooded environment, not a savanna!
Orrorin tugenesis "millenium man"
Found in 2000 in the Tugen Hills, Kenya, in sediments dated ca. 6.2 - 5.6 Mya. 12 fossil fragments from at least 5 individuals considered the second oldest possible hominin ancestor
Sahelanthropus tchadensis "toumai"
Found in northern Chad Bio-chronological age of 6-7 Mya based on mammals from the same strata Cranial capacity ca. 350 cc. (similar to chimpanzees) Unique mix of characteristics distinguishing it from both great apes
conchoidal fracture
Fracture is initiated by loading sufficient force to break elastic limit of the material and form a Hertzian cone. ¨ The cone expands down into the material at an angle dependent on the angle of applied force and the shape of the free surface.
Acheulian
___ refers to the Lower Paleolithic stone tool industry between 1.7 million and 200,000 years ago, characterized by bifacial tool including handaxes and cleavers.
Dmanisi
___ the oldest site outside Africa located in the Republic of Georgia and dated between 1.7 and 1.8 million years ago.
sahelanthropus tchadensis
___-: is a possible early member of the huminin lineage. Fossils of the species were discovered in Chad in levels dating to 7 million years ago.
The Old Stone Age
___: Also called Paleolithic.
Emic
___: An approach to archaeological or anthropological analysis that attempts to understand the meanings people attach to their actions and culture.
paleoanthropologist
___: are scientist who study the evolutionary history of the hominods.
Laetoli
___: is a location in Tanzania where tracks of australopithecine footprints were found, showing that australopithecine walked upright.
molecular clock
___: is a method that allows the timing of the split between lineages to be calculated on the basis of the degree of genetic similarity.
Sangiran and Perning
___: is a site on the island of java where fossils of Homo erectus dating to 1.8 million years ago were found.
ardipitecus romidus
___: is an early species in the hominin lineage. this species, which lived 4.5 million years ago, is know from fossils discovered in 1992 at the site of Aramis in Ethiopia.
nuclear DNA
___: is located in the cell nucleus; combines from each parent.
mitochondrial DNA
___: is located outside of the cell nucleus; inherited exclusively from the mother.
Ubeidiya
___: is one of the earliest sites outside of Africa located in Isreal south of the Sea of Galilee and dated between 1.4 and 1.0 million years ago.
Homo erectus
___: is the first hominin found on sites outside of Africa.
Hadar
___: is the location in the East African Rift Valley where many important fossils, including the near complete fossil of an australopithecine, and the earliest know stone tools have been discovered.
Olduvai Gorge
___: is the most impressive and important location in the East African Rift Valley for the study of human evolution.
Miocene era
___: is the period 23 million to 5 million years ago when there was an explosion in the number of hominoid species
hominoids
___: refer to the biological superfamily that includes *humans, * great apes * gibbons
bifaces
___: refers to Characteristic tools of the Acheulian. Include handaxes and cleavers.
radiation
___: refers to a period in which there is a rapid increase in the diversity of a single lineage. During the period between 2 million and 4 million years ago there were a radiation in the hominin lineage.
dispersal
___: refers to an event where a single species dramatically expands its range.
archaeological theory
___: refers to ideas that archaeologist have developed about the past and about the ways we come to know the past.
Oldowan
___: refers to the Lower Paleolithic stone tool industry, dated between 1.9 and 1.15 million years ago, characterized by choppers and flakes.
phyogeny
___: refers to the evolutionary history of a species.
ontogeny
___: refers to the growth and development of an individual organism.
hominins
___: refers to the members of the human lineage after it split with the chimpanzee lineage.
Homo habilis
___: this hominin is the earliest species to be assigned to the genus Homo
East African Rift Valley
___; is a geological feature sreaching from East Africa to the Middle East the is the richest context for the recovery of early hominin archaeological sites
Agency Theory
____ A theory that emphasizes the interaction between the agency of indiviuals and social structure
Cultural resources management
____-(CRM) Public archaeology carried out with the goal of mitigating the effects of development on archaeological resources.
Hermeneutics
____: A theory of interpretation that stresses the interaction between the presuppositions we bring to a problem and the independent empirical reality of our observations and experience.
The New Stone Age
____: Also called Neolithic.
Systems theory
____: An archaeological theory that views society as an interconnected network of interacting elements.
Deduction
____: Drawing particular inferences from general laws and models.
Middle- Range Research
____: Research investigating processes that can be observed in the present and that can serve as a point of reference to test hypothesis about the past.
*humans, * great apes * gibbons
____: are hominoids
homebased/ food sharing model
____: is a model developed by Glynn Isaac that sees the sharing of meat at base camps as a fundamental part of lives of early hominins
Three Age system
____: is a system that catalogues artifacts into relics of three periods. * Stone Age *Bronze Age * Iron Age
aegyptopithecus
____: refers to a fossil primate that lived 56-23 million years ago.
thunderstones
____: refers to objects as ground stones axes that people in Medieval Europe believed were formed in spots where lighting struck the earth.
Stone Age Bronze Age Iron Age
____: refers to the Three Age system
Lower Paleolithic
____: refers to the period when hominins began producing stones tools.
Feminist archaeology
_____ : An approach that focuses on the way archaeologists study and represent gender, as well as bringing attention to gender inequities in the practice of archaeology
Evolutionary archaeology
_____: A Range of approaches that stress importance of evolutionary theory as a unifying thoery for archaeology.
New Archaeology
_____: An approach to archaeology based firmly on scientific method and supported by a concerted effort aimed at the development of theory.
Paleolithic
_____: The period in which humans lived with now- extinct animals. Also called the Old Stone Age.
Lokalalei
_____: is a site in Kenya dating to 2.3 million years ago. Analysis of refit cores from the site indicates that stone tool manufacture at this early date was more complex than anticipated.
Processual archaeology
_____:An approach to archaeology based firmly on scientific method and supported by a concerted effort aimed at the development of theory.
Induction
_____Drawing general inferences on the basis of avialable empirical data.
Neolithic
______ : A period in which there are polished stone tools. Also called the New Stone Age.
Christian Jurgensen Thomas
______: developed the Three Age System
The earliest known Homo erectus fossils date to the period between 1.9 and 1.5 million years ago
______: homo erectus
Fossils of the species were discovered in Chad in levels dating to 7 million years ago.
______: refers to sahelanthropus tchadensis
Postprocessual archaeology
______:A movement, led by British archaeologist Ian Hodder, which argues that archaeologists should emulate historians in interpreting the past.
New Archaeology
_______ sometimes called Processual archaeology
diastema
gap in the front teeth
ecofacts
non-artifact natural remains that have cultural significance
features
non-portable human-made remains that cannot be removed from their place of discovery without altering or destroying their original formtems
austraopithecus garhi
one of human's direct ancestors
artifacts
portable objects whose form is modified or wholly created by human activity
knapper
maker of the tool
Archaeological record
material remains that document past human activities
primary context
means data associations relate to BEHAVIOURAL PROCESSES
secondary context
means data associations result from TRANSFORMATION PROCESSES
Antiquarian period
pre 1800s little attempt to understand societies drived from biblical thology
Miocene Epoch
starting ca. 24 Mya is the radiation of hominoids, and possibly first hominins
Pliocene Epoch
starting ca. 5.5 Mya is the epoch in which the first hominins definitely appeared.
Maxilla
upper jaw
bipedal locomotion
walking on two feet
mousterian stone tools
were made out from the levallois technique
Behavioural and biological characteristics that distinguish humans from other primates:
¡ Culture is key to coping with the environment ¡ Symbolic language ¡ Bipedality ¡ Bisexual social groups ¡ Very large brains relative to body size ¡ Economic division of labour by sex ¡ No obvious signs of estrous in human females
Adaptive Advantages of Bipedalism
§ Ability to see great distances § Ability to provide food to others § More effective scavenging § Greater locomotive energy efficiency § Greater endurance
homo ergaster
¨ Africa ¨ Modern body proportions ¨ Thinner cranial bones ¨ Cranial capacity 700-1000cc ¨ Less pronounced brow ridges ¨ 1.8 - 1.5 mya
Archaic homo sapiens neandertals
¨ Between 300 - 200 Kya, Homo heidelbergensis in Europe started to evolve into a new species of archaic Homo sapiens --Homo neandertalensis -that continued to 30 Kya. ¨ "Classic" Neandertals of western Europe date 80-35 Kya. ¨ Considered an adaptation to Ice Age environments in Europe. ¨ Not directly ancestral to anatomically modern Homo sapiens!
dating the acheulean
¨ Earliest dated Acheulean tools at Kokiselei 4 site, West Turkana, at 1.76 Mya (reported September 2011) ¨ Deposits with Acheulean material range from 1.76 Mya to ca. 200 Kya. ¨ Earliest likely maker of Acheulean tools was Homo ergaster, who first appeared ca. 1.8 M
three groups of Neanderthals
¨ Early Neandertals (ca. 250-130 Kya), ¨ Neandertals that existed during the transition to the Upper Paleolithic (ca. 130 - 45 Kya), ¨ Late surviving Neandertals (45 - 30 Kya).
Homo erectus
¨ Eurasia ¨ Modern body proportions ¨ Thicker cranial bones ¨ Cranial capacity 800-1200cc ¨ More pronounced brow ridges ¨ 1.8 mya - 200 kya
Neanderthal body characteristics
¨ Features distinguishing Neandertals from anatomically modern humans: ¨ Unique face -- different from anything that came before or after. ¨ Large supraorbital torus (brow ridges). ¨ Long low brain case with occipital 'bun'. ¨ Broad, projecting nose. ¨ Larger cranial capacity (also larger body size) ¨ Robust body shape: barrel- chested, heavily muscled.
oldowan flaked stone tools
¨ First flaked stone tools appear by 2.6 Mya ¨ Key sites: - Gona and Omo (Ethiopia), - Lake Turkana (Kenya) ¨ Classified as Oldowan Industry after Leakey's Olduvai Gorge discoveries ¨ Who made the earliest Oldowan? Both Homo and Australopithecus are in the same age interval.
flaked stone tools
¨ First flaked stone tools appear by 2.6 Mya ¨ Key site locations: Gona and Omo (Ethiopia) and Turkana (Kenya) ¨ Classified as Oldowan Industry — small, crudely shaped tools ¨ At least three different hominids may be associated with Oldowan Industry between 2.6 - 1.5 Mya—did all three make them?
oldowan artifact classification
¨ Flaked pieces (cores/'choppers') ¨ Detached pieces (flakes and fragments) ¨ Pounded pieces (cobbles used as hammerstones) ¨ Unmodified pieces (stones transported to sites)
Who made the earliest stone tools
¨ Fossil hominid record of 2.6 - 1.5 Mya is sparse, with most remains attributed to: Australopithecus aethiopicus, Australopithecus garhi, Paranthropus (boiseii & robustus), Homo (habilis & rudolphensis; ergaster & erectus) ¨ Note: A. africanus present only from S. Africa, but not associated with stone tools in deposits there.
Early stone age technology
¨ Main raw materials: quartz, quartzite, basalt, chert. ¨ Main source is river cobbles, but angular pieces were also used. ¨ Evidence of raw material selection and transport.
Acheulean technology
¨ Main technological innovation associated with Acheulean hand- axes is flaking the stone symmetrically and on both sides (bifacial). ¨ Handaxes are, along with cleavers, known as bifacial tools and LCTs (Large Cutting Tools).
Nihewan Basin
___ is a site located in northern China where there is solid evidence of human occupation around 1.6 million years ago.
Pleistocene Epoch
2 - 1.8 Mya, is marked by a major climatic fluctuations. Completely modern forms of humans appeared toward the end of the Pleistocene.
Kada Gona, Ethiopia
2 high density localities (EG10 and EG12 from East Gona) provide evidence of the capabilities of the earliest stone tool makers ¨ Assemblages show sophisticated understanding of stone fracture and control similar to later Oldowan assemblages (ca. 2.0-1.5 Mya)
species
___ refers to a group of intimately related and physically similar organisms that can produce fertile offspring.
Kada Gona, Ethiopia
3000 surface & excavated artifacts from 15 localities, found in fine-grained sediments of a dry riverbed dating 2.52 - 2.60 Mya ¨ Ar/Ar dating on a volcanic ash layer nearly 2m above the tool-bearing deposit determined that the Gona artifacts are more than 2.52 million years old. ¨ A 2.60 Mya date was obtained for mineral-rich sediments below the artifacts using paleomagnetic dating.
australopithecine
___ refers to a hominin genus that lived in Africa between 4 million and 2 million years ago.
The pleistocene
Also known as the "ice age." ¨ Glacial advances and retreats influenced hominid migrations. ¨ During glacial advance, sea levels lowered exposing 'land bridges'. ¨ Homo erectus appeared and disappeared during the Pleistocene.
STRATUM = layer
Anything composed of layers or strata is "stratified"
systemic context
Archaeological remains were once a part of an active cultural system
Early Hominins
Ardipithecus ramidus - 4.4 - 5.8 Mya Australopithecus anamensis - 4.2 - 3.9 Mya
Archaeological context
At time of recovery from the archaeological record, the remains are no longer a part of a functioning cultural system.They may have been subject to both cultural and natural forces that alter their context from what it originally was when first deposited.
Early Hominins
Australopithecus afarensis - 3.9 - 3.0 Mya Kenyanthropus platyops - 3.5 Mya
Australopithecus anamensis
Discovered in 1994 by Meave Leakey at Allia Bay and Kanapoi, Lake Turkana ¨ Fossils include jaws, cranial fragments, and parts of a tibia. ¨ Leg and foot bones suggest bipedalism ¨ Strong jaws with heavily enameled teeth suggest hard abrasive foods.
Archaic (premodern) homo sapines
Byca.800Kya,asmallnumberofsiteswithscattered hominin remains and tools are attributed to archaic forms of Homo sapiens (e.g., Homo antecessor; Homo heidelburgenis) These are NOT Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH), aka Homo sapiens (humans like us!) • EvolvingformscontinueintotheMiddlePaleolithic (800/300,0000 - 30,000 BP) • DatesvaryandoverlapwithLower(H.erectus)andUpper (AMH) Paleolithic
blade technology
Byca.800Kya,asmallnumberofsiteswithscattered hominin remains and tools are attributed to archaic forms of Homo sapiens (e.g., Homo antecessor; Homo heidelburgenis) These are NOT Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH), aka Homo sapiens (humans like us!) • EvolvingformscontinueintotheMiddlePaleolithic (800/300,0000 - 30,000 BP) • DatesvaryandoverlapwithLower(H.erectus)andUpper (AMH) Paleolithic
true
During the period between 2 million and 4 million years ago there were a radiation in the hominin lineage.
Australopithecus africanus
Earliest africanus material comes from South Africa, ca. 2.9 - 2.4 Mya. ¨ Dates to the end of the early Pliocene
acheulean lifeways- fire
Fire would have been a necessity in colonizing colder Eurasia out of Africa. Advantages of fire: ¡ keep warm in cold climates. ¡ protection from predatory animals at night. ¡ cooked meat improved nutrition (good source of protein), may have aided brain development
Principle of conchiodal fracture
Flints, basalts & obsidians fracture in the same way as glass ¨ Kinetic transfer of energy sets up a Hertzian cone of force that travels through the stone mass and fractures along its margins.
Oldowan tool uses
Heavy-duty tools could have been used for woodworking, breaking open bone. ¨ Both 'choppers' and large flakes were probably used for this purpose. ¨ Unmodified flakes are much sharper than core 'chopper' tools. ¨ Unmodified flake tools are most suitable for cutting into hide and butchering meat. ¨ Neither core tools or flakes functioned as weapons.
Early Homo Habilis
Homo habilis differs from Australopithecus in cranial capacity and cranial shape. ¨ Increase in cranial capacity (360-600cc), 20-50% greater than Australopithicines. ¨ Perceived tool making capabilities of this species is the reasoning behind its name of habilis, ("handy man.")
Anatomical changes for bipedalism: pelvis
Human pelvis is shorter and broader, helps stabilize weight transmission from lower back to hip joint
Law of Superposition
In undisturbed strata, the order of DEPOSITION is from lowest (oldest) to uppermost (recent)
Australopithecus afarensis
Laetoli has footprints of three hominins (definitely linked to A. afarensis) preserved in ash fall of a volcanic eruption at 3.56 Mya
Dikika, Ethiopia
Large fossilized animal bones with shattered ends (for removing marrow) and cut marks made by sharp stone tools, found near previously recovered Australopithecus afarensis remains. ¨ The bones are ca. 3.4 Mya ¨ Earliest evidence for using stone tools and eating large game?
Transformational process
both human (cultural) and natural processes that alter the remains produced by behavioural processes natural ot cultural
Neanderthal culture: settlements
Lived in open sites, caves and rock shelters. Fire used for cooking, warmth, light, and keeping predators at bay.
Homo habilis
Many different traits make up this vaguely- defined broad group. ¨ One problem is whether Homo habilis should be classified as one or two species. ¨ Precise hand grip and shortened length of the fingers, supports the idea of tool making among this species. ¨ Foot bones on some specimens suggest that while H. habilis was a biped, it still spent some time in the trees.
Robust Australopithecines
Relatively small cranial capacities (average 530 cm3) ¨ Broad faces, very large premolars and molars ¨ Large sagittal crest to anchor chewing muscles to the skull. ¨ S. African forms differ enough from E. African forms in dental and facial features to warrant separate species status: ¡ S. African A. robustus ¡ E. African A. boisei
Australopithecus garhi
Researchers propose A. garhi represents a direct ancestor of modern humans, derived from A. africanus ,which is likely derived from A. afarensis
The earliest hominins
Sahelanthropus tchadensis (6-7 Mya) Orrorin tugenensis (6.2 - 5.6 Mya)
FLK North (FLKN)
The site in Olduvai Gorge where the remains of an elephant were found together with stone tools.
Bipedalism
The first critical adaptation of the hominin lineage. While present in nonhuman primates, habitual and efficient bipedality is restricted to hominins. Requires changes to hips, legs, and cranium Evidence of bipedalism in the African fossil record ca. 6-7 Mya.
Early stone age- acheulean
The flaked stone tool industry associated with Pleistocene hominins (Homo erectus, Homo ergaster) during the later Lower Paleolithic - Early Stone Age period in Africa, and much of Asia and Europe. ¨ Industry named after the site of Saint Acheul, France, where some of the first examples were identified in the 19th century.
palimpset
__ is a site produced by a series of distinct brief occupations.
Etic
__: An approach to archaeological or anthropological analysis that does not attempt to adopt the perspective of the members of the culture that are being studied.
DK
__: The site at Olduvai Gorge where stone circles was found, suggesting evidence of a temporary structure built on a home-base site.
Tai Forest
___ : is the location where chimpanzes use stone hammers and anvils to break open hard nuts. The tools are not manufactured but rather are used as found.
Chesowanja
___ is a site in Kenya and dated to 1.4 million years ago that has produced tentative evidence for the use of fire by early hominins.
Flake
a piece of stone removed from a core by the application of force; shows a positive scar from the removal force. ¨ Technologies may emphasize production of core tools or flake tools.
supraorbital torus
a ridge of bones above the eyes
Osteological development
animals the go through a number of development stages and changes in their bones as they grow and mature
Formation processes
any process, condition, or event that produces or alters archaeological data
sites and regions
areas of intensive localized human activity
Altrical
baby birds that are reliant on their paresnt for a long period of time
Recent Epoch, (aka Holocene or Postglacial
began 10-12 Kya and witnessed the origins of agriculture, and development of cities and civilization.
Modern archaeology period
began in the mid 1800's with the revolutions in geology use of scientific principles to study the past
mobiliary art
bone art
Osteological comparative collections
bone libraries where ancient species can be compared to known, labeled specimens to help identity the species recovered in excavation
The pompeii premise
cannot assume that everything in a site is a primary context and a snapshot of past life at that site, we always need to assess the nature and extent of tranformation that may have affected the deposits
parietal art
cave paintings
Adaptive problems of early hominins
change from tree dwellers to terrestrial primates ¨ movement from forests to open savanna
goals of archeologist
construct of cultural timeline reconstruction of past lifeways explaining process of culture change preserving the archeological records
what is culture for archaeologists
culture is learned not genetically inherited our ability to learn culture is gentically inherited
catastrophism
developed by Georges Cuvier in 1796 Catastrophes that wiped out all animal life and explain the origin of the earth's geology
Uniformaitarianism
earths features had been shaped by the same geological processes that can be observed in the present, acting slowly over a long time period
1.9 and 1.5 million years ago
he earliest known Homo erectus fossils date to the period between_____
Behavioral process
human activities that produce material remains Human activities can generate two types of refuse: 1. Primary refuse: material used together and deposited together, and left exactly where they fell by ancient people. 2. Secondary refuse: material deposited away from their location of use
secondary altricial
human babies that rely on their parents for a long amount of time
STRATIGRAPHY in archaeology
interpretation of the layering ["strata or stratification"] in archaeological sites
Ground, pecked and polished stone
is often associated with advent of agriculture and sedentism.
mandible
lower jaw
petroglyph
rock art
musculoskeletal hypertrophy
short and stocky figure
occipital
the back of the skull is rounder
chipped or flaked stone
the earliest, most common, and technically complicated lithic industry.
Hominin
the group consisting of modern humans, extinct human species and all our immediate ancestors
megafauna
the hunting of big game
Core
the piece from which flakes are removed; shows negative flake scars of detached pieces.
Ealiest oldowan technology
¨ New perspectives from Gona, Lokalalei 2C ¨ Rather than poor attempts to break stone, earliest toolmakers had mastered the principle of conchoidal fracture. ¨ Preferential selection of raw material that was transported to sites for flaking. ¨ Flakes systematically produced (sometimes in mass) from cores by well-controlled methods. ¨ Lokalalei 2C shows ability to adapt to problems arising during flaking, reflecting sophisticated knowledge, & considerable motor skills.
early stone age technology acheulean manufacture
¨ Tool types found in Acheulean assemblages include hand-axes; cleavers, retouched flakes, scrapers, and chopping tools. ¨ In Africa, sedimentary and igneous rock (mudstone and basalt) were most widely used although obsidian was also used (e.g, Kariandusi, Kenya). ¨ Flint is most often associated with tools in Western Europe. Acheulean tool manufacture suggests more structured, planned reduction technique, relative to the Oldowan industry.
classification of oldowan sites
¨ Type A: little bone, few stone tools ¨ Type B: bits of tools and bones from the carcasses of only one species. ¨ Type C: artifacts and fragmented bones from various animal species. ¨ Type D: bones with cut marks and percussion marks, but no stone tools.
methonds of force application in stone tool manufacture
¨ a) Hard-hammer percussion ¨ b)Anviltechnique ¨ c) Bipolar technique ¨ d) Soft-hammer percussion ¨ e) Indirect percussion ¨ f) Pressure flaking
early stone age (paleolithic) lithic reduction strategies
ú Core-based tools ú Flake-based tools ú Bipolar reduction
Lithic production (reduction) stages
ú Quarrying & of raw materials ú Initial core preparation ú Primary flaking (flake production, core tool reduction) ú Secondary flaking/trimming (unifacial, bifacial) ú Maintenance(resharpening) &modification (into a different tool form) ú Discard
preconditions for successful flake removal
ú Selection of raw material with conchoidal fracture and homogenous structure properties. ú Direction and amount of removal force application must be sufficient to initiate fracture. ú Adequate hand-eye motor skill coordination.