Archaeology Exam 1
Georges Cuvier
"Father of Paleontology", advanced the catastrophist theory
LiDAR
'Bounces' electromagnetic radiation (lasers) and measures the time it takes the pulses to be reflected back to recording instruments. Millions of three dimensional coordinates per minute. Can "see" ground surface below trees.
Synchronic Perspective
(aka static perspective) looking at only slices of time rather than seeing how things change over time.
Aerial Remote Sensing Types
1. Aerial Photography 2. Thermal Infrared Multispectral Scanner (TIMS) 3. Color Infrared Photography 4. Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) 5. High Altitude Photography
Archeology Types Chronology (1-6)
1. Antiquarians 2. Culture History 3. Conjunctive Approach 4. Processual Archaeology 5. Post-Processualism
Natural Formation Processes
1. Bioturbation, (ex: Floralturbation, Faunalturbation) 2. Cryoturbation 3. Argilliturbation 4. Graviturbation
Time Scales
1. Cenozoic Era (65 mya to present) 2. Quaternary Period (1.8 mya to present) 3. Pleistocene Epoch (1.8 mya to 12,000 yrs ago) 4. Holocene Epoch (12,000 yrs ago to present)
Four Fields of Anthropology
1. Cultural 2. Biological 3. Linguistic 4. Archaeology
The scientific method
1. Define a problem 2. Establish a hypothesis. 3. Determine the implications of the hypothesis. 4. Collect appropriate data. 5. Compare data with expected implications to test hypothesis. 6. Reject, revise, retest hypothesis as necessary.
Major Characteristics of the scientific approach (9)
1. Empirical - observable and measurable. 2. Objective - not opinion-based. 3. Systematic - replicable. 4. Explicit - relevant. 5. Logical - links ideas, data, and interpretations. 6. Explanatory - concerned with ultimate causes. 7. Predictive 8. Self-Critical/Self-Correcting - based on testing & peer review. 9. Public - must be made available to all.
Learned from the Great Basin
1. Highest site density were found in the dunes, but these were short term, and transient 2. Stone tool distributions also suggested wetland sites were short term camps 3. Some evidence of hunting in the mountains but no evidence for plant collecting
Major Characteristics of the Anthropological Approach
1. Holistic (the whole of the human condition) 2. Integrative (combines evidence from multiple sources) 3. Comparative
Why screen?
1. Increase control 2. Minimize loss 3. Obtain statistically significant sample (screen size matters)
Regional (Landscape) Archaeology
1. Looks at the distributions of archaeological sites across large areas 2. Focuses on the spatial relationship of sites to understand the ways in which peoples and groups were organized in the past 3. Technological advances have increased our abilities to see sites on a regional scale and have improved our perceptions of the past 4. These technologies allow us to work with land developers and planners to avoid sensitive or significant archaeological resources
How to document sites (6)
1. Mapping 2. Site description 3. inventory 4. drawings 5. photography 6. collections
Ideal Conditions for Preservation
1. Rapid burial and stable conditions 2. Lacking one or more of the following: -Oxygen -Microorganisms -Extremes in temperature -Sunlight and warmth 3. Carbonization 4. Chemicals
The Great Basin
A geographic area of the Western United States w/ portions of Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, and Idaho.Fully enclosed hydrologically - water does not drain out. Composed of basin (depressions and valleys) and ranges (hills and mountains). Has been a focus of anthropology and archaeology; particularly focusing on movement of people across the landscape and the usage of the landscape.
Law of Original Continuity
A natural deposit will end in a feathered edge (if the edge of a stratigraphic layer is not feather-edged, its original extent has been destroyed).
Law
A statement of fact (not applicable to human behavior)
Processual Archaeology
AKA The New Archaeology. Developed by Lewis Binford 1960s. Focused on reconstructing entire cultural systems, not just sites, in more scientific/quantitative ways
Sediments
Accumulations of weathered mineral materials deposited by water, wind, or glaciers (depositional).
High Altitude Photography
Aerial technique, effective in detecting large-scale phenomena.
Theory
An explanation based on related observations and supported by hypotheses and data
GIS - Least Cost Path Analysis
Analyzes the most cost or energy effective path.
GIS - Viewshed Analysis
Analyzes what can be seen from a given point or area.
Giovanni Battista Belzoni
Antiquarian. An Italian explorer and pioneer archaeologist of Egyptian antiquities
Law of Horizontal Deposition
Any laterally deposited sediment in an unconsolidated form will tend toward the horizontal.
The New Pragmatism
Archaeology today - more diversity of viewpoints, more public, and more engaged. Focuses on being more relevant to today's issues. Both scientific and humanistic (combines post-processualism and Processualism).
Culture History
As opposed to antiquarians, trying to define past archaeological cultures. Focused on reconstructing how culture changed over time, mostly descriptive. 1920s-1950s.
Archaeological Record
Basic units of evidence that comprise information about the past. Have to know that this is not a perfect record of the past.
Natural Sediments
Clastic (deposited by water), chemical precipitates, organic, pyroclastic
Antiquarians
Colonialism and the middle east. people who were fascinated by ancient objects. No interest in context, only interested in collection. Ex: Giovanni Battista Belzoni
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Computer programs that store, retrieve, analyze, and display cartographic data. 3 components: 1. computer graphics program. 2. External databases. 3. Analytical tools.
GPS
Consists of 24 satellites that circle the earth. Each carries a computer & an atomic clock. Handheld units operate by picking up the signals from at least 4 satellites -- triangulates spatial position from satellite signals.
Post-Processualism
Critique of scientific, processual approaches which lacked concern or attention towards alternative viewpoints, social dynamics of power, ideology, etc. More focus on humanities.
Dry Screening
Deposit is placed in a screen, sediment is agitated, what remains is the sample
Wet Screening
Deposit is placed in a screen, the sediment is washed away
Color Infrared Photography
Detects wavelengths at and beyond the red end of the light spectrum and can detect heat. Records differences in vegetation, because plant cover impacts the heat reflected from the ground.
Conjunctive Approach Archaeology
Developed by Walter Taylor 1948. Focused on reconstructing daily life in the past. Urged archaeologists to focus on everyday life, not just the grand things. Main critique - be more scientific, hypothesis testing, quantitative, efficient, and holistic
who were they & what were they like? (Arch. 12 questions)
Difficult to answer because it is hard to recognize individuals and connect them with artifacts they made.
What did they think? (Arch. 12 questions)
Difficult to figure out because the majority of the archaeological record is not written.
Test Excavations (Testing - Diachronic)
Digging of vertical units or square pits to sample contents and depth and gain chronological control Benefit - helps determine what areas of interest before committing resources to a more intensive study
Franz Boas
Father of American Anthropology. Culture History Archaeologist.
Arthur C. Parker
First native American archaeologist, First president of SAA (Society for American Archaeology)
Data Recovery (Horizontal - synchronic)
Full Scale archaeological investigation designed to expose buried features horizontally and realize the site's research potential through excavation.
catastrophist theory
Georges Cuvier; argues that new creations occurred only after great catastrophes
Aerial Photography
Highlights features that are too indistinct or too large to discern from the ground (ex: shadow marks, crop marks). Liabilities: daylight, atmospheric haze, weather.
Formation Processes
How artifacts enter the archaeological record
Cultural Disturbance
Human behaviors that modify artifacts in their archaeological context
Thermal Infrared Multispectral Scanner (TIMS)
Locates subsurface features by tracking how they affect surface thermal radiation. Plant cover and compaction affects the heat reflected from the ground (Like crop marks).
Proton Magnetometry
Measures the strength of magnetism between the earth's magnetic core and sensors controlled by the archaeologist. Detects change in magnetic properties of soils.
why did things change? (Arch. 12 questions)
Modern archaeology seeks to explain how and WHY human behavior changed (or not) over time
Resistivity
Monitors the electrical resistance of soils in a restricted volume near the surface of an archaeological site. Measures electrical current. Dense features impede the flow of electricity.
What contacts did they have? (Arch. 12 questions)
Networks of trade and exchange and different scales of interaction
Why survey?
No one site is topical of the whole system (ex: SMU is not representative of the rest of Dallas or Texas)
Archaeological Data
Observations made on the archaeological record
Sample fraction
Portion of the sample universe that will be a representative of the sample universe/region. (5%? 50%?)
What do geoarcheologists do?
Predict where buried sites might be (and find them), Help plan site excavations, Help interpret sites: -Structure -Age -Integrity -Environmental context -Activities
Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)
Radar directed into the ground reflected back to the surface when they strike features and interfaces. Measures changes in conductivity.
Law of superposition
Says layers are arranged in a time sequence, with the oldest on the bottom and the youngest on the top, unless later processes disturb this arrangement.
Geoarchaeology - Micro
Soil chemistry analysis, micromorphology
Three-Age System
Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age. Introduced by CJ Thomson. An example of relative dating.
Geoarchaeology - meso
Stratigraphy, site formation processes
Julain Steward
Studied the Paiute (shoshonean group in great basin). Recorded oral histories of subsistence practices & settlement patterns. Identified the seasonal round. Problem was she only documented Paiutes that did not have access to wetlands when their ancestors actually did.
what did they eat? (Arch. 12 questions)
Subsistence & Diet?
Archeology as a part of anthropology
The concept of culture unites all subdisciplines - culture is learned, shared, and symbolic
Geomorphology
The geological study of landforms and landscapes and the processes which form them
Four strategies of archaeology
The intersection of human behavior and material culture (objects) in the past and the present (box that has four squares with human behavior past/present on the left and material culture past/present on the top)
Context
The relationship of an artifact, ecofact, or feature to other artifacts, ecofacts, features, and geologic strata in a site.
Micromorphology
The study of fine-level structures or morphology of a mineral or soil component visible through microscopy
Archaeology (traditional definition)
The study of the human past
Datum Point
The zero point, a fixed reference used to keep control over the location of artifacts, feature, etc. on a dig. Usually controls both the vertical and horizontal dimensions of provenience. Often is established with a total station (a laser guided device). A total station produces x,y and z coordinates in order to locate every object in 3-D space
Wetland Model
This area provided an abundant and high quality food source. People should be settled here.
Geophysical Sensing
Under the ground and rely on electromagnetic energy to detect and measure characteristics of archaeological targets without disturbing the ground. Benefits include: rapid and non-destructive, cost effective, and helps set priorities. (GPR, Resistivity, Proton Magnetometry)
Trenching (Excavation)
Used in areas where sites are widely distributed and difficult to find to provide vertical exposures. Drawback: some damage is unavoidable but can be minimized.
Stripping/Blading (Exposing)
Used to remove culturally sterile overburden to get to underlying archaeological materials.
Flotation
Uses a fluid suspension to recover burned plant materials and bone fragments from bulk dirt sample
Cognitive and Symbolic Archaeology
Uses symbolic behavior, art, etc. to make inferences and to attempt to understand the human mind in the past
Pompeii
Volcanic ash from Mount Vesuvius (A.D. 79) covered and preserved the site. Example of rapid burial & stable conditions.
Broad Spectrum
Wetland resources are lower quality and harder to gather. Wetlands were only a part of the broader seasonal round that included upland resources.
Female Founders of Americanist Archaeology
Woman culture history Archaeologist. Marie Wormington, Tatiana Proskouriakoff, Federica de Laguna.
Charles Lyell
Wrote Principles of Geology, popularized uniformitarianism
James Hutton
Wrote Theory of the Earth (1788), originated concept of uniformitarianism
Paleosol
a buried soil
Paleosols
a fossil soil preserved within a sequence of geological deposits, indicative of past conditions
Soil Horizons - B
a layer found below the A horizon, where clays accumulate that are transported downward by water.
Soil Horizons - C
a layer found below the B horizon that consists of the unaltered or slightly altered parent material.
Systematic regional survey
a set of strategies for drawing an accurate description of the range of archaeological material across a landscape. Question driven. Ultimate goal: to create a picture of regional site distributions that is minimally biased.
Anthrosol
a soil weathered by human processes or developed due to human activity or modification or pre-existing soils or sediments.
Epoch
a subdivision of geological time
Geologic time
a system of chronological measurement that relates stratigraphy to time
Seasonal Round
a type of settlement system in which a group moves around the landscape exploiting different resources throughout the year
Technology
a unique human mode of adaptation
Must Farm in East Anglia (Pompeii of Britain) and Peat Bog "bog bodies" are well preserved because?
a) Lack oxygen (anaerobic) b) Stable temperature c) Minimal sunlight or warmth d) Minimal microorganism interaction e) Dry Caves and Rock Shelters - Gatecliff Rock Shelter, f) Minimal sunlight and warmth g) Stable environment h) Can preserve organic material very well (e.g. fabrics, plant and animal materials)
La Doncella Frozen inca Child (Argentina) is well preserved because?
a) Stable, cold temperature b) Minimal microorganism c) Minimal sunlight and warmth
Public Archaeology
aims to preserve the archaeological record for future generations as well as include as many stakeholders in its research and preservation
Environmental archaeology
aims to reconstruct past environments as a backdrop for human behavior
Social archaeology
aims to understand how societies were organized
Chronometric time
an absolute time
Hypothesis
an educated guess based on observation/data
Potlach example
ancient gift-giving ceremony. Ideational perspective: would focus on why they are doing this ceremony - what belief drives it? Adaptive perspective: sees the ceremony as an economic event rather than a symbolic event - the event involved a feast given from another tribe.
Archaeological sites
any place where material evidence exists about human past activities. Usually refers to a concentration of such evidence.
Human sediments
archaeosediments and anthrosols
regions
areas where sites are located
Systemic Context
artifacts in the living behavioral system. 4 distinct processes: 1. cultural depositional processes 2. recycling 3. reuse 4. cultural disturbance
Reuse
artifacts moving through a series of reuses before entering the archaeological record.
Exposure
being exposed to the elements will cause objects to weather over time
High level archaeological theory
big questions regarding the human experience and major events in our history (transition to agriculture, development of social inequality, etc.)
Decomposition
carried out by microorganisms
Diffusion
changes in cultures through contact with other cultures (ideas are moving)
Glacial landforms
created by the action of glaciers. Most today were created by the movement of large ice sheets during the Quaternary glaciations.
Midden Cultural Deposition
cultural sediments (refuse deposits) containing food remains and/or artifacts
cultural depositional processes
discard, loss, caching, ritual internment (AKA stuff we throw away whether by accident or on purpose)
Archaeological Context
discarded artifacts in the geological system. Once an object enters an archaeological context a host of natural and cultural formation processes takes place.
Stratified Random Sample
divide universe into several sections that are sampled at different fractions
Marker horizons
easily identified geologic layers whose age has been independently confirmed at numerous locations and whose presence can therefore be used to date archaeological and geological sediments
Relative dating
establishes the order of past events by placing the age of an object in comparison to another.
Surface survey
ex: Augering
sub-surface survey
ex: shovel testing
Processual-plus paradigm (New Pragmatism)
focus is on balancing scientific and humanistic approaches to study the totality of how humans interact with their material culture.
processual paradigm
focus is on scientific study of how material conditions (environment, technology, economics) drive cultural change through adaptation, examining evolutionary generalizations, culture viewed systematically
Post - processual paradigm
focus on humanistic study of the uniqueness of past peoples and their experiences, focuses on self-awareness (specifically the politics and biases of archaeology), ideational, knowledge is historically situated, argues science is not objective
Nicolaus Steno
formulated law of superposition
David Hurst Thomas
found Gatecliff Rock Shelter
Gatecliff Rock Shelter
found by David Hurst Thomas through "gumshoe" archaeology (asking locals for info). Highly stratified deposit, optimal preservation - contained artifacts that would not normally preserve in the archaeological record (duck decoys, textiles, nets, baskets).
Alfred V. Kidder
founder of Americanist Archaeology. Thought Archaeology should be viewed as "that branch of anthropology which deals with prehistoric peoples."
Cryoturbation
freeze thaw cycles on soils
Low level archaeological theory
generation of facts through observation
Middle level archaeological theory
generation of interpretations of human behavior by linking archaeological data with how the archaeological record was produced (including through looking at modern human behavior and site formation processes)
Geoarchaeology - macro
geomorphology
The Anthropolical Approach to archeology
global, competitive, and holistic of culture
Graviturbation
gravity-caused disturbance (ex: artifacts washing down a slope)
Archaeological Paradigms
guidelines for how the world works and which variables are relevant or not
Cultural formation processes
human behaviors that modify artifacts in their archeological context
Era
major division of time (tens or hundreds of millions of years long) usually distinguished by significant changes in the plant and animal kingdoms
Survey
mapping and/or collecting archaeological materials found on the ground.
Eolian Landforms/Sediments
material transported and accumulated by wind
Ecofacts
natural objects used by humans or related to them
Features
non-portable evidence of human activity
Attrition
occurs as the result of physical abrasion or movement
Ideational Perspective
one approach to the study of culture. Ideas and symbols drive and shape behavior.
Humanistic perspective
one approach to the study of culture. because we study humans, it stresses the uniqueness of each individual's and group's experiences
Adaptive/materialist perspective
one approach to the study of culture. physical things (technology, environment, and economics) drive and shape behavior
Artifacts
portable objects made, used, or modified by humans
Data
relevant observations made on objects
Erosion
removal of sediments
relative time
saying something is older/younger than something else
uniformitarianism
says the same natural laws and processes that operate in the universe now have always operated in the universe in the past and apply everywhere in the universe.
Recycling
scavenging (artifacts moving back and forth between systemic and archaeological contexts)
Colluvial landforms/sediments
sediments deposited primarily through the action of gravity
Coastal Landforms/Sediments
sediments deposited primarily through wave and tidal action
Alluvial Landforms/Sediments
sediments transported by flowing water
Typology
sequential arrangement and classification of objects
Statistical population
set of counts, measurements, or characteristics about which inquiries are to be made (ex: observations made on stone tools)
Argilliturbation
shrink-swell clays
Kames
small hills or mounds of sediments deposited by glaciers
kettles
small ponds left behind in place of a block of melted ice
sties
spatially limited locations of human activity
Law Association
states if two objects or classes of objects are consistently found together, the two objects were probably in use about the same time in the same cultural context.
Archaeology's Diachronic Perspective
studies change over time; time-transgressive.
Kathleen Deagan
studies early race relations in North America
Deposition
the accumulation of sediments
Settlement Pattern
the distribution of archaeological sites across the region
Pedogenesis
the formation of soils
environmental determinism
the idea that the environment determines culture
settlement systems
the movement and activities reconstructed from the settlement pattern
Bioturbation
the physical rearrangement of the soil profile by soil life
Sample Universe
the region that contains the statistical population that will be sampled. Determined by research question and practical considerations.
Reverse Stratigraphy
the result when sediment is unearthed by human or natural processes and moved elsewhere in such a way that the latest material is deposited on the bottom of the new sediment and progressively earlier material is deposited higher and higher in the stratigraphy.
Life History of Objects (FLOWCHART)
the sequence of interactions and activities that an object goes through during its existence or lifetime. (procurement, manufacture, use & maintenance/reuse/recycle, discard, archaeological record)
Natural (Digging in Levels)
the site's strata that are visually separable from each other based on texture, color, rock or organic content. (It is best to dig in this way when possible)
Stratigraphy
the study of cultural and/or geological layers (strata). Layers of sediment make up archaeological sites, and archaeologists use law of superposition to help interpret spatial and temporal context of objects.
Archaeology (course defintion)
the study of human-artifact interactions in all times and all places
Soil Horizons - A
the upper part of the soil, where active organic and mechanical decomposition of geological and organic material occurs
Site Formation Processes (FLOWCHART)
the ways in which human behaviors and natural actions operate to produce the archaeological record.
Auger testing (Testing - diachronic)
using a bucket aguer, a specialized post hold digger, to retrieve sediments and artifacts in 10-20 cm increments. Benefit - define site boundaries and plan excavations with minimal damage and cost.
Arbitrary (Digging in Levels)
vertical subdivisions of an excavation square at set depths. Used when strata are lacking or very thin
Soils
weathered sediments and rocks capable of supporting plant life (developmental).
Intrusive Cultural Deposition
when on stratigraphic layer intrudes into another, the law of association can be violated in these cases (ex: a wall trench)
provenance
where something ORIGINATED (was made)
provenience
where something is FOUND