ANTH2140 - Quiz 3 Short Answer

What was the Chacoan Network?

- A road system that links Chaco Canyon with sites covering a large part of what is today the Four Corners region of the American Southwest. - One possibility as to how it ranis that the items were brought to Chaco Canyon as taxes collected by a central authority backed by the threat of force. - Sites in this region tend to share similarities in architecture, which, together with the road system, suggests that they were linked into the Chacoan Network. - Another possibility is that the power of the people living at Chaco Canyon was the result of the centrality of the canyon in the ritual and religious life of the people living within the greater Chacoan Network. - The flow of goods into Chaco Canyon might have been the result of cycles of ceremonial feasting in which large groups of people congregated in the canyon for very brief periods, bringing from their homes food and utensils that were then discarded in the refuse piles such as the berm in front of Pueblo Bonito.

What was significant about Mound 72 at Cahokia?

- Came across a cache of hundreds of complete arrowheads that were part of an elaborate burial complex. - The central figure was a man laid face up on a bird-shaped platform made of over 20,000 cut shell beads. - A possibility that victims were killed to accompany the main burial. - The mass burials of young women and the series of headless and handless buried males raise the possibility that the elite of Cahokia had control not only over material wealth, but also over the lives of their subject.

Briefly describe the problem of the illicit trade in African antiquities (p288)

- Collectors are willing to pay very high prices for sculptures and other precious artifacts that serve as marks of prestige and wealth. - But for archaeologists, the plunder of archaeological sites results in the irreparable loss of all contextual information. **These objects, ripped from their context, lose much of their historical value**

What was significant about the Royal Tombs at Ur?

- Contain staggering deposits of wealth —> tools, jewelry, musical instruments, and precious stones. - These materials were brought to Ur from considerable distances like Afghanistan and Pakistan. - These people appear to have been slaughtered as part of the burial ritual. - These attendants were violently killed and there is also indications that the skeletons were heated before burial, perhaps as part of a procedure to preserve the body. - Illustrate the wealth concentrated in the hands of the king and close family. The sacrificial victims point to ruler's ability to control the life and death of his subjects

What are some archaeological theories about what Stonehenge meant?

- Ian Hodder believes Stonehenge was an expansion of the household to include a larger group of people spread over a wider area. - For Hodder, Stonehenge is one of many monuments that recreate the household at the level of a regional landscape - One intriguing idea is that, for Stonehenge and the surrounding earthworks such as the Avenue, the act of producing and experiencing the landscape was an important as the enduring monument. - She also suggests that the shaping of the landscape might have expressed and strengthened conceptions of gender and power in society - Parker Pearson and Ramilisonina have suggested a connection between Durrington Walls and Stonehenge saying the Durrington Walls was the land of the living, while Stonehenge was the domain of the ancestors (could also be connected to previous question)

What was the relationship between Durrington Walls and Stonehenge?

- It appears likely that Durrington Walls was a feasting site, perhaps linked to the early phases to the early phases of construction of Stonehenge. - The construction of Stonehenge required the ability to organize a large group of people for work beyond their basic subsistence activities. - It is located 2.8 kilometers from Stonehenge, and it was discovered to have a series of houses that appear to be part of a village dating to the Late Neolithic.

What was the function of Pueblo Bonito?

- The layout of the site and the large number of kivas have led some to argue that Pueblo Bonito was essentially a ceremonial center and that it rarely had a population of much more than 100. - The function may have changed overtime —> Its initial occupation conforms to size and organization of a residential site

How does dendrochronology work?

- Uses sequences of tree rings to date wood found on archaeological sites. - In some areas of the world, it has been established for a period of thousands of years. - The only dating method capable of absolute precision. These annual rings are clearly visible in sections cut through a tree trunk. - The ring pattern of a tree is a record of the fluctuating climatic conditions experienced as it grew.