archaeology final
What is NAGPRA, and how has it affected archaeological practice in the United States?
1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act: Protects Indian graves on Federal and Tribal lands. Recognizes tribal authority over treatment of unmarked graves. Prohibits the commercial selling of Native American human remains and sacred objects. Requires an inventory and repatriation of human remains held by the federal government and institutions that receive federal funding. Requires these institutions to return inappropriately acquired sacred objects and other important communally owned property to native owners. Set up a process to determine ownership of human remains found on federal and tribal property after November 16, 1990.
What is applied archaeology, and what are some examples of it?
Applied Archaeology: Brings the techniques of archaeology to non-traditional venues. Applies our knowledge of the human past to concrete economic or social issues of today. Applied archaeology can include many applications: Cultural resource management/stewardship, Public education (both general and descendant-specific), Heritage tourism, Forensic archaeology, Many others (e.g. Garbage Project)
What two specialized subdisciplines of archaeology focus on reconstructing the diet and subsistence practices of past people?
Archaeologists use many techniques and sources of evidence to provide information on what people ate and how they obtained/produced and processed it for consumption. Zooarchaeology: The specialized subdiscipline of archaeology concerned with the identification and analysis of faunal (animal) remains found in archaeological contexts. Archaeobotany (also Ethnobotany/Paleoethnobotany): The specialized subdiscipline of archaeology concerned with the identification and analysis of floral (plant) remains found in archaeological contexts.
What differentiates historical archaeology as subfield of archaeology in general?
Archaeology: The systematic study of the material traces of past human behavior in order to learn about human culture. Historical Archaeology: The archaeological investigation of past cultures about which at least some documentary records are available - The Study of a Period (Invention/Adoption of Writing) - A Method (Archaeology AND History) - Study of the Modern World (Globalization, Capitalism)
What is the difference between achieved and ascribed status, and how can archaeologists tell the difference using grave goods?
Ascribed status: Rights, duties, and obligations that accrue to a person by inheritance. Achieved status: Rights, duties, and obligations that accrue by virtue of what a person accomplishes. Economies that redistribute goods and services throughout the community, with those doing the redistributing keeping some for themselves.
What are some basic forms of kinship?
Bilateral Descent: The standard kinship in North America, as well as many other industrialized nations. An individual traces his or her relatives equally on the mother's and father's sides. In bilateral descent, the nuclear family is the important economic unit. Unilineal Descent: Patrilineal•In patrilineal descent, you acquire your patrilineage from your father. Patrilineal societies make up about 60% of the world's known societies. They are associated with hunting and gathering, agricultural, and pastoral societies. They are also associated with warfare with close neighbors. patrilocal partiarchy Unilineal Descent: Matrilineal•In matrilineal descent, you trace relatives through the female line. A matrilineal lineage includes you, your mother, her siblings and her sisters' offspring, your mother's mother, etc. Matrilineal societies compose only about 10% of the world's societies. They are associated with horticulture, long distance hunting, and/or warfare with distant enemies.
What are some of the main things that human skeletal remains can reveal about individuals? About groups of individuals?
Biological Sex: We use characteristics of several bones, notably the pelvis and skull, to determine an individual's sex. Age: An individual's age can be determined by tooth eruption. Patterns of bone fusion, tooth wear, and bone wear are used to age individuals over the age of 25. Trauma and Disease, Use-Wear, Mechanical Load
What is the subfield that focuses on the archaeological study of human thought and beliefs?
Cognitive Archaeology: Study of those aspects of ancient culture that are the product of the human mind (and how they were expressed materially in art and symbolism). perception, classification of the universe, nature of the supernatural, ethics and values
What is CRM, and what is its primary legal basis?
Cultural Resource Management Increasing awareness that development and looting posed increasing threats to archaeological sites. Federal and state governments gradually developed laws and regulations to mitigate impacts and govern site stewardship. These laws and regulations eventually spawned the private/public industry called CRM. CRM reports commonly result in "gray literature" reports that are not widely disseminated.
How do archaeologists study past human exchange and trade?
Direct Acquisition 1.You go to the natural source of a raw material. 2.Extract the material 3.Exchange goods or services for it or receive an artifact or raw material as a gift. Down-the-Line Trade 1.People acquire a raw material from people who have immediate access to it. 2.These people trade it to others who live farther away from the source. 3.They may in turn trade it to people living even farther away.
What archaeological remains are studied by zooarchaeologists, and what are the main strategies and techniques they use?
Fauna 1.Vertebrates: Terrestrial (mammals, reptiles, amphibians), Aquatic (bony fish, etc.), Avian (birds, etc.) 2.Invertebrates: Shellfish (molluscs, gastropods), Arthropods (crustaceans, insects) White Method (simple proportion by taxon), Percentage Method (mammal skeletal weight = 7.5%), Proportional Method (skeletal weight/body weight ratio by taxon), Scaling: Dimensional Allometry (linear dimensions to body weight by taxon; used for "Maximum Meat Weight"), Scaling: Skeletal Mass Allometry (skeletal weight to body weight by taxon; used for "Minimum Meat Weight")
What archaeological remains are studied by archaeobotanists, and what are the main strategies and techniques they use?
Flora1 1. Macroscopic Plant Remains: Food Plants (seeds, nuts, fleshy and woody parts, etc.), Wood (architectural, fuel, etc.) 2.Microscopic Plant Remains: Pollen, Phytoliths Palynology: The analysis of ancient plant pollen and spores. A paleoethnobotanist (or archaeobotanist) recovers and identifies plant remains from ancient contexts, focusing on plant-people interactions. flotation
What are some basic forms of political organization?
Four types/levels of political organization (Service 1962) 1. Band: small kin-based group among foragers. 2. Tribe: multi-community political unit without hereditary leadership; economy based on nonintensive food production 3. Chiefdom: intermediate form between tribe and state; hereditary leadership over multiple communities; differential access to resources by superordinates over subordinates. 4. State: formal institutional governmental structure and socioeconomic stratification
How do these three components differ from one another, and how can archaeologists study them?
Gender-culturally-constructed categories based on (but not purely reflective of) biological sex. Kinship culturally-constructed networks and groupings of relatedness based on (but not purely reflective of) biological descent). Social status -culturally-constructed differentials in status and power between individuals and groups. Anthropologists distinguish between sex and gender, and between gender roles and gender ideology. Sex refers to inherited, biological differences between males and females. Gender refers to culturally constructed ideas about sex differences and behaviors. Archaeologists attempt to understand these culturally embedded ideas and behaviors through patterns in the material remains of a society. Kinship refers to the socially recognized network of relationships through which individuals are related to one another by ties of descent and marriage. A kinship system blends biological descent with cultural rules that define some people as close kin and others as distant kin. Kin groupings condition the nature of relationships between individuals.
What are some techniques available to historical archaeologists that are not available to prehistoric archaeologists?
History: Traditional history deriving from historical documents written within the context of the culture being studied. Ethnohistory(ethnography + history): History written about non-literate peoples by literate peoples in contact with them. Oral History: genealogies, traditions, stories, myths, etc. (either by literate or non-literate peoples). documents can help us get start and stop dates for certain objects
How do archaeologists use art and iconography to study past human belief systems?
Iconography: study of how people use art forms to represent beliefs. Art forms or writing systems that symbolically represent ideas about religion or cosmology. cognitive archaeology
What are two of the most important key transitions in prehistory that are studied by archaeologists around the world, and what do we know generally about when and where these transitions occurred?
Key Transition #1: The Origins of Agriculture (The best evidence suggests that a fulltime agricultural economy began about 9000 to 10,000 BP, An area where agriculture originated in the Near East, a broad arc of mountains in Israel, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Iran), Key Transition #2: The Origins of the State (Shang Dynasty, China 3750 B.P.)
What is middle-range research, and what subfields of study allow archaeologists to interpret how static archaeological deposits and artifacts relate to the past human behaviors that produced them?
Links archaeological observations with the human behavior or natural processes that produced them. Taphonomy: studies the role of post-depositional natural processes in the archaeological record. Experimental archaeology: uses controlled experiments to replicate the past and look for links between human behavior and archaeological traces. Ethnoarchaeology: studies living societies to see how behavior is translated into the archaeological record.
What major tools and techniques distinguish archaeological fieldwork underwater from that carried out on land?
Mapping Baseline: Offset Mapping = Mapping points with reference to a baseline established at the site between two datums, Trilateration = Mapping points with reference to three datums surrounding an object. Excavation: Water Induction Dredge = Uses high-pressure water flow to create suction at the mouth of the tube. Airlift = Uses compressed air to create suction at the mouth of the tube. Hand-Fanning = Used to loosen sediment to be captured in the dredge.
What is the difference between maritime, underwater, and nautical archaeology?
Maritime Archaeology: "the scientific study, through the surviving material evidence, of all aspects of seafaring: ships, boats, and their equipment; cargoes, catches, or passengers carried on them, and the economic systems within which they were operation; their officers and crew, especially utensils and other possessions reflecting their specialized lifestyle." Underwater Archaeology: any archaeological work carried out underwater (including submerged terrestrial sites) Nautical Archaeology: archaeological work related to ships and shipbuilding (including terrestrial ship burials, etc.)
What is MNI and why is it important to consider?
Minimum Number of Individuals. The smallest number of individuals necessary to account for all identified bones. Number of bone fragments generally does NOT correlate directly to the relative number of individual animals responsible for the fragments. tells how many animals were processed on site. cultural filtering
In broad terms, how does CRM work at the state level, and what types of jobs can archaeologists get within this framework?
Prior to 1960 nearly all archaeologists worked for universities or museums. Today, CRM (Cultural Resource Management) projects account for about 90% of the field archaeology conducted today in United States. Government agencies now employ their own archaeologists, but most federal work is outsourced to private firms.
What is the difference between descent patterns and postmarital residence patterns?
Residence Patterns Patrilocal Residence-A newly married couple live in the groom's village of origin; associated with patrilineal descent. Matrilocal residence-A newly married couple live in the bride's village of origin; associated with matrilineal descent. Bilocal residence-The married couple reside either with the husband's or the wife's family. NOT the same as descent patterns (patrilineal, matrilineal, bilateral, etc.)
How does screen size influence the ability of archaeologists to study past human diet?
Smaller screen size captures smallest bones normally lost to larger screen sizes. This is particularly important for the ratio of mammals to fish; far more fish specimens are found with smaller screen size, and some species appear that would never even be found with larger screen sizes.
What are some major types of information that archaeologists have used to study and attempt to explain the reasons for these transitions?
The Oasis Theory: Proposed by V. Gordon Childe, argues that animal domestication arose as people, plants, and animals congregated around water sources during the arid years that followed the Pleistocene. In this scenario, agriculture arose because of "some genius" and preceded animal domestication. The Hilly Flanks Theory: Proposed by Robert Braidwood, it claims that agriculture arose in the areas where wild ancestors of domesticated wheat and barley grow, attributing agriculture's appearance to human efforts to continue to increase the productivity and stability of their food base, coupled with culture being "ready" to accept an agricultural lifeway. The Density-Equilibrium Model: Proposed by Lewis Binford as a challenge to Braidwood, attributes the origins of agriculture to population pressure in favorable environments (exceeding carrying capacity) that resulted in emigration to marginal lands, where agriculture was developed to increase productivity. Carrying capacity: The number of people that a unit of land can support under a particular technology. Optimal Foraging Theory: The idea that foragers select foods that maximize the overall return rate. return rate: The amount of energy acquired by a forager per unit of harvesting/processing time. Coevolution (Natural & Cultural): The result of natural selection operating simultaneously on both plants and the people using them. Because of some plants' genetic composition and because of how they must be harvested, the very act of harvesting them results in unintentional selection in such a way that the plants become dependent on humans for survival. Warfare and Circumscription: Ethnologist Robert Carneiro argues that egalitarian settlements transform into chiefdoms, and chiefdoms into states, only when coercive force is involved. Carneiro's initial premise stipulates that political change of lasting significance arises only from coercive pressure. And warfare, he suggested, is the only mechanism powerful enough to impose bureaucratic authority on a large scale. The Irrigation Hypothesis: Karl Wittfogel (1896-1988) asserted that the mechanisms of large-scale irrigation were directly responsible for creating the archaic state. The need for coordinated labor, massive construction, and so forth led to increased wealth and military strength and eventually to the powerful ruling bureaucracy that characterized state development. Multicausal Origins: Allen Johnson and Timothy Earle list three conditions necessary for archaic states to form: 1.High population density that strains the food production system. 2.A need for a system of integration. 3.The possibility of controlling the economy to permit financing of institutions and support a ruling class.
What archaeological remains are studied by bioarchaeologists, and what are the main strategies and techniques they use?
The study of the human biological component of the archaeological record by exploring bone, bone chemistry, and DNA preserved in human tissues to: Learn the origin and distribution of disease. Reconstruct human diets. Analyze evidence for biological stress in archaeological populations. Examine nature and levels of human activity patterns. Skeletal Analysis, Paleopathology is the study of ancient disease, including searching for nonspecific indicators of stress caused by nutritional deficiency and infectious diseases. Paleodemography reconstructs parameters such as life expectancy at birth, the age profile of a population, and patterns in the ages of death. Reconstructing Diet from Human Bone, Molecular Archaeology uses genetic material—DNA from human skeletal remains and living peoples—so geneticists and archaeologists can join forces to create a new approach to reconstructing the past.
What are the three key components of human society?
Three major dimensions of social organization that occur in all human societies. 1. Gender 2. Kinship 3. Social Status. While all living human societies possess these key components, they may or may not be recognizable in the archaeological record.
What is taphonomy and why is it important to archaeology?
studies the role of post-depositional natural processes in the archaeological record. The study of how natural processes contribute to the formation of archaeological sites. Logical statements linking the static archaeological record to the past dynamics that produced it. taphonomy is one of the things generally required to define these links.
What is the difference between experimental archaeology and ethnoarchaeology, and how are they important to archaeology?
uses controlled experiments to replicate the past and look for links between human behavior and archaeological traces while the ethno studies living societies to see how behavior is translated into the archaeological record. Experimental archaeology is useful for establishing how things might have been made in the past or discovering "mechanical" relationships between behavior and material remains, such as tool use and microwear. Ethnoarchaeologists study living societies, observing artifacts, features, and material remains while they still exist in their systemic, behavioral contexts. Ethnoarchaeology links human behavior with archaeologically observable material remains A powerful tool for creating middle-range theory when: It focuses on aspects of ethnographic data that are archaeologically observable. Attempts to explain why a relationship between behavior and archaeologically observable remains should necessarily hold true.