Archaeology Exam 1
settlement system
movement and activities reconstructed from a settlement pattern
natural level
vertical subdivision of an excavation square that is based on natural breaks in the sediments
accelerator mass spectrometry
AMS...method of radiocarbon dating that counts the proportion of carbon isotopes directly (rather than using the indirect Geiger counter method), thereby dramatically reducing the quantity of dateable material required.
Why does context matter? How is it recorded?
Context matters because information comes from what artifacts are associated with each other, features, and particular strata. It's not enough to know that an artifact came from a particular site...we need to know how it relates to everything else found at the site. Context is recorded by recording the provenience of artifacts, etc.
What determines preservation?
Enhanced in continuously dry, continuously wet, and/or very cold environments...anyplace where conditions prevent the existence of the microorganisms that prevent decay.
geographic information system
GIS...computer program for storing, retrieving, analyzing, and displaying cartographic data
ground-penetrating radar
GPR...remote sensing...radar pulses directly into the ground reflect back to the surface when they strike features or interfaces within the ground, showing the presence and depth of possible buried features
What is the law of superposition and how can it be violated?
Law of superposition holds that older geological strata tend to be buried beneath younger strata. It is an organizing principle and can be violated...example: reverse stratigraphy can occur....when people excavate sediments to create a mound
Provenience means location....location is both hierarchical and relative...how and why?
Location is hierarchical because provenience is simultaneously a country, state in the country, county in that state, site in that county, excavation unit in that site, vertical level in that unit, and particular position and orientation in that vertical level....gives more information. Location is relative because we measure an artifact's position relative to a spatial system. Could use UTM of site-specific format...key is to use format that other archaeologists could reconstruct in great detail where things were found.
What is the main principle of survey? Why does this matter?
Main principle of survey is to generate a representative sample of a landscape; sometimes the survey is randomized to ensure every site as equal chance of being included in sample.
Difference between arbitrary and natural levels. Why do these matter?
Natural levels follow the site's geologic stratigraphy. Arbitrary levels are usually 5-10cm thick and are based on depth below the datum point. Arbitrary levels are normally used only in test pits when the natural stratigraphy is unknown or when natural layers are more than 10cm thick. Arbitrary levels could mix artifacts from different natural levels, or different geologic contexts.
What limits surface survey? What are the basic remote sensing techniques and their benefits?
Surface surveys only show us what is lying on the ground. Remote sensing helps us understand what lies below the ground...proton magnetometer (magnetic anomalies in ground)...soil resistivity (how readily electric current passes through sediment based on water content)
What is the difference between systemic and archaeological contexts?
Systemic context refers to artifacts as they're being used or manipulated by people. Archaeological context refers to natural processes that act on artifacts and features once they're deposited in the ground. Artifacts leave the systemic context (and enter the archaeological context) through cultural depositional processes including loss, discard, caching, and ritual interment. Once in the archaeological context, the artifacts can continue to be moved and altered by variety of natural site formation processes.
thermal infrared multispectral scanning
TIMS...remote sensing...equipment on aircraft or satellite to measure infrared thermal radiation given off by the ground. Sensitive to the differences as small as .1 degree C, it can locate subsurface structures by tracking how they affect surface thermal radiation
datum point
a zero point...fixed reference used to keep control over the locations of artifacts, etc. on a dig; usually controls both vertical and horizontal dimensions of provenience.
provenience
an artifact's location relative to a system of spatial data collection. LOCATION WITHIN A SITE...most important thing about artifact bc it is essential to record context of artifact.
non-site archaeology
analysis of archaeological patterns manifested on a scale of Km or hectares, rather than of patterns within a single site.
archaeological site
any place where material evidence exists about the human past....site usually refers to concentration of such evidence...sites are SAMPLES and are rarely equivalent to something that might make intuitive sense like a village/camp
arbitrary level
basic vertical subdivision of an excavation square; used only when easily recognizable "natural" strata are lacking or when natural strata are more than 10cm thick.
ritual interment
burials and their associated grave goods=obvious examples. ...offerings, shrines, deliberate destruction and burial of shrine, etc.
georeferenced
data that are input to a GIS database using a common mapping reference....example: UTM grid so that all data can be spatially analyzed
absolute date
date expressed in specific units....attempting to pinpoint a discrete, known interval of time
relative dates
dates expressed relative to one another (earlier, later) rather than absolute terms
GPS
device that use triangulation from radio waves from satellites to determine current position of UTM or latitude and longitude
total station
device that uses a beam of light bounced off a prism to determine an artifact's provenience; accurate to mm
dosimeter
device to measure the amount of gamma radiation emitted by sediments. Often a short length of pure copper tubing filled with calcium sulfate, normally buried in a stratum for a year to record the annual dose of radiation.
living floor
distinct buried surface on which people lived
settlement pattern
distribution of archaeological sites across a region
marker bed
easily identified geologic layer whose age has been independently confirmed at numerous locations and whose presence can therefore be used to date archaeological and geological sediments
discard
everything eventually breaks or wears out and is discarded. When this happens the object ceases to function in the behavioral system and becomes part of the archaeological context
mano
fist-sized, round, flat, handheld stone used to grind foods
de Vries effect
fluctuations in the calibration curve produced by variations in the atmosphere's carbon-14 content; these can cause radiocarbon dates to calibrate more than one calendar age.
trapped charge dating
forms of dating that rely on the fact that electrons become trapped in minerals' crystal lattices as a function of background radiation. The age of the specimen is the total radiation received divided by the annual dose of radiation.
deflation
geologic process whereby fine sediment is blown away by the wind and larger items--including artifacts---are lowered onto a common surface and thus become recognized as a site.
law of superposition
geological principle that in any pile of sedimentary rocks that have not been disturbed by folding or overturning, each bed is older than the layers above and younger than the layers below; also known as Steno's law
geomorphology
geological study of landforms and landscapes, including soils, rivers, hills, sand dunes, deltas, glacial deposits, and marshes.
matrix-sorting
hand sorting of processed bulk soil samples for minute artifacts and ecofacts
gumshoe survey
hanging out around town....getting to know stories/oral traditions to find out who knows what about possible sites within the landscape
argon-argon dating
high-precision method to detect amounts of argon-39 and argon-40 gas...used to date volcanic ashes that are between 500,000 and several million years old.
site formation
human and natural actions that work together to create an archaeological site
cultural depositional processes
human behaviors by which artifacts enter the archaeological record, including discard, loss, caching, and ritual interment.
cultural disturbance processes
human behaviors that modify artifacts in their archaeological context, as in the digging of pits, hearths, canals, and houses.
reuse processes
human behaviors that recycle and reuse artifacts before they enter an archaeological context
reclamation processes
human behaviors that result in moving artifacts from the archaeological context back to the systematic context, as in scavenging beams from an abandoned structure to use in a new one.
seasonal round
hunter-gatherer pattern of movement between different places on landscape....timed to seasonal availability of food and other resources.
index fossil concept
idea that strata containing similar fossil assemblages are of similar age. Concept enables archaeologists to characterize and date strata within sites using distinctive artifact forms that research shows to be diagnostic of a particular period of time.
caching
items intentionally cached...items remained part of archaeological record because person who cached them never returned.
metate
large flat stone used as stationary surface to grind things with a mano
in situ
latin..."in position"...the place where an artifact, ecofact, or feature was found during survey or excavation.
B horizon
layer found below A horizon, where clays accumulate that are transported downward by water.
C horizon
layer found below the B horizon that consists of the unaltered or slightly altered parent material; below the C horizon is bedrock
systemic context
living behavioral system in which artifacts are part of an ongoing system of manufacture, use, reuse, and discard.
eolian sediments
materials transported and accumulated by wind (dunes)
strata
more or less homogenous or gradational material, visually separable from other levels by discrete change in the character of the material...and/or a sharp break in the nature of deposition.
faunalturbation
natural formation process in which animals (all sizes) affect the distribution of material within an archaeological site
graviturbation
natural formation process in which artifacts are moved downslope by gravity, sometimes assisted by precipitation runoff.
cryoturbation
natural formation process in which freeze/thaw activity in a soil selectively pushes larger artifacts to the surface of a site
floraturbation
natural formation process in which trees and other plants affect the distribution of artifacts within an archaeological site.
argilliturbation
natural formation process in which wet/dry cycles in clay-rich soils push artifacts upwards as the sediment swells and then moves them down as cracks form during cry cycles.
What is the fallacy of a typical site?
no matter which site or sites are selected, there will be a ton of artifacts/things missed therefore the reconstruction will be biased bc no site is typical of the entire settlement system.
archaeological context
once artifacts enter the ground, they become part of the archaeological context, where they can continue to be affected by human action but are also affected by natural processes.
sample fraction
percentage of the sample universe that is surveyed. Areas with a lot of variability in archaeological remains require larger sample fractions than do areas of low variability.
sample universe
region that contains statistical population and that will be sampled. Size and shape are determined by the research question and practical considerations.
seriation
relative dating method that orders artifacts based on the assumption that one cultural style slowly replaces an earlier style over time; with a master seriation diagram, sites can be dated based on their frequencies of several artifact (ceramic) styles.
proton precession magnetometer
remote sensing technique that measures the strength of magnetism between the earth's magnetic core and a sensor controlled by the archaeologist. Magnetic anomalies can indicate the presence of buried walls or features.
soil resistivity survey
remote sensing technique that monitors the electrical resistance of soils in a restricted volume near the surface of a site; changes in the amount of resistance registered by resistivity meter can indicate buried walls or features.
reverse stratigrapy
result when sediment is unearthed by human or natural actions and moved elsewhere such a way that the latest material is deposited on the bottom of the new sediment and the progressively earlier material is deposited higher and higher in the stratigraphy.
sedimentary rocks
rock formed when the weathered products of preexisting rocks have been transported by and deposited in water and are turned once again to stone.
random sample
sample drawn from statistical population so that every member of the population has an equal chance of being included in the sample
shovel testing
sample survey method used in regions where rapid soil buildup obscures buried archaeological remains; it entails digging shallow, systematic pits across the survey unit.
reservoir effect
samples from organisms that took in carbon from a source that was depleted of or enriched in carbon-14 relative to the atmosphere may return ages that are considerably older or younger than they actually are. example: snails and dead carbon...appear to be 100s-1000s years old even if not.
colluvial sediments
sediments deposited primarily through the action of gravity on geological material lying on hillsides
soil
sediments that have gone under in situ chemical and mechanical alteration
alluvial sediments
sediments transported by flowing water
pithouse
semi-subterranean structure with heavy log roof covered with sod
statistical population
set of counts, measurements, or characteristics about which relevant inquires are to be made.
systematic regional survey
set of strategies for arriving at accurate descriptions of the range of archaeological material across a landscape
water-screening
sieving process in which deposit is placed on a screen and the matrix is washed away with hoses...essential where artifacts are expected to be small and/or difficult to find without washing.
time-markers
similar to Index fossils in geology; artifact forms that research shows to be diagnostic of a particular period of time.
test excavation
small initial excavation to determine a site's potential for answering a research question
photosynthetic pathways
specific chemical process through which plants metabolize carbon. Three major pathways discriminate against carbon-13 in different ways; therefore, similarly aged plants that use different pathways can produce different radiocarbon ages.
Why does the difference between systemic and archaeological context matter?
stratigraphy usually results from complex interplay between natural and cultural processes. Archaeologists must understand the difference between an artifact's systemic and archaeological context in order to know how an artifact in the ground relates to human behavior.
landscape archaeology
study of ancient human modification of the environment
geoarchaeology
study that applies concepts and methods of the geosciences to archaeological research
sample units
survey units of a standard size and shape, determined by the research questions and practical considerations...
stratified random sample
survey universe divided into several sub-universes that are then sampled at potentially different sample fractions
context
the relationship of an artifact, ecofact, or feature to other artifacts, ecofacts, and geologic strata in a site.
formation processes
the ways in which human behaviors and natural actions operate to produce the archaeological record.
loss
things are inadvertently lost...therefore the items are more likely small and still in usable condition.
half-life
time required for half of the carbon-14 avaliable in an organic sample to decay; originally set 5568 years, later changed to 5730 years. Only good for organic remains that are younger than 45,000 years.
optically stimulated luminescence
trapped charge dating...dates sediments...the age is the time elapsed between the last time the sediment was exposed to any sunlight...dates the time when the sands were buried. Quartz...feldspars
electron-spin resonance
trapped charge dating...dates tooth enamel and burned stone tools. It can date teeth beyond the range of radiocarbon dating.
thermoluminescence
trapped charged dating technique used on ceramics and burned stone artifacts....
Smithsonian number
unique catalog number given to each site: consists of number (state's position alphabetically), letter abbreviation for the county, and the site's sequential number within the county.
UTM
universal transverse measure...grid system in which north and east coordinates provide a location anywhere in the world, precise to 1 meter.
A horizon
upper part of soil, where active organic and mechanical decomposition of geological and organic material occurs
plow zone
upper portion of soil profile that has been disturbed by repeated plowing or other agricultural activity
tree-ring dating
use of annual growth rings in trees to assign calendar ages to ancient wood samples
flotation
use of fluid suspension to recover tiny burned plant remains and bone fragments from archaeological sites bc dirt doesn't float
remote sensing
use of some form of electromagnetic energy to detect and measure characteristics of an archaeological target