GENED 1105 Midterm Items

"Direct Interpretation" vs. "Ritual Approaches" to burial

"Approaches involving "direct interpretation," described in more detail in the next section, tend to link the occupant of a grave directly with the characteristics of that grave. "Ritual approaches," on the other hand, disassociate the individual from the grave and emphasize the connection between the burial and the funeral process. In this article I argue that taken alone, each obscures the complex process that is involved in the creation of burials. I propose that the two positions are not irreconcilable and I construct a rich interpretive model that combines the basic tenets of both positions. I use this synthetic model to argue that different stages in a burial process are not identically significant and that we should therefore separate such stages in models that seek to measure the relative elaborateness of grave" (Flad 2002: 23).

Primary Deposit

A primary deposit is one in which the corpse is laid in its final place of burial where decomposition takes place.

Thermoluminescence dating

A relative dating method in which the energy trapped in a material is measured when the object is heated. It measures accumulated radiation in the object since it was exposed to heat/sunlight. Exclusively for objects with a crystalline structure (e.g. couldn't do this with a piece of wood) (Review).

Biface

A stone tool that has been worked on both sides (think Acheulian hand axe) (Section Review) (Know the date range, although you can note these things are hard to date). A hand axe (or handaxe) is a prehistoric stone tool with two faces that is the longest-used tool in human history. It is usually made from flint or chert. It is characteristic of the lower Acheulean and middle Palaeolithic (Mousterian) periods. Its technical name (biface) comes from the fact that the archetypical model is generally bifacial Lithic flake and almond-shaped (amygdaloidal). Hand axes tend to be symmetrical along their longitudinal axis and formed by pressure or percussion. The most common hand axes have a pointed end and rounded base, which gives them their characteristic shape, and both faces have been knapped to remove the natural cortex, at least partially. Hand axes are a type of the somewhat wider biface group of two-faced tools or weapons (Wikipedia).

Agriculture

A system of crop production that incorporates at least some domesticated plants and requires systematic tillage (Lecture 12).

Millet (Setaria / Panicum)

A type of grain. Setaria was first domesticated in China circa 6000 BC. Panicum?

Harris Matrix

A visual representation of the stratigraphy of a site. Manner of demonstrating the strata in an archaeological site; shows the relationship between features (Review).

Electrical resistivity

Active survey; electrical pulses sent into the ground to look at differing levels of conductivity and thus features. Think about the environments in which you would use these things (what would you use in the desert vs. where you know there was an occupation). If you can think of a method to answer a question, that's great! E.g. electrical resistivity would work best in known places -- where you know there's probably something present already -- for example, in an archaeological site to determine what's underground (Review).

Terminus Ante Quem (TAQ)

All the soil below a solid, undisturbed layer dates before that layer. Objects found below are older (Review).

Pseudoarchaeology

Also known as alternative archaeology, fringe archaeology, fantastic archaeology, or cult archaeology—refers to interpretations of the past from outside of the archaeological science community, which reject the accepted datagathering and analytical methods of the discipline. E.g. interpretations of Pakal's Tomb.

Dendrochology

Also known as tree ring dating, this technique was developed by Andrew Ellicott Douglass as a way of dating seasons, artifacts, and climate events based off of seasonal variations in tree rings. It's highly useful in the American Southwest.

Context

An artifact's context usually consists of its immediate matrix (the material around it e.g. gravel, clay, or sand), its provenience (horizontal and vertical position in the matrix), and its association with other artifacts (with other archaeological remains, usually in the same matrix) (Renfrew and Bahn Glossary).

Anthropogenic

Anthropogenic is an adjective that may refer to: pertaining to anthropogeny, the study of the origins of humanity. Anthropogeny: the study of human origins. It is not simply a synonym for human evolution by natural selection, which is only a part of the processes involved in human origins. Many other factors besides biological evolution were involved, ranging over climatic, geographic, ecological, social, and cultural ones. Anthropogenesis, meaning the process or point of becoming human, is also called hominization (Wikipedia).

Artifact

Any portable object used, modified, or made by humans; e.g. stone tools, pottery, and metal weapons (Renfrew and Bahn Glossary)

Surface Scatter

Archaeological materials found distributed over the ground surface.

Chopper

Archaeologists define a chopper as a pebble tool with an irregular cutting edge formed through the removal of flakes from one side of a stone. Choppers are crude forms of stone tool and are found in industries as early as the Lower Palaeolithic from around 2.5 million years ago. These earliest known specimens were found in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania by Louis Leakey in the 1930s. The name Oldowan was given to the tools after the site in which they were excavated. These types of tools were used an estimated time range of 2.5 to 1.2 million years ago.

Law of Association

Artifacts associated with one another in a layer are the same age (Lecture 9).

Cranial Deformation / modification

Artificial cranial deformation or modification, head flattening, or head binding is a form of body alteration in which the skull of a human being is deformed intentionally. It is done by distorting the normal growth of a child's skull by applying force. Flat shapes, elongated ones (produced by binding between two pieces of wood), rounded ones (binding in cloth), and conical ones are among those chosen or valued in various cultures. Typically, the shape alteration is carried out on an infant, as the skull is most pliable at this time. In a typical case, headbinding begins approximately a month after birth and continues for about six months.

Pompeii premise

False notion that all archaeological sites capture distinct moments in time; you see processes.

Chaine Operatoire

Sequence of production of an object: if you can see this, you can know how the lithic was produced. Demonstrates forward planning and levels of abstract thought (Review).

Paleoethnobotany

The recovery and identification of plant remains from archaeological contexts, used in reconstructing past environments and economies (Renfrew and Bahn Glossary).

Feature

A non-portable artifact; e.g. hearths, architectural elements, or soil stains (Renfrew and Bahn Glossary).

Technology

"Effective traditional act" (Mauss 1934); A device or practice that fulfills a human purpose by combining available materials / forces that exploit natural phenomena (Arthur 2009); "A system of practices interrelating transformation of material resources, abstract and practical knowledge, social and political relationships, and cultural beliefs" (Brezine 2011: 82) (Lecture 7).

Egalitarianism

"No sharp divisions in rank, status, or wealth" (Lecture 11).

Domestication

"The process by which the selective conditions that effect plant and animal reproduction are altered by human activity such that a symbiotic relationship develops between the plants / animals and humans" (Lecture 12).

Willard Libby

(1908-1980). Worked on radioactivity during World War II as part of the development of the atomic bomb. Developed radiocarbon dating in 1947 (Lecture 9).

Acheulian

1.8 - 0.2 Mya (Lecture 7).

Homo Erectus:

1.8-.4 MYA; Much larger body size; Brain 1000 cc (but major increase relative to body size); Diffuses far out of Africa (Dmanisi, Georgia first evidence of Homo Erectus outside of Africa [1.8 mya]). Post-cranial skeletons: Adults tall (male 6', female 5'); Long legs, narrow hips, narrow shoulders; Robust & heavily muscled; Shorter arms; Less sexual dimorphism (Lecture 6). Employed Acheulian hand axes and controlled fire (Zhoukoudian in China 230, 460 KYA; Possible examples as early as 1.7 MYA). May have used some form of crude rafts (Lecture 6).

Homo Habilis

2.1 to 1.5 MYA; Larger brain: 550-690 cc; Post crania similar to Australopithecines; Unclear relation to later Homo; Only in Africa. Homo Habilis used Oldowan stone tools (Oldest undisputed stone tools 2.6 MYA); Used for processing meat; Do not necessarily indicate hunting; bipedal; (Lecture 6).

Oldowan

2.6 -1 Mya: Simple, slow to change (Lecture 7).

Otzi the Iceman

5300 year old remains of a Neolithic man that has given much insight to life of early humans (See Renfrew and Bahn 2015: 54-55).

Gobekli Tepe

A ceremonial site found in Turkey made by hunting and gathering people around 11,600 years ago. Implicitly challenges Diamond's claims about the transition to agriculture (Review).

Three Age System

A classification system devised by C.J. Thomsen for the sequence of technological periods (stone, bronze, and iron) in Old World prehistory. It established the principle that by classifying artifacts, one could produce a chronological ordering (Renfrew and Bahn 2015 Glossary).

Cultigen

A cultigen (from the Latin cultus - cultivated, and gens - kind) is a plant that has been deliberately altered or selected by humans; it is the result of artificial selection. These man-made or anthropogenic plants are, for the most part, plants with commercial value used in horticulture, agriculture or forestry. Because cultigens are defined by their mode of origin and not by where they are growing, plants meeting this definition remain cultigens whether they are naturalised in the wild, deliberately planted in the wild, or growing in cultivation. Cultigens arise in the following ways: selections of variants from the wild or cultivation including vegetative sports (aberrant growth that can be reproduced reliably in cultivation); plants that are the result of plant breeding and selection programs; genetically modified plants (plants modified by the deliberate implantation of genetic material); and graft-chimaeras (plants grafted to produce mixed tissue, the graft material possibly from wild plants, special selections, or hybrids) (Wikipedia).

Terminus Post Quem (TPQ)

A datable object provides only the date when or after which the layer of soil that contains it was deposited (Lecture 9); Objects found above must be later/younger (Review).

Levallois

A distinctive method of stone tool production used during the Middle Paleolithic, in which the core was prepared and flakes removed from the surface before the final tool was detached from the core. ca. 300-35 ka. Mousterian (Middle Paleolithic); Increased planning / diversity; Eg. hafted spearpoints (Lecture 7).

index fossil

A fossil known to have lived in a particular geologic age that can be used to date the rock layer in which it is found

Olduvai Gorge

A gorge in Tanzania with Oldowan tools. Seismically active area so large ranges of archaeological time are represented; excavated by Louis and Mary Leakey (Review).

Teosinte

A grass found in the highlands of Mexico, it is the wild ancestor of maize.

Pedestrian Survey

A method of walking across the landscape in a systematic manner that provides a sample for artifacts located on the surface. The primary method of current survey archaeology has is the field-walking or pedestrian survey. Basically, a team of archaeologists hikes through the open fields of their study area recording all superficial archaeological evidence encountered. However, there are a few important variables in this method. The first one relates to the detail with which the surface record is documented; the more intensive the documentation, the less land is covered. Although these scales are rather fluid, there is a clear differentiation between intensive and extensive field-walking strategies. This is mainly a matter of resolution; hence an intensive survey studies a relatively small area in a very detailed way, whereas an extensive survey covers an enormous area, using far less meticulous methods.

Ground Penetrating Radar

A method that employs radio pulses is called ground-penetrating (or probing) radar (GPR). An emitter sends short pulses through the soil, and the echoes not only reflect back any changes in the soil and sediment conditions encountered, such as filled ditches, graves, walls, etc., but also measure the depth at which the changes occur on the basis of the travel time of the pulses. Three-dimensional maps of buried archaeological remains can then be produced from data processing and image-generation programs.

Dendera Light Bulb

A motif discovered in the Hathor temple, an Egyptian Temple site, that appeared to depict a modern-style cathode tube. Some fringe theorists believe that this proved that ancient Egyptians could use electricity, but most modern archaeologists consider it to be a djed pillar and lotus flower, two standard Egyptian symbols of fertility and stability. This is an example of a 'fantastic claim', or 'pseudoarchaeology.' (Lecture 1)

Modern Human Behavior

Artistic production; interdependence (e.g. via trade); religion; ritual; symbolic behavior; ideology; foreword planning. Combination of these features rather than a preponderance of one thing; agriculture (Review).

Heterarchy

Balanced or opposed power; Different institutions, with different hierarchies balance each other; Order social interaction without "top-down" imposition (Lecture 11).

C3/C4 Plants

C3 plants: wheat, rye, barley, pulses, leaves, etc. C4 plants: corn/maize, millet, sorghum, sugar cane, grasses. Leaves a very distinct signature -- stable isotope analysis helps us know what plants people were eating. Looking at stable isotopic values can help us to understand status, geographical location, etc.

Complex Society

Cf. with "social complexity": Social interaction in all societies is similarly "complex." "Social complexity" has a very specific meaning. Refers to: Interdependence (The number of interactions required to accomplish particular tasks) and Differentiation and specialization in social roles / degree of authority (Egalitarianism / Hierarchy / Heterarchy) (Lecture 11). A complex society is characterized by features such as: State with a large population wherein its economy is structured according to specialization and a division of labor. These economic features spawn a bureaucratic class and institutionalize inequality.[2] Archaeologically, features such as big architectural projects and prescribed burial rites.[2] Large scale agricultural development, which allows members of society time for specialized skill sets. Organized political structure (Wikipedia).

epiphyseal fusion

Characteristic changes during epiphyseal union provide a skeletal age, which when compared with age-based standards provides an estimation of chronological age.

Uniformitarianism

Charles Lyell's idea that geologic processes have not changed throughout Earth's history (Review).

V. Gordon Childe

Childe coined the term "Neolithic Revolution" to describe the origin and consequences of farming(i.e. the development of stock raising and agriculture), allowing the widespread development of settled village life.

Transformational Processes

Conditions and events that affect archaeological data from the time of deposition to the time of recovery.

Site Formation Processes

Conditions and events that affect material remains from the termination of use to the time they are recovered. These factors include both natural and anthropogenic forces operating in different depositional environments and contributing to postdepositional disturbances. Formation processes affect the spatial integrity of both artifacts and sites, and they affect cultural deposits in different ways depending on the site's age, geomorphic setting, sediments and soils, climate, and type and the complexity of occupation.

Cropmarks

Cropmarks or crop marks are a means through which sub-surface archaeological, natural and recent features may be visible from the air or a vantage point on higher ground or a temporary platform (Wikipedia). Reveal subsurface features because they hold different levels of moisture and content (Review).

C-Transform

Cultural (human) factors of transformation and disturbance: Reuse of materials; Agriculture; Landscape transformations (Lecture 8).

Processualism

Culture "Process" (vs. Culture History); Explanatory (vs. Descriptive); Deductive (vs. Inductive); Testing (vs. Authority); Project Design (vs. Data Accumulation); Quantitative (vs. Qualitative); Optimistic (vs. pessimistic) (Lecture 3). Evolutionary Generalizations; Explicitly Scientific; Objectivity & Ethical neutrality; Culture = "extrasomatic means of adaptation"; Systems Perspective (Lecture 3).

Absolute Dating

Dendrochronology; Radiocarbon. Provides a date such as 3500 B.C., 30,000 B.P, 50 ka, 1.6 Mya, etc. (Lecture 9). Can date clearly.

Magnetometry

Detecting buried remains through magnetic variations between them and the surrounding soil.

Homo sapiens

Develop in Africa. Archaeologists think of beads and bone tools as "hallmarks" of modern human behavior. Diversification in technology and symbolic expression. Living spaces more elaborate Clear examples of burials with grave goods. Increase in population density (Lecture 6).

Bioturbation

Disturbances of sediments related to the archaeological records by animals such as moles and gophers. They can drag materials up from deeper levels, or down from higher levels (https://mvac.uwlax.edu/glossary/bioturbation-2/). N-transform. Think of as disturbance (Review).

Stratified Random Sampling

Division of an area into different zones; divisions are based on shared attributes. Zones based on shared attributes and then sampling based on knowledge of attributes.

Soft Hammer/Hard Hammer

Flaked stone reduction involves the use of a hard hammer percussor, such as a hammerstone, a soft hammer fabricator (made of wood, bone or antler), or a wood or antler punch to detach lithic flakes from the lithic core

Stratiagraphy

Form of relative dating. Based on the interpretation of / comparison of layers or sites to establish a chronological sequence. "Study of the origin, characteristics, and spatial relations of stratified rocks or sediments." Examination of strata (sing. = stratum). Layer of sedimentary rock visually distinct from those above or below it (= bed). Boundaries between strata = change in sedimentation. (As relative chronology): Based on the interpretation of / comparison of layers or sites to establish a chronological sequence. Use of "Index Fossils": Abundant, widespread, easily identified forms. •"Relative" because: (1) Length of each phase unknown and (2) Absolute age unknown (Lecture 9).

C-Transform

Formation processes are the events that affect how sites of human activity came to be buried and what happened to them afterwards. Each site has evidence of use and abandonment. Once the site ceases to have human activity present, it becomes subject to a myriad of events that dictate its potential survival and future in the archaeological record. Examples can include: later human activity, weathering, and plant and animal interaction. There are two main types of formation processes. It is extremely important to learn to distinguish between the two, as it can drastically affect the interpretation of the site (e.g. Cut marks on bone can be from man made tools, animals): Cultural Transformation Processes (C-Transforms): which involve all human activity, intentional or otherwise. Examples would include farming, tool making, building, etc. Human interaction follows the cycle of acquisition, manufacturing, use, and disposal. An object can enter the archaeological record at any point during this cycle, providing even more information to modern researchers. Burial, both of our dead, and of material goods count towards a C-Transform. (https://www.digitwithraven.com/single-post/FormationProcesses)

Andrew Ellicott Douglass

Founder of dendrochronology.

Charles Lyell

Geologist and lawyer who came up with the principle of uniformitarianism (the idea that geological processes that happen today happened in the past) (Review).

Systematic Sampling

Goal is to provide equal, and unbiased coverage of region. Study locales distributed equally across the research area. Insures "full" coverage (Lecture 4).

A.E. Douglass

He discovered a correlation between tree rings and the sunspot cycle, and founded the discipline of dendrochronology, which is a method of dating wood by analyzing the growth ring pattern.

Jane Buikstra

Her 1977 article on the biological dimensions of archaeology coined and defined the field of bioarchaeology in the US as the application of biological anthropological methods to the study of archaeological problems.

Targeted Sampling

Highest degree of bias. Research focused to maximize the recovery of artifacts at known localities. Based on prior knowledge and/or intuition (but biased against new finds) (Lecture 4).

State

Highest level of social organization. Large-scale, stratified societies; Encompass many communities within a territory; Centralized, permanent social and political organization; Status positions often ascribed; Monopoly on violence; Large territories; Administrative bureaucracies; High degree of specialization; Large, dense populations; Non-kin-based rule. Monopoly on physical force / coercion. Weber's definition: "A human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory." Radical social stratification; Centralized institutions of government administration; Restricted access to / distribution of resources; Consistent threat of legitimate use of force. Authority. Integration and interdependence.

Battleship-shaped curves

His lead in the late 19th century was taken up half a century later by American scholars who realized that the frequency of a particular ceramic style, as documented in the successive layers of a settlement, is usually small to start with, rises to a peak as the style gains popularity, and then declines again (which diagrammatically produces a shape like a battleship viewed from above, known as a "battleship curve"). Using this insight they were able to compare the pottery assemblages from different sites in the same area, each with a limited stratigraphic sequence, and arrange these sites into chronological order so that the ceramic frequencies would conform to the pattern of rising to a maximum and then declining. The diagram above shows how this technique has been applied to changes in the popularity of three tombstone designs found in central Connecticut cemeteries dating from 1700 to 1860. The fluctuating fortunes of each design produce characteristic and successive battleship curves - as elsewhere in New England, the Death's head design (peak popularity 1710-1739) was gradually replaced by the Cherub (peak 1760-1789), which in turn was replaced by the Urn and willow tree (peak 1840-1859). (Renfrew and Bahn 2015: 113)

Post-Processualism

Historical Particularism; Interpretive; Political activism: Deconstruct hierarchies & Promote Diversity; Ideology / Symbolism emphasized; Individuals and Power (Lecture 3).

Starch Grain Analysis

Identification of ancient starch grains from flaked stone tools, grinding stones, carbonized pottery residue and dental calculus; used for studying domestication (Review).

Teotihuacan Effect

If you conduct a random sample, you could end up missing one of the most important areas of a site. Implicit risks of random sampling.

Hominin

Key developments include: Bipedalism; Large brains relative to body size; Dependence on materials (tools); Longer periods of juvenile development (Lecture 6).

Laetoli

Lakebed with human footprints found. Significance: could be signs of bipedalism -- tells us about how people walked in the past. Volcanic ash with human footprints found (Review).

Law of Superposition

Layers at the bottom of a sequence are older than layers at the top (Lecture 9).

Satellite Imagery

Images generated at intervals from satellites orbiting the Earth. Can show visible, infrared, shortwave infrared or water vapor images. Satellite imagery can be used as a methodological procedure for detecting, acquire inventory and prioritizing surface and shallow-depth archeological information in a rapid, accurate, and quantified manner. Satellite images and GIS have become increasingly important tools for archaeologists, as these systems link information to precisely calibrated physical locations, and integrate information drawn from multiple sources. The usefulness of satellite imagery for identifying and analyzing archaeological sites was recognized from the early days of aviation and the imagery is now available from an array high resolution satellite sensors that provide even greater potential for investigating archaeological sites.

Homo neaderthalis

In Europe and the Near East, Homo erectus evolved into Neanderthals (~ 250,000 - 30,000 years ago). This is the archaeological period called "The Middle Paleolithic" or the "Mousterian" (the stone tool industry). Neaderthal physical characteristics include: Much more robust than modern humans Brain larger than modern humans; Barrel chested; Well defined brow ridge; Lack a chin; Very muscular. Diet included red deer, ibex, auroch, legumes, dates, tubers, although a heavy dominance on meat. Employed Levallois technology, which "Requires careful forethought and planning as well as technical skill." Used hafting technology, close encounter hunting. Used fire (Dibble and Sandgathe argue there are three stages in the development of our use of fire: 1. interact safely with fire, 2. control fire but captured from natural fires, 3. start fire.). Symbolic expression (including cave paintings from three different sites in Spain dated to >64,000 years ago). Would care for the sick: this includes the "Old man" from La Chapelle aux Saints (France), and the man from Shanidar Cave with withered arm. Burial ceremonies. Neanderthals contributed 1-4% of the genomes of most modern humans, except those from Africa Interbreeding occurred as far back as 100,000 years ago (Lecture 6). Oldest date for fire is 1.7mya

Neaderthals

In Europe and the Near East, Homo erectus evolved into Neanderthals (~ 250,000 - 30,000 years ago). This is the archaeological period called "The Middle Paleolithic" or the "Mousterian" (the stone tool industry). Neaderthal physical characteristics include: Much more robust than modern humans Brain larger than modern humans; Barrel chested; Well defined brow ridge; Lack a chin; Very muscular. Diet included red deer, ibex, auroch, legumes, dates, tubers, although a heavy dominance on meat. Employed Levallois technology, which "Requires careful forethought and planning as well as technical skill." Used hafting technology, close encounter hunting. Used fire (Dibble and Sandgathe argue there are three stages in the development of our use of fire: 1. interact safely with fire, 2. control fire but captured from natural fires, 3. start fire.). Symbolic expression (including cave paintings from three different sites in Spain dated to >64,000 years ago). Would care for the sick: this includes the "Old man" from La Chapelle aux Saints (France), and the man from Shanidar Cave with withered arm. Burial ceremonies. Neanderthals contributed 1-4% of the genomes of most modern humans, except those from Africa Interbreeding occurred as far back as 100,000 years ago (Lecture 6). Oldest date for fire is 1.7mya

Blade

In archaeology, a blade is a type of stone tool created by striking a long narrow flake from a stone core. This process of reducing the stone and producing the blades is called lithic reduction. Archaeologists use this process of flintknapping to analyze blades and observe their technological uses for historical peoples (Wikipedia). Around 35,000 years ago, with the Upper Paleolithic period, blade technology became dominant in some parts of the world. Long, parallel-sided blades were systematically removed with a punch and hammerstone from a cylindrical core. This was a great advance, not only because it produced large numbers of blanks that could be further trimmed and retouched into a wide range of specialized tools (scrapers, burins, borers), but also because it was far less wasteful of the raw material, obtaining a much greater total length of working edges than ever before from a given amount of stone (Renfrew and Bahn: 214).

Stratum

In geology and related fields, a stratum (plural: strata) is a layer of sedimentary rock or soil, or igneous rock that were formed at the Earth's surface, with internally consistent characteristics that distinguish it from other layers. The "stratum" is the fundamental unit in a stratigraphic column and forms the basis of the study of stratigraphy.

Transect

In large-scale surveys, transects (straight paths) are sometimes preferable to squares, particularly in areas of dense vegetation, such as tropical rainforest. It is far easier to walk along a path than to locate accurately and investigate a square. In addition, transects can easily be segmented into units, whereas it may be difficult to locate or describe a specific part of a square; and transects are useful not merely for finding sites but also for recording artifact densities across the landscape. On the other hand, squares have the advantage of exposing more area to the survey, thus increasing the probability of intersecting sites. A combination of the two methods is often best: using transects to cover long distances, but squares when larger concentrations of material are encountered (Renfrew and Bahn 2015: 69).

Bulb of Percussion

In lithic analysis, a subdivision of archaeology, a bulb of applied force (also known as a bulb of percussion) is a defining characteristic of a lithic flake. When a flake is detached from its parent core, a portion of the Hertzian cone of force caused by the detachment blow is detached with it, leaving a distinctive bulb on the flake and a corresponding flake scar on the core.

Cribra Orbitalia

Intra vitam porous lesions of the skull are pathological conditions due to genetic or acquired chronic anaemia. They are the most reported skeletal lesions in human skeletal remains and are routinely used to assess health, hygiene and nutritional status of past populations. Bone pathology that occurs in the orbits of the eyes; indicative of anemia, malnutrition, stress.

James Ussher

Irish prelate who deduced from the Bible that Creation occurred in the year 4004 BC (1581-1656)

Gender vs. Biological Sex

It is important to recognize gender in the archaeological record (particularly the roles of women, which have traditionally been overlooked). There is also a distinction between sex and gender: sex is biologically determined, whereas gender roles in different societies vary greatly (Renfrew and Bahn: 168).

Random Sampling

Least biased sampling method. Problems: Dispersion of random numbers may be unlucky; Placing units is time consuming; All landscape / areas treated equally; Some places very unlikely to contain sites / artifacts (Lecture 4).

Pakal's Tomb

Looks like a man driving a rocket; therefore we were visited by aliens. Not true, because we can read the glyphs around the image. Pseudoarchaeology. Simplest answer is probably the right answer: Occam's Razor (Review).

Band

Lowest level of social organization. Small, autonomous, self-sufficient, egalitarian groups with informal leadership, kin based, Division of labor/status by age and sex, Social norms include mechanisms for eliminating differences in wealth, prestige, and power. Communal use of force (Lecture 11).

Lucy

Lucy is the common name of AL 288-1, several hundred pieces of bone fossils representing 40 percent of the skeleton of a female of the hominin species Australopithecus afarensis . . . The Lucy specimen is an early australopithecine and is dated to about 3.2 million years ago. The skeleton presents a small skull akin to that of non-hominin apes, plus evidence of a walking-gait that was bipedal and upright, akin to that of humans (and other hominins); this combination supports the view of human evolution that bipedalism preceded increase in brain size (Wikipedia).

Mousterian

MSA stone tool industry made by Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans (Review).

Macrobotany vs. Microbotany

Macro: bias towards certain plant types and parts; preservation; questionable path to arch record. Micro: can be dated; identifiable to family level (Review).

"Culture History"

Manner in which early societies are studied. Idea of progression and accumulation of []; replaced by processualism. Breaking away from the artifact-dominated "culture history" approach of his contemporaries, [Clarke] argued that by studying how human populations adapted to their environments we can understand many aspects of ancient society (27).

Pleistocene

Many long, cold periods of glaciation; Many short, warmer interglacial periods; Great variability in climate (Lecture 6). Preceded the Holocene, starts around 2.5mya: corresponded to the last glacial period. Holocene is the warmer period. Theories about the emergence of agriculture often link it to the end of the Pleistocene (Review).

Radiocarbon dating

Most common absolute dating method for archaeology. 12C and 13C (stable) and 14C (unstable) all occur naturally. Carbon cycle: maintains atmospheric ratio of 12C to 14C in living organisms. Decay: 14C --> 14N + Beta particle. Can date samples up to ~50-60 kya. 1 date is not reliable because of contamination and disturbances. Limited to 50-60,000 years. Date ranges are probabilities! Relies on assumption of constant atmospheric ratio of C-12 to C-14. Calibrated with Dendrochronology. Dating of "Old Wood" is potential problem (Lecture 9).

Australopithecines

Most fossils attributed to two species: A. afarensis, A. africanus; Most famous A. afarensis: "Lucy"; Most famous A. africanus: "Taung child"; Brains still small: 400-500 cc (chimps: ~370 cc, modern humans 1200-1500 cc); Bipedal but retaining some adaptations for climbing; Lower part of face protrudes (prognathic); Sexual dimorphism is pronounced (Lecture 6). Human ancestors

Cortex

Most stone tools are made by removing material from a pebble or "core" until the desired shape has been attained. The first flakes struck off (primary flakes) bear traces of the outer surface (cortex). Trimming flakes are then struck off to achieve the final shape, and certain edges may then be "retouched" by further removal of tiny secondary flakes. Although the core is the main implement thus produced, the flakes themselves may well be used as knives, scrapers, etc. The toolmaker's work will have varied in accordance with the type and amount of raw material available (Renfrew and Bahn 2015: 212). In lithic analysis in archaeology the cortex is the outer layer of rock formed on the exterior of raw materials by chemical and mechanical weathering processes. It is often recorded on the dorsal surface of flakes using a three class system: primary, secondary, and tertiary. The amount of cortex present on artifacts in an archaeological assemblage may indicate the extent of lithic reduction that has occurred (Wikipedia).

Core / Flake Technology

Much use has been made of the Cold War CORONA satellite photographs (at best about 2 m resolution), and these too provide a useful base map and allow provisional interpretation of sites that can later be checked by fieldwork - for example, CORONA images have led to the detection and detailed mapping of numerous kinds of archaeological remains, such as ancient roads, ruins, irrigation networks, and so forth. Jason Ur of Harvard University has used CORONA imagery to examine linear trackways ("hollow ways") across northern Mesopotamia (Syria, Turkey, and Iraq). These broad and shallow features were formed over time as people walked between settlements, and from settlements to fields and pasture. Because depressed features collect moisture and vegetation, they are easily visible on CORONA images. Some 6025 km (3750 miles) of premodern features have been identified, primarily dating to a phase of Bronze Age urban expansion from around 2600 to 2000 bc. Most commonly, trackways radiated out 2-5 km (1-3 miles) from sites, in a spoke-like pattern. Although there were several major centers, all movement was done by moving from place to place; no direct tracks existed between the major centers. From that we can deduce that political centralization and authority was probably weak (Renfrew and Bahn 2015: 78).

Bioarchaeology

Narrow definition: study of human remains. Broad definition: study of all biological remains at a site.

N-Transform

Natural factors of transformation and disturbance: Erosion (wind, water); Organic decay; Natural catastrophe; Bioturbation (actions of plants and animals); Cryoturbation: freeze/thaw cycles (Lecture 8).

Rice

Neolithic domesticate from Southeastern China -- a C3 plant (hence can contrast with c4). Important in terms of diet today (Review).

Ecofact

Non-artifactual organic and environmental remains that have cultural relevance, e.g. faunal and floral material, as well as soils and sediments (Renfrew and Bahn Glossary).

Use-wear

Not all fractures one encounters on the edges of tools will be retouch; many are unintentional - the results of tool usage (use wear) and/or modification after discard. In practice, differences between these two kinds of wear on stone tool edges are subtle. Retouch marks are generally large and regular, whereas use-wear and edge-damage are usually smaller and more irregular (Handout 2.1).

Nuchal Crest

Nuchal crest: This area, where the muscles from the back of the neck attach to the base of the skull, is smooth and rounded in females but hooked and protruding in males.

Association

Occurrence of two or more artifacts together in the same matrix (Lecture 8).

Lower Paleolithic

Old Stone Age beginning with the earliest Oldowan tools spanning from about 200,000 or 250,000 to 2.6 million years ago.

Palimpsest

Old and more recent on the same layer; landscape with presence of both older and more recent archaeological sites.

CAM

Photosynthetic pathway (the way in which plants use carbon in photosynthesis); present in cacti; bromeliads; looks like C4 isotopic signatures

Phytoliths

Phytoliths are very robust, and are useful in archaeology because they can help to reconstruct the plants present at a site when the rest of the plant parts have been burned up or dissolved. Because they are made of the inorganic substances silica or calcium oxalate, phytoliths don't decay with the rest of the plant and can survive in conditions that would destroy organic residues. Phytoliths can provide evidence of both economically important plants and those that are indicative of the environment at a particular time period. Phytoliths may be extracted from residue on many sources: dental calculus (buildup on teeth); food preparation tools like rocks, grinders, and scrapers; cooking or storage containers; ritual offerings; and garden areas.

Flakes

Pieces detached from a core (Lecture 7). A piece of stone that has been removed from a larger stone object (a core). Flakes may be tools themselves, be removed to prepare for the removal of subsequent flakes, or removed to cre-ate a core tool (Handout 2.1).

Osteological Paradox

Populations are variably affected by disease, so where a young, osteologically healthy person appears, we assume that Highlights that disease is quite invisible in the archaeological record.

Primary vs secondary burial

Primary: first place someone is buried... and left. Secondary: burial has been removed and place in a different location. Can tell the difference between each by looking at skeletal articulation (Review).

Cereals

Principle crop of most Cereals civilizations: (Levant, China, and Mesoamerica) Advantages: High nutritional value, esp. starch High yield Long seed storage Difficulties: Often poor in proteins ("broad spectrum") Often require rich soils (Lecture 11)

Refitting

Reconstructing the thought process. Suggests a flexible system of lithic reduction employed to efficiently exploit a relatively poor quality raw material (Lecture 7). Replace flakes on core / put them together to determine chaine operatoire. Retouching: modifying a stone tool (Review).

Remote Sensing (Active/Passive)

Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object and thus in contrast to on-site observation, especially the Earth. Passive sensors gather radiation that is emitted or reflected by the object or surrounding areas. Reflected sunlight is the most common source of radiation measured by passive sensors. Examples of passive remote sensors include film photography, infrared, charge-coupled devices, and radiometers. Active collection, on the other hand, emits energy in order to scan objects and areas whereupon a sensor then detects and measures the radiation that is reflected or backscattered from the target. RADAR and LiDAR are examples of active remote sensing where the time delay between emission and return is measured, establishing the location, speed and direction of an object.

Sampling Strategy

Sampling: Investigating a small part of a phenomena to generalize about the whole. Strategies depend on time, budget, questions (Lecture 4).

Chiefdom

Second highest level of social organization. Charismatic or unusually skilled leaders; Leadership positions are permanent and hereditary; Organization is kin-based but also more hierarchical than tribes; Population densities are higher than tribes; Social ranks exist, with differential access to resources depending on rank; These ranks can be hereditary; Society includes structurally and functionally different groups / factions; Lineages may be ranked. Informal laws and chiefly coercion (Lecture 11).

Tribe

Second lowest level of social organization. Egalitarian (more or less), Greater level of social & cultural integration than bands, No permanent offices or real political power, Leadership is personal-charismatic and situational, Tend to be more sedentary than bands, "Segmentary Societies." Group sanction. (Lecture 11).

Bronze Age

Second part of the "Three Age System," a "classification system devised by C.J. Thomsen for the sequence of technological periods (stone, bronze, and iron) in Old World prehistory. It established the principle that by classifying artifacts, one could produce a chronological ordering" (Renfrew and Bahn Glossary). An ancient civilization is defined to be in the Bronze Age either by producing bronze by smelting its own copper and alloying with tin, arsenic, or other metals, or by trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Bronze itself is harder and more durable than other metals available at the time, allowing Bronze Age civilizations to gain a technological advantage (Wikipedia).

Microwear

See use-wear.

Relative Dating

Seriation; Stratigraphy; TPQ / TAQ. Provides a sequence (i.e., older/younger),but not pace of change. Accumulation Methods: Patination, Bone Decay, Florine Dating, Obsidian Hydration. Bone Chemistry. Piltdown Man. (Lecture 9).

Debitage

Small flakes or flake fragments that do not appear to have a possible use (e.g. are too small to be useful tools or are strangely shaped pieces that have naturally shattered off of the core during reduction. May also be called angular waste or debris (Handout 2.1).

social age

Social age is defined as age-relevant behavior that is judged by social norms and rules.

Social Complexity

Social interaction in all societies is similarly "complex." "Social complexity" has a very specific meaning. Refers to: Interdependence (The number of interactions required to accomplish particular tasks) and Differentiation and specialization in social roles / degree of authority (Egalitarianism / Hierarchy / Heterarchy) (Lecture 11).

Biological Age

Some scholars feel able to assign exact age at death to particular deceased human beings, but it should be stressed that what we can usually establish with any certainty is biological age at death - young, adult, old - rather than any accurate measurement in years and months. The best indicators of age, as with animals, are the teeth. We can study the eruption and replacement of the milk teeth; the sequence of eruption of the permanent dentition; and finally the degree of wear, allowing as best one can for the effects of diet and method of food preparation (Renfrew and Bahn 2015: 240).

stable isotopes

Stable isotope analysis allows researchers to identify isotopic markers of certain foods in human bone and teeth, which can be used to reconstruct ancient diet and population movements. For example, in the Southwest, scientists use the ratios of different carbon isotopes in human bone to estimate the relative contributions of domesticated corn and wild plants to the ancient diet at different times throughout history. Such studies have shown that people in the Four Corners area became dependent on corn by about 500 B.C.

Cores

Stone from which flakes are removed (Lecture 7). a nodule of stone from which flakes are removed. A core may be the intended tool form, or it may be the nucleus from which flake tools are struck (Handout 2.1).

Secondary Burial

The final interment of an individual subsequent to an earlier burial in which the flesh decomposed (Handout 4.3).

Lithic Artifact

The formal term for stone tool; note: 'lithic' is an adjective not a noun, so while we can talk about 'lithic pieces' or 'lithic objects' or 'lithic artefacts', we can't talk about 'lithics' (Handout 2.1).

greater sciatic notch

The greater sciatic notch of the male hip bone is narrower and deeper than the broader notch of females. Because the female pelvis is adapted for childbirth, it is wider than the male pelvis, as evidenced by the distance between the anterior superior iliac spines.

Upper Paleolithic

The last part (10,000 to 40,000 years ago) of the Old Stone Age, featuring tool industries characterized by long slim blades and an explosion of creative symbolic forms.

Push/Pull/Social Models

The origins of agriculture (the why, the how) is still theoretical. We do not know for sure why agriculture started, how it started, what caused it to start, etc. As more research amasses, we fill in pieces (a bit of "when", some of the "where") but we are still nowhere near a definitive narrative. Different models have been proposed in attempts to answer the big questions. These models generally fall into two camps: Push or Pull.* A "Push" Model involves conditions that limited the predictability or availability of key food resources. This could be climate or social change, for examples. In the Push models, agriculture began as a sort of coping mechanism - a way to ensure food availability. A "Pull" Model involves people becoming reliant on specific resources (like wheat in the Near East). People would use more and more of abundant resources until they became totally reliant on those resources. The model is labelled "pull" because the abundance of resources drew people (or "pulled" them) towards using the resources more and more for subsistence. See lecture slides for more information.

Matrix

The physical medium that surrounds, holds and supports archaeological data (Lecture 8). The physical material within which artifacts are embedded or supported, e.g. gravel, clay, or sand (Renfrew and Bahn Glossary).

Primary Burial

The placement of the dead in a grave with the flesh at least partially intact (Handout 4.3).

Cultivation

The planting and harvesting of plants that results in changes in plant characteristics (Lecture 12).

Radiometric Dating

The process of measuring the absolute age of geologic material by measuring the concentrations of radioactive isotopes and their decay products.

pubic symphysis

The pubic symphysis is a secondary cartilaginous joint (a joint made of hyaline cartilage and fibrocartilage) located between the left and right pubic bones near the midline of the body. More specifically, it is located above any external genitalia and in front of the bladder. The pubic symphysis can be found above the penis in males and above the vulva in females. In males, the joint connects to the ligament of the penis. In females, the joint is located near the clitoris. In women, the area where the pubic bones connect creates the opening through which a baby passes during birth.

Pathologies

The study (logos) of suffering (pathos). Attempts to establish the presence of diseases and their dynamic impact on human groups. Number of variables that affect the expression of a disease; cultural, biological, environmental and other factors of change. Analogous processes that occurs in the present (Modern Population). Expressions: Abnormal bone formation (osteoid bone formation and/or mineralization of osteoid). Abnormal bone destruction. Failure to form or replace bone. Failure to destroy bone.

Experimental Archaeology

The study of past behavioral processes through experimental reconstruction under carefully controlled scientific conditions (Renfrew and Bahn Glossary).

Microwear

The study of the patterns of wear or damage on the edge of stone tools, which provides valuable information on the way in which the tool was used. (Same as use-wear) (Review).

Taphonomy

The study of the processes by which animal and plant remains become preserved as fossils. The common archaeological usage is "The study of the processes by which some artifacts, features, and sites survive to be recovered while others do not" (Lecture 8).

Archaeology

The systematic investigation of material culture in order to reconstruct past human activities including diet, demography, social organization, ritual, technology, subsistence patterns, etc. and to understand why such patterns developed (Lecture 3); a "subdiscipline of anthropology involving the study of the human past through its material remains" (Renfrew and Bahn). Why study archaeology? Because t's unique in its "ability to tell us about the whole history of humankind from its beginnings more than 3 million years ago. Indeed, for more than 99 percent of that huge span of time, archaeology - the study of past material culture - is the only source of information. The archaeological record is the only way that we can answer questions about the evolution of our species and the developments in culture and society that led to the emergence of the first civilizations and to the more recent societies that are founded upon them" (Renfrew and Bahn: 8). Diamond: "the worst mistake"?

Anatomically Modern Humans

The term "anatomically modern humans" (AMH) is used with varying scope depending on context, to distinguish "anatomically modern" Homo sapiens from archaic humans such as Neanderthals and Middle and Lower Paleolithic hominins with transitional features intermediate between homo erectus, Neanderthals and early AMH called archaic Homo sapiens (Wikipedia).

Epistemology

The theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope. Epistemology is the investigation of what distinguishes justified belief from opinion. Relevance to archaeology: think about how we can know what we claim to know about the past.

Chaîne Opératoire

The use-life of tools, from raw material acquisition, to production, use, recycling, & finally discard; "The unfolding of a technical act" (Lecture 7). The operational sequence that describes how a stone tool was made (i.e. from raw material acquisition, to initial shaping, to retouching, to use, to rejuvenation, to dis-card) (Handout 2.1).

Neolithic

Think of features of the Neolithic. Broadly speaking, what happened was the emergence of stone tool technology; agriculture; increased sedentism. First large concentrations of populations: proto-cities. Think of Catal Huyuk in Turkey (Review). An Old World chronological period characterized by the development of agriculture and, hence, an increasing emphasis on sedentism (Renfrew and Bahn Glossary).

Formation Processes

Those processes affecting the way in which archaeological materials came to be buried, and their subsequent history afterwards. Cultural formation processes include the deliberate or accidental activities of humans; natural formation processes refer to natural or environmental events that govern the burial and survival of the archaeological record (Renfrew and Bahn Glossary).

Provenience

Three-dimensional location of archaeological data within the matrix (Lecture 8). Cf. with provenance: the history of ownership/location of a given piece. Provenience: context in which an artifact was found (Review).

Seriation (Frequency vs. Contextual)

Through seriation you will examine how artifact types(classes of artifacts of similar form, style, manufacture, etc.) vary over time and how they can be arranged from earliest to latest, to form a relative chronology. There are two principal types of seriation. Contextual or Stylistic seriation arranges artifacts based on the frequency with which they occur in specific archaeological contexts, usually graves. Frequency seriation ranks artifact types based on their relative frequencies of appearance in absolute time (Handout 3.2). Must do contextual before you can do the frequency. Presence or absence of a design style (Review).

B.C. vs B.P.

To be meaningful, our timescale in years must relate to a fixed point in time. In the Christian world, this is by convention taken as the birth of Christ, supposedly in the year ad 1 (there is no year 0), with years counted back before Christ (bc) and forward after Christ (ad or Anno Domini, which is Latin for "In the Year of Our Lord"). However, this is by no means the only system. In the Muslim world, for example, the basic fixed point is the date of the Prophet's departure from Mecca (ad 622 in the Christian calendar). As a result of these differences some scholars prefer to use the terms "Before the Common Era" (bce) and "in the Common Era" (ce) instead of bc and ad. Scientists who derive dates from radioactive methods want a neutral international system, and have chosen to count years back from the present (bp). But since scientists too require a firm fixed point to count from, they take bp to mean "before 1950" (the approximate year of the establishment of the first radioactive method, radiocarbon). This may be convenient for scientists, but can be confusing for everyone else (a date of 400 bp is not 400 years ago but ad 1550, currently more than 460 years ago). It is therefore clearest to convert any bp date for the last few thousand years into the bc/ad system. For the Paleolithic period, however (stretching back two or three million years before 10,000 bc), archaeologists use the terms "bp" and "years ago" interchangeably, since a difference of 50 years or so between them is irrelevant. For this remote epoch we are dating sites or events at best only to within several thousand years of their "true" date. If even the most precise dates for the Paleolithic give us glimpses of that epoch only at intervals of several thousand years, clearly archaeologists can never hope to reconstruct a conventional history of Paleolithic events. On the other hand, Paleolithic archaeologists can gain insights into some of the broad long-term changes that shaped the way modern humans evolved - insights that are denied archaeologists working with shorter periods of time, where in any case there may be too much "detail" for the broader pattern to be apparent. (Renfrew and Bahn 2015: 108)

Dendrochronological Calibration

Today dendrochronology has two distinct archaeological uses: (1) as a successful means of calibrating or correcting radiocarbon dates . . . One of the most important uses of tree-ring dating has been the development of long tree-ring sequences, against which it is possible to check radiocarbon dates. The pioneering research was done in Arizona on a remarkable species, the Californian bristlecone pine, which can live up to 4900 years. By matching samples from dead trees also, an unbroken sequence was built up back from the present as far as 6700 bc. The importance of this for the calibration of radiocarbon dates is discussed below. The research in the American Southwest has been complemented by studies in Europe of tree-rings of oak, often well preserved in waterlogged deposits. The oak sequence in Northern Ireland stretches back unbroken to c. 5300 bc, and the master sequence in western Germany to c. 8500 bc (Renfrew and Bahn 120-121).

Stratified Sampling

Unbiased (maybe). Divide landscape into different environmental zones; Randomly (or systematically) sample in each zone; Apportion number of samples based on area of each zone [(2/5 in sloping zone), (3/5 in flat zone)]; Insures some sampling of all environments. (Lecture 4).

Hierarchy

Vertical differentiation in social roles / political institutions. Unequal distribution of Wealth, Power, and Rank. Explaining hierarchy: Integrative / cooperative / functionalist approaches: Population growth; Environmental stress; Hydraulic hypothesis; Trade. Coercive approaches: Warfare; Class conflict; Factional conflict. Strategic / Agency approaches: Aggrandizers. (Lecture 11).

Excavation: Total / Selective; Vertical / Horizontal

Vertical: selective trenching or pits into deep deposits. Horizontal: area or block excavation, exposes large area. Vertical excavations place emphasis on "Stratigraphic Profile." Stratigraphy refers to the primary spatial context of artifacts defined by their vertical relationship. (This is why we dig square holes!) Research that focuses on change over time (Lecture 4). Horizontal: Demonstrate contemporaneity; Differentiate activity areas; Understand site organization (Lecture 4).

Retouching

Where the edge of a flake is further modified by small removals to create a specific shape or working edge. The process of retouching leaves a scalloped pattern on the edge of flakes called retouch (Handout 2.1).

Bipedalism

Why bipedalism? To free hands, so that items can be carried; Thermoregulation; To see further (predator avoidance); Energetics, bipedalism is less costly (Lecture 6).

"culture history"

a term first used in the Industrial Revolution era to describe a new approach of combining anthropology and history to observe cultural traditions. (Lecture 2)