Anthro 100 2/22

artifacts

any object created and modified by human action. archaeologists generally deal with broken objects. the most important source of information is the trash that has been left behind.

disturbance in context

archaeologists conduct field work to find material remains in context. once an object is in a museum, it is much harder to understand the context. looting destroys context.

What is archaeology?

archaeology is not about finding things, it's about thinking about the things that you find.

field methods: horizontal excavations

broad areal exposure of a layer from a single time period goal is to understand site function and use of space during a single time period.

archaeological sites: formation processes

burials are a treasure trove of information bones can provide biological information of age, sex, pathologies, DNA profiles,and isotopic signals of diet and migration. analysis of burial provides information on how the dead were treated as part of the mortuary ritual.

an example of methodology and analysis of stone tools in archaeological research

cataloging: -technical analysis -typological analysis -measurements drawings analysis of raw material -macroscopical -microscopical -XRF -use wear

uncommon formation processes

catastrophic: pompeii Destruction: raiding and warfare

what is context?

context means where an article is found. Not just the place, but the soil, the site, the layer, the artifact is came from, what else was in that layer, etc. objects alone don't help us as much. When things are found in "context", in their original setting, we gain much more info.

field excavations: vertical

deep cross-section through multiple time periods goal is to understand chronology and culture change over time.

common formation processes

gradual or planned abandonment and trash middens

features

immovable objects (structures, floors, trash, layers, pits) features generally provide a great deal of information about the context of the site

stratigraphy

is key: here you see different colors of soil that represent different events profiles shows a slice of what occurred at the site, as one action buries another profiles can be hard but they are critical in figuring out the contexts about the objects you find.

what is etmology?

it comes from the greek root archaeo- "ancient" and logos- "study" it is the study of the human past through material evidence of humans - "the archaeological record" archaeologists attempt to reconstruct and interpret the cultural change and variation of the human past.

trash middens

place where garbage is dumped

absolute dating

radiocarbon (carbon 14) dating dendrochronology dating the objects must've been organic (having once lived; plants or animals, etc)

dating methods: relative dating

stratigraphy - law of superposition

conditions affect preservation

very cold, very wet, very dry, are all good for preservation

field methods: surveys

walking-provides a small amount of information about a large number of sites. These projects are far less expensive than excavations; they provide general results such as the location of the sites, the sizes of the sites and the history of the occupation

lab work:

we conduct a lot of lab work to examine and reconstruct the artifacts we recovered in the field.

3 main components in archaeological sites

1. artifacts 2.ecofacts (pollen grains) 3.features

dating methods:dendrochronology

an excellent dating method, but only used in areas of good wood preservation

ecofacts

an unmodified natrual item that humans have used or affected. most common are animal and plant remains. ecofacts are especially important when asking questions about diet and climate