Archaeology test 1

literate

able to read and write

radio-carbon dating

an absolute dating technique based on the principle of decay of the radioactive isotope carbon, used to date archaeological materials within the past 40,000 years

radio-potassium dating

an absolute dating technique based on the principle of decay of the radioactive isotope potassium, used to date materials ranging from 500,000 years old to the age of the oldest rocks in the universe

midden

an accumulated pile of trash and waste materials near a dwelling or in other areas of an archaeological site

Mohnejo-Daro

an archaeological site in the province of Sindh, Pakistan. Built around 2500 BCE, it was one of the largest settlements of the ancient Indus Valley civilization, and one of the world's earliest major cities, contemporaneous with the civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Minoan Crete, and Norte Chico - abandoned in the 19th century BCE as the Indus Valley Civilization declined, and was not rediscovered until the 1920s.

stela

an erect stone monument that is often caved

feature

an immovable structure or layer, pit, or post in the ground having archaeological significance

ground penetrating radar (GPR)

an instrument for remote sensing or prospecting for buried structures using radar maps of subsoil features

red ochre

an iron mineral that occurs in nature -used by prehistoric people in powdered form as a pigment for tanning animal skins -often found in burials form the late Paleolithic and Mesolithic

Saqqara

ancient burial ground in Egypt, serving as the necropolis for the Ancient Egyptian capital, Memphis. -features numerous pyramids, including the world-famous Step pyramid of Djoser

artifact

any object or item created or modified by human action

ecofact

any of the remains of plants, animals, sediments, or other unmodified materials that result from human activity

stone tools

any tool made either partially or entirely out of stone

anthropomorphic

having human form or attributes

Lucy

hominin species "Australopithecus afarensis" discovered in 1974 in Africa, near the village Hadar in the Awash Valley of the Afar Triangle in Ethiopia discovered by Donald Johanson -exhibits more human-like teeth and unquestionably walked upright -3.2 million-year-old fossilized specimen

bipedalism

human method of locomotion, walking on two legs; one of the first human characteristics to distinguish the early hominins

hieroglyphs

originally the pictographic script of ancient Egypt; any depictive, art-related system of writing

lithic

pertaining to stone or rock

wheel-thrown pottery

pottery that is made using the potter's wheel

agriculture

practice of farming, including cultivation of the soil for the growing of crops and the rearing of animals to provide food, wool, and other products.

conservation

preservation, repair, and prevention of deterioration of archaeological, historical, and cultural sites and artifacts.

domestication

taming of wild plants and animals by humans -plants farmed and become dependent on humans for propagation -animals herded often become dependent on human caretakers for food and protection

site

the accumulation of artifacts and/or ecofacts, representing a place where people lived or carried out certain activities

context

the association and relationships between archaeological objects that are in the same place

archaeological record

the body of material and information that survives for archaeologists to study

paleoanthropology

the branch of anthropology that combines archaeology and physical anthropology to the study of biological and behavioral remains of the early hominins

stratigraphy

the branch of geology concerned with the order and relative position of strata and their relationship to the geological time scale. -analysis of the order and position of layers of archaeological remains. -the structure of a particular set of strata.

technology

the combination of knowledge and manufacturing techniques that enables people to convert raw materials into finished products

glaciation

the expansion of continental glacial ice during a period of cold climate

excavations

the exposure and recording of buried materials from the past

cultivation

the human manipulation or fostering of a wild plant species to enhance or ensure production -involving techniques: clearing fields, preparing soil, weeding, protecting plants from animals, & providing water to produce a crop

grave goods

the items that are placed in graves to accompany the deceased

economy

the management and organization of the affairs of a group, a community, or an establishment to ensure their survival and productivity

fossil

the mineralized bone of an extinct animal.

Chauvet Cave

"Cave of Forgotten Dreams" -southern France is a cave that contains some of the best-preserved figurative cave paintings in the world, as well as other evidence of Upper Paleolithic life. -Discovered on December 18, 1994, it is considered one of the most significant prehistoric art sites -also discovered fossilized remains, prints, and markings from a variety of animals, some of which are now extinct -two periods of habitation, one 37,000-33,500 yrs ago and the second from 31,000-28,000 yrs ago with most of the black drawings dating to the earlier period.

Homo habilis

"handy man" - a species of the tribe Hominini, during the Gelasian and early Calabrian stages of the Pleistocene era -discovered in 1960 at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania -the least similar to modern humans of all species in the genus Homo

Homo erectus

"upright man" -an extinct species of hominin that lived throughout most of the Pleistocene era. -earliest fossil evidence dates to 1.9 million years ago -originated in Africa and spread from there, migrating throughout Eurasia

Homo sapiens sapiens

"wise man" -modern humans, the subspecies of Homo sapiens -ingenuity and adaptability makes them the most influential species on Earth

primary context

(in situ) an object found where it was originally located in antiquity, not redeposited

Paleolithic

(upper and lower) -the first period of human prehistory, entnding form the time of the first tools, more than 2.5 MYA, until the end of the Pleistocene, 10,000 yrs ago -characterized by use of flaked stone tools -Old Stone Age

Klasies River Mouth

- a series of caves located to the east of the Klasies River mouth -The three main caves and two shelters at the base of a high cliff have revealed evidence of middle stone age-associated human habitation from approximately 125,000 years ago. -yielded the earliest known remains of anatomically modern humans and behaviorally modern humans in the world

Çatalhöyük

- a very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic proto-city settlement in southern Anatolia, which existed from approximately 7500 BC to 5700 BC, and flourished around 7000 BC -the center of advanced culture in Neolithic era -Excavation revealed 18 successive layers of buildings signifying various stages of the settlement and eras of history.

Atapuerca

- located near the city of Burgos, in the Autonomous Community of Castilla y León, in the North of the Iberian Peninsula. -contains a rich fossil record of the earliest human beings in Europe, from nearly one million years ago and extending into the Common Era. -painted and engraved panels have been recorded, with geometrical motifs, hunting scenes, and anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures.

New Kingdom

-"Egyptian Empire" -between the 16th century BC and the 11th century BC, covering the 18th, 19th, and 20th Dynasties of Egypt -exact beginning between 1570 BC and 1544 BC -Egypt's most prosperous time and marked the peak of its power -saw Egypt attempt to create a buffer between the Levant and Egypt, and attained its greatest territorial extent. -ruled by Pharaohs

Varna

-Prehistoric settlements best known for the neolithic necropolis (mid-5th millennium BC radiocarbon dating -a key archaeological site in world prehistory, eponymous of old European Varna culture and internationally considered the world's oldest large find of gold artifacts -over 30 prehistoric settlements have been unearthed with the earliest artifacts dating back to the Middle Paleolithic or 100,000 years ago

Vedbaek

-a Mesolithic cemetery of the Ertebølle culture. -discovered in 1975 during excavation -An example of the findings of this culture cemetery include the bodies of a young woman with a necklace made of teeth, and her newborn baby. The child is cradled in the wing of a swan with a flint knife at its hip. The child's grave goods suggest that the culture involved ascribed status - the passing of power between generations.

'Ain Mallaha

-a Natufian settlement built and settled circa 10,000-8,000 BCE, dates back to the Mesolithic period -settlement is an example of hunter-gatherer sedentism, a crucial step in the transition from foraging to farming -earliest known archaeological evidence of dog domestication -located in northern Israel, discovered in 1954

Mehrgarh

-a Neolithic (7000 BCE to c. 2500/2000 BCE) site located near the Bolan Pass on the Kacchi Plain of Balochistan, Pakistan, to the west of the Indus River valley -a small farming village which was inhabited from circa 6500 BCE. -one of the earliest sites with evidence of farming and herding in South Asia, discovered in 1974 -Archaeological material has been found in six mounds, and about 32,000 artifacts have been collected. -seen as a precursor to the Indus Valley Civilization, displaying the whole sequence from earliest settlement and the start of agriculture, to the mature Harappan Civilization

Gilgamesh

-a demigod of superhuman strength who builds the city walls of Uruk to defend his people -ruled the city of Uruk for 126 years -earliest cuneiform references on clay tablets

Stonehenge

-a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England -consists of a ring of standing stones, with each standing stone around 13 ft high, 6 ft 11 in wide and weighing around 25 tons. The stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the most dense complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred burial mounds.

Olduvai

-a site in Tanzania that holds the earliest evidence of the existence of human ancestors. -hundreds of fossilized bones and stone tools in the area dating back millions of years, leading them to conclude that humans evolved in Africa. -30 miles from Laetoli, formed about 30,000 years ago, the result of aggressive geological activity and streams

Laetoli

-a site in Tanzania, dated to the Plio-Pleistocene and famous for its hominin footprints, preserved in volcanic ash. -located 45 km south of Olduvai gorge. -discovered by Mary Leakey in 1976 -provided convincing evidence for the theory of bipedalism in Pliocene hominins -hominin and animal skeletal remains discovered -showed clear evidence that bipedalism preceded enlarged brains in hominins

Hadar

-a village in Ethiopia, on the southern edge of the Afar Triangle. -place where the first hominin fossil was found, Lucy -dated from late Pliocene to early Pleistocene times, or, 3.5 to 2.3 million years ago

Dolni Vestonice

-an Upper Paleolithic archaeological site near the village of __________ ______________, Moravia in the Czech Republic -unique b/c it has been a particularly abundant source of prehistoric artifacts (especially art) dating from the Gravettian period, which spanned roughly 27,000 to 20,000 B.C. -carved representations of men, women, and animals, along with personal ornaments, human burials and enigmatic engravings

Uruk

-an ancient city of Sumer and later Babylonia, situated east of the present bed of the Euphrates river, on the dried-up, ancient channel of the Euphrates River 2900 BC: had 50,000-80,000 residents living in 2.32 sq mi of walled area; making it the largest city in the world at the time -Ruled by king Gilgamesh in 27th century BC

Monte Verde

-an archaeological site in southern Chile, located near Puerto Mont, Southern Chile, which has been dated to as early as 14,800 B.C. -discovered in late 1975 -two large hearths were found and many small ones as well, remains of local animals, in addition to wooden posts from approximately twelve huts, scraps of clothing made of hide, human footprint was also found in the clay, probably from a child -estimated 20-30 inhabitants

Abu Hureyra

-an archaeological site in the Euphrates valley in modern Syria. -remains of the villages within the tell come from over 4,000 years of pre-ceramic habitation spanning the Epipaleolithic and Neolithic periods. -occupied between 13,000 and 9,000 years ago in radio carbon years. -significant because the inhabitants started out as hunter-gatherers, but gradually moved to farming, making them the earliest known farmers in the world

population pressure hypothesis

Lewis Binford's theory that population increase in SW Asia upset the balance between people and food, forcing people to turn to agriculture as a way to produce more food

Neolithic

the period of time of early farmers with domesticated animals and plants, polished stone tools, permanent villages, and often pottery -New Stone Age

material culture

the physical objects, resources, and spaces that people use to define their culture. EX) homes, churches, cities, schools, etc.

provenience

the place of origin for archaeological materials, including location, association, and context

evolution

the process of change over time resulting form shifting conditions of the physical and cultural environments, involving mechanisms of mutation and natural selection

flintknapping

the process of making chipped stone artifacts; striking of stone with a hard or soft hammer -associated with percussion flaking, flake, core, hammerstones

remote sensing

the scanning of the earth by satellite or high-flying aircraft (drones) in order to obtain information about it.

field work

the search for archaeological sites in the landscape through surveys and excavations

archaeozoology

the study of animal remains from archaeological sites

ethnography

the study of human cultures through first-hand observation

archaeoethnobotany

the study of plant remains from archaeological sites

Archaeology

the study of the human past, combining the themes of time and change

cultural resource management

the survey and/or excavation of archaeological and historical remains threatened by construction and development

natural habitat hypothesis

the theory about the origins of agriculture associated with Robert Braidwood suggesting that the earliest domesticates appeared in the area that their wild ancestors inhabited

oasis hypothesis

the theory about the origins of agriculture associated with V. Gordon Childe and others, suggesting that domestication began as a symbiotic relationships between humans, plants, and animals at oases during the desiccation of SW Asia at the end of the Pleistocene

edge hypothesis

the theory that the need for more food was initially felt at the margins of the natural habitat of the ancestors of domesticated plants and animals; a revised version of the population pressure hypothesis about the origins of agriculture

out of Africa

theory that modern humans evolved in East Africa between 400,000 and 200,000 years ago, and then began to disperse throughout the world roughly 70,000 to 135,000 years ago.

Franchthi-Cave

was occupied from the Upper Paleolithic circa 38,000 BCE (and possibly earlier) through the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods, with occasional short episodes of apparent abandonment. Last occupied around 3,000 BCE (Final Neolithic), it is one of the very few settlements in the world that shows nearly continuous human occupation for such an extended period of time, and is one of the most thoroughly studied sites from the stone age in southeastern Europe.

Göbekli Tepe

-an archaeological site in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey -The tell includes two phases of use believed to be of a social or ritual nature dating back to the 10th-8th millennium BCE -1st phase, belonging to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A, circles of massive T-shaped stone pillars were erected, the world's oldest known megaliths. -More than 200 pillars in about 20 circles are currently known through geophysical surveys. Each pillar has height of up to 6 m (20 ft) and weighs up to 20 tons, fitted into sockets that were hewn out of the bedrock. -2nd phase, belonging to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, the erected pillars are smaller and stood in rectangular rooms with floors of polished lime -Schmidt believed that the site was a sanctuary where people from a wide region periodically congregated, not a settlement.

Mycenae

-an archaeological site near Mikines in Greece, located about 56 miles southwest of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese. -2nd millenium BC one of the major centers of Greek civilization, a military stronghold which dominated much of southern Greece. The period of Greek history from about 1600 BC to about 1100 BC is called Mycenaean -At its peak in 1350 BC, the citadel and lower town had a population of 30,000 and an area of 32 hectares

pyramids

-ancient pyramid-shaped masonry structures located in Egypt -Most were built as tombs for the country's pharaohs and their consorts during the Old and Middle Kingdom periods. -earliest are found at Saqqara, built during the 3rd dynasty

Zhoukoudian

-cave system in Beijing, China, has yielded many archaeological discoveries, including one of the first specimens of Homo erectus, dubbed Peking Man, and a fine assemblage of bones of the gigantic hyena. -yielded the remains of about 45 individuals as well as animal remains and stone flake and chopping tools. -During the Upper Palaeolithic, the site was re-occupied and remains of Homo sapiens and its stone and bone tools have also been recovered from the Upper Cave.

Natufian

-culture that existed from around 12,500 to 9,500 BC in the Levant -founded Jericho which may be the oldest city in the world -evidence suggests deliberate cultivation of cereals, specifically rye -may be the ancestors of the builders of the first Neolithic settlements of the region

Athens

-dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, with its recorded history spanning over 3,400 years and its earliest human presence starting somewhere between the 11th and 7th millennium BC -center of the arts, learning and philosophy, home of Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum -birthplace of democracy -classical era

Jericho

-evidence of settlement dating back to 10,000 BC -the Ein es-Sultan spring at what would become _______ was a popular camping ground for Natufian hunter-gatherer groups, who left a scattering of crescent-shaped microlith tools behind them. -Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of more than 20 successive settlements

The Leakey Family

-first family of paleontology -explored sites in Tanzania and Kenya -1959 uncovered the first of many hominid fossils at Olduvai Gorge.

Hierakonpolis

-one of the most important early archaeological sites in Egypt. -provides substantial evidence for understanding the foundations of that ancient civilization. -A century of archaeological research has shown this vast site's central role in the transition from prehistory to history of the rise of early Egyptian civilization. -one of the largest prehistoric urban centers along the Nile, a vibrant, bustling city that already contained many of the cultural features that would later become Dynastic Egyptian civilization **Egypt's 1st capital

Abydos

-one of the oldest cities of ancient Egypt, and also of the eighth nome in Upper Egypt, of which it was the capital city -the site of many ancient temples, including a royal necropolis where early pharaohs were entombed.These tombs began to be seen as extremely significant burials and in later times it became desirable to be buried in the area, leading to the growth of the town's importance as a cult site. -notable for the memorial temple of Seti I, which contains an inscription from the nineteenth dynasty known to the modern world as the Abydos King List.

Old Kingdom

-period in the third millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization -mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley -lasted from the 3rd dynasty to the 6th -a period of internal security and prosperity, it was followed by a period of disunity and relative cultural decline - the king of Egypt (not called the Pharaoh) became a living god who ruled absolutely and could demand the services and wealth of his subjects

Neanderthal

-subspecies of archaic humans -became extinct about 40,000 yrs ago -evolved in Europe, separate from modern humans in Africa -left bones and stone tools in Eurasia -shorter legs, bigger bodies

Knossos

-the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and has been called Europe's oldest city. -The palace eventually became the ceremonial and political center of the Minoan civilization and culture. The palace was abandoned at some unknown time at the end of the Late Bronze Age, c. 1380-1100 BC

Kennewick Man

-the most important human skeleton ever found in North America -human skull found in the Columbia River in Washington -more than 9,000 years old, teeth were cavity-free worn down to the root, found with a stone spear-point embedded in the hipbone

Lascaux

-the setting of a complex of caves near the village of Montignac (SW France) -Over 600 parietal wall paintings decorate the interior walls and ceilings of the cave; paintings are primarily of large animals, typical local and contemporary fauna that correspond with the fossil record of the Upper Paleolithic time. The drawings are the combined effort of many generations -discovered on September 12, 1940 by 18 yr old girl

Predynastic Egypt

-the time before recorded history from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic Age and on to the rise of the First Dynasty and is generally recognized as spanning the era from c. 6000-3150 BCE -no written records from this period -"Zero Dynasty"

Fertile Crescent

An upland zone in SW Asia that runs from the Levant to the Zagros Mountains, with adequate rainfall and many wild species that were domesticated - first settled agricultural communities of the Middle East and Mediterranean basin are thought to have originated here

Schöningen

Germany -four ancient wooden spears found in an opencast mine near the town; spears are about 400,000 years old, making them the world's oldest human-made wooden artifacts, as well as the oldest weapons, ever found. -from the Paleolithic age

pictograph

a written or painted symbol that more or less portrays the represented object

ideology

a conceptual framework by which people structure their ideas about the order of the universe, their place in that universe, and their relationships among themselves and with objects and other forms of life around them

corings

a cylindrical sample of earth, mineral, or rock extracted from the ground by means of a corer so that the strata are undisturbed in the sample

sexual demorphism

a difference in size between the male and female members of a species

petroglyph

a drawing that has been carved into rock

hunter-scavengers

a forager of large wild animals and gatherer of wild plants, seafood, and small animals, as opposed to farming and food production -before domestication of animals

potsherd

a fragment of a clay vessel or object

Carrier Mills, "Black Earth Site"

a group of prehistoric archaeological sites located along the Saline River south of Carrier Mills, Illinois. -sites were inhabited over the period from 2500 B.C. to 700 A.D. The oldest three sites date from the Late Archaic period

nomad

a member of a people having no permanent abode, and who travel from place to place to find fresh pasture for their livestock. -wanderer

absolute dating

a method of assigning archaeological dates in calendar years so that an age in actual number of years is known or can be estimated

temporal marker

a morphological type, such as a design motif on pottery or a particular type of stone tool that has been shown to have a discrete and definable temporal range

tell

a mound composed of mud bricks and refuse, accumulated as a result of people living on the same site for hundreds or thousands of years

Levant

a mountainous region paralleling the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, including parts of the countries Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, and Israel - bounded by the Taurus Mountains to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the west, the northern Arabian Desert to the south and Upper Mesopotamia to the east.

preliterate

a society or culture that has not developed the use of writing

survey

a systematic search of the landscape for artifacts and sites on the ground through aerial photography, field walking, soil analysis, and geophysical prospecting

relative dating

a technique used to estimate the antiquity of archaeological materials, generally based on association with materials of known age or simply to say that one item is younger or older than another

cuneiform

a writing system of ancient Mesopotamia using a series of wedge-shaped marks to convey a message or text

big game

large animals that were hunted for sport by early humans EX) lion, African elephant, Cape buffalo, leopard and rhinoceros

sedentism

living in permanent year-round contexts, such as villages

Giza

most famous as the location of the Giza Plateau: the site of some of the most impressive ancient monuments in the world, including a complex of ancient Egyptian royal mortuary and sacred structures, including the Great Sphinx, the Great Pyramid of Giza, and a number of other large pyramids and temples

isotope

one of several atomic states of an element

portable art

one of the two major categories of Paleolithic art -includes all decorated materials that can be moved or carried -found throughout Europe and much of Eurasia