Archaeology Midterm I

What is the general problem with relative dating techniques?

"Relative" because: length of each phase unknown, absolute date unknown

What is the half-life of Carbon 14? What are the time limitations? Why?

5730 years = half life of C14. Time limitations: 400-50,000 years ago Relies on assumption of constant atmospheric ratio of C-12 to C-14.

After an excavation, what do archaeologists do with all the materials they find?

A post-excavation analysis of all artifacts found: sorting and classification of artifacts.

What is sondage?

A test excavation or test pit made at an archaeological site to examine the stratigraphy.

Why excavate? What are the aims? How are they negative?

AIMS: Recover objects in context, explore variability across a site (horizontally in space, synchronic), excavate deeply stratified sites (vertically through time, diachronic) NEGATIVE: excavations are destructive, involve multidisciplinary research teams, and are very expensive.

What is ground penetrating radar? How is it used to find sites?

An emitter sends short pulses through the soil, and the echoes not only reflect back any changes in the soil and sediment conditions encountered, such as filled ditches, graves, walls, but also measure the depth at which the changes occur on the basis of the travel time of the pulses.

Why do archaeologists have to use sampling strategies when excavating? What are the different sampling strategies?

Archaeologists have to use sampling strategies because attempting to analyze everything would be very time consuming and difficult, not feasible. Random, stratified random, and systematic. Targeted sampling

What are artifacts, ecofacts, features and sites?

Artifact - portable objects used, modified, or made by humans Ecofact - organic and environmental remains not made by humans. Ex: charcoal, animal, and plant remains, pollen, residue, soils. Features - non-portable artifact: humanly modified components of a site or landscape: hearths, postholes, storage pits.

What is seriation? What is a battleship curve?

Based on an artifact's frequency and popularity, puts it into a chronology. For example: The frequency of a particular ceramic style, is usually small to start with, rises to a peak as the style gains popularity, and then declines again (diagrammatically produces a shape like a battleship viewed from above "battleship curve")

Why is archaeology in the anthropology department in the U.S.?

Because American archaeologists are studying the history of past humans such as the Native Americans, not of their own.

Why is it important to use both relative and absolute dating methods together?

Because it allows archaeologists to compare the results from both methods to determine an accurate chronology.

What idea or system did Christian Thomsen create? How was this significant?

Christian Thomsen created the THREE AGE SYSTEM: which divided museum collections into the STONE AGE BRONZE AGE IRON AGE This system established the principle that by studying and classifying prehistoric artifacts, they could be ordered chronologically.

How do archaeologist classify artifacts?

Classification is commonly done on the basis of three kinds of characteristics or attributes: surface attributes (including decoration and color) shape attributes (dimensions) and technological attributes. Artifacts with similar attributes are grouped together into artifact types - typology.

What are the 4 subfields of anthropology?

Cultural, Biological, Archaeology, History

Who was Charles Darwin? What was his major contribution to the world and anthropology?

Darwin was a geologist and biologist who established the concept of evolution: to explain the origin and development of all plants and animals. In his work On the Origin of Species (1859) He demonstrated how this change occurred - by "natural selection", the survival of the fittest.

What is radiocarbon dating? How does it work? What kind of material can you use to date with this method?

Due to the unstable nature of C14, it leads to radioactive decay. It is estimated that it takes 5730 years for half the C14 to decay - its half-life. It enables us to measure the ratio of C14 to C12, therefore determining how long it has been since the organism has died. Can date organic material.

What are earthworks, soil marks, and crop marks?

Earthworks: artificial changes in land level. Made from piles of artificially placed sculpted rocks and soil, show features beneath the surface Soil Marks: differences in soil color as a result of archaeology features. Crop Marks: shows differential growth in arable crops caused by the presence of sub-surface archaeological features. Crops grow taller and more thickly over sunken features (ditches), and show stunted growth over buried walls.

Why are archaeologists so concerned with dating objects?

Establish sequence of change Establish pace of change (was it fast or slow) Allow correlation with other phenomena like climate or natural disaster Helps determine the kinds of questions we ask about the past

What is antiquarianism? How did this affect the "archaeology" of the time?

Finding pretty artifacts and displaying them without explanations or descriptions.

What is research design?

Formulation of a research strategy to resolve a particular question or test a hypothesis or idea Collecting and recording of evidence against which to test that idea, usually by the organization of a team of specialists and conducting of fieldwork - whether survey or excavation or both Processing and analysis of that evidence and its interpretation in the light of the original idea to be tested Publication of the results in articles, books, etc.

What does GIS stand for? What is it? Why is it so important to archaeology?

GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS - a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographical data. Uses computer hardware and software. Combines a database with powerful mapping tools. Allows the automatic mapping of archaeological sites held in a computer database. Also incorporates the ability to carry out a statistical analysis of site distribution, and to generate new information.

How did the Giza Plateau Mapping Project benefit from GIS?

GIS was being used to integrate all of the project's drawings, thousands of digital photographs, notebooks, forms, and artifacts into a single organized data store. This enables the team to map patterns of architecture, burials, artifacts, and other materials. Color coded graphs and charts can be produced, representing the densities and distributions of various artifact types in different areas, buildings, rooms or even features.

What about GPS? What is that, what does GPS stand for?

GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM - allows archaeologists to map their ground position by connecting to a global satellite system.

Why was Gordon Childe so pioneering? What important contributions did he make?

Gordon Childe realized that there had been a "NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION" - a shift from hunter-gather to farming "URBAN REVOLUTION" - farmers to towns and cities

How do we find sites? Ground reconnaissance versus aerial reconnaissance?

Ground reconnaissance - we can identify sites by consultant of documentary sources and place-name evidence, but primarily actual fieldwork. Aerial reconnaissance - data collecting: taking photographs, images from aircrafts or satellites, data analysis: images are analyzed, interpreted.

What did James Boucher de Perthes discover? How was this significant to archaeology?

He discovered animal remains associated with human tools, which revealed the antiquity of humankind, in opposition to biblical notions.

Who was Archbishop James Ussher? What was his contribution to the world?

He was a prolific scholar and church leader who established the time and date of creation (Saturday, October 23, at Sunset, 4004 BC)

Hutton, Lyell, De Perthes, and Darwin were all extremely important to archaeology. Why?

Hutton and Lyell's theory of Uniformitarianism explained how the earth changed, the antiquity of earth and humans, De Perthes established the antiquity of humankind. Darwin established and explained how human bodies changed over time.

What is post-processual archaeology? How is it different from New Archaeology? Who is the leader of this approach?

Ian Hodder was the leader of post-processual archaeology: which was in reaction to New Archaeology. They argued that there was no single way to do archaeology, and that it was impossible to be objective. Always will be biased with the question and hypothesis. Instead, they aimed to understand what the individuals were thinking at the time instead of focusing on the environment. More interpretive, subjective method. Try to get "inside their minds."

Many artifacts don't make it into the archaeological record. What materials preserved the best? How might this affect archaeological interpretation?

Inorganic materials preserve the best: stone, clay, pottery, metal Although inorganic materials, particularly stone tools and pottery, are very often found at archaeological sites, these objects may well have been equaled or superseded in abundance and importance by objects that usually do not survive, such as wooden tools or baskets.

Why is aerial reconnaissance so helpful to archaeologists? What can we see?

It enables archaeologists to view a large area of land, and with LIDAR, they can toggle angles and different view options. We can see visible features such as earthworks, soil marks, crop marks.

After the early modern archaeology period came the classifactory-historical period, what was the main objective during this period?

Its central concern was CHRONOLOGY: the establishment of regional chronologies, and the description of the development of culture in each area. To organize, describe, classify.

Why is Thomas Jefferson important in the study of archaeology? What did he contribute? What question was he interested in answering?

Jefferson completed the first scientific excavation by testing the Moundbuilder theory. He discovered that it was built by Native Americans by carefully digging a trench across a Native American burial mound he was able to observe different layers and to draw reasoned conclusions from the data. His methods could be referred to as an early method of stratigraphy.

How did Darwin influence anthropologists like Julian Steward? What was his major contributed to anthropology?

Julian Steward established CULTURAL ECOLOGY. Influenced by Darwin's concept of how bodies evolved, Steward explored how the environment can shape and affect cultures. "The study of ways in which adaptation to the environment could cause cultural change."

What is cultural ecology? Who was the father of cultural ecology? Who else was important in the development of this approach?

Julian Steward was the father of cultural ecology: which was the study of how environments can shape culture. How adaptation to the environment could cause cultural change. Charles Darwin influenced Steward with his theory of evolution.

What is Potassium-Argon Dating? What are the time limitations? What material can you use to date with this method? What kinds of sites are best suited for this method?

K-Ar method is used by geologists to date volcanic rock. Based on the decay of radioactive potassisum-40 into argon-40. Range: older than 80,000 years ago Dates volcanic rock, (ash, rock, lava) Sites under volcanic rock/ash, early human sites in Africa

What are the 2 laws of stratigraphy?

LAW OF SUPERPOSITION: layers at the bottom of sequence are older than layers at the top LAW OF ASSOCIATION: artifacts associated with one another in a layer are the same age.

How do you use the 2 laws of stratigraphy to relatively date something?

LAW OF SUPERPOSITION: layers at the bottom of sequence are older than layers at the top LAW OF ASSOCIATION: artifacts associated with one another in a layer are the same age. From the point of view of relative dating, the important principle is that the underlying layer was deposited first and therefore earlier than the overlying layer.

What is LIDAR? Why is it so useful for finding sites?

LIDAR: Light Detection and Ranging - uses an aircraft with GPS, carrying a laser scanner that rapily pulses a series of beams to the ground. By measuring the time taken for these to return to the aircraft an accurate picture of the ground in the form of a digital elevation model is created. Software used with LIDAR provides archaeologists the ability to 1. Tree canopies can be eliminated by switching off the "first return" so the sensor can see into woodland, and the angle and azimuth can be moved to enable ground features to be viewed under optimal lighting.

What is New Archaeology? Who was the leader of this movement?

Lewis Binford was the leader of the NEW ARCHAEOLOGY MOVEMENT - which aimed to make archaeology a science. To be objective, employ the scientific method, test hypothesis. Try to find an explanation for why we see change in the past, come up with a generalization about human nature and culture, rather than just describe. Archaeological reasoning should be made explicit. Conclusions should not be based on simply the authority of the scholar making the interpretation, but on an explicit framework of logical argument. Conclusions, if they are to be considered valid, must be open to testing.

What are some surface manifestations of archaeological sites? How can we tell where sites are?

Look for evidence of past sites: mounds in an area that is flat. Soil discoloration - soil marks. Vegetation Differences - crop marks. Architecture - evidence of features (walls, old building materials) Artifacts - stone tools, ceramics. EARTHWORKS, SOIL MARKS, CROP MARKS.

What are matrix, provenience, and association? How are they related to context?

Matrix - the material surrounding a find (an artifact, ecofact, or feature) Provenience - the exact position of a find within the matrix Association - a find's relationship with other finds = context. Without context, an artifact loses much of its archaeological value.

What is dendrochronology? How does it work? About how far does it go back? What are some of the limitations?

Method is based on the annual cycle of tree-ring growth. Goes as far back as 10,000 YA. Annual growth rings can be counted, matched and overlapped, to build up a master sequence for a particular region. The rings become narrower with the increasing age of the tree. The amount a tree grows each year is affected by fluctuations in climate. Limitations: restricted to regions outside the tropics where pronounced differences between the seasons produce clearly defined annual rings. A direct tree-ring date is restricted to wood from those species that 1. Have yielded a master sequence back from the present and 2. People actually used in the past. 3. The sample affords a sufficiently long record to give a unique match.

Who were the Moundbuilders?

Native Americans.

What are site formation processes? What are the 2 types of processes? Why are they important to archaeology?

Natural formation processes (N transform) - natural causes of deposition: wind and water erosion, actions of plants and animals, climate: soil formation. Natural events that govern both the burial and the survival of the archaeological record. Cultural formation processes (C-transform) - cultural (human) causes of deposition and disturbance. Reuse of materials, agriculture, other landscape transformations. deliberate or accidental activities of human beings. They affect our interpretation of the site, and are vital to the accurate reconstruction of past human activities.

What are the 2 types of aerial photographs?

Oblique - easier to view and understand, better for pictorial effect and perspective Vertical - better for maps and plans

What are some radiocarbon cautions?

Only can date organic items. Contamination by human/ water/ modern organic Samples must be carefully chosen. Samples can easily be contaminated; results can be difficult to interpret correctly and require statistical treatment

What are the 2 different types of mounds? How were they different? What use did they have?

Platform mounds - for the elite, rulers who lived on top in structures Burial mounds - linear mounds, for burials, built by the Hopewell

What are primary and secondary context?

Primary (undisturbed) Secondary (disturbed) many things can affect the position of an artifact in the ground. Primary context: the undisturbed situation of a find, unmoved. Secondary context: when a find is moved, either due to cultural (looters) or natural causes.

How are dates given?

Quoted in years BP (before present)

What are radiometric dating methods? What is the basic principal behind the method?

Radiocarbon, potassisum-argon dating, thermoluminescence dating Method: based on the regular decay of a radioactive element

What are the 3 kinds of sampling strategies that we discussed in lecture?

Random Stratified Random Systematic

What are the two general methods that archaeologists use to date?

Relative and Absolute dating

What is stratigraphy? What does it have to do with uniformitarianism?

STRATIGRAPHY: the layers of cultural or natural debris visible in the side of any excavation. Uniformitarianism -that geologically ancient conditions were in essence, similar to, or "uniform with" those of our own time.

What are sampling strategies? Why do archaeologists have to use them?

Sampling: investigating a small part of a phenomena to extrapolate a generalization. To take out the bias. Limited time and resources, money. Because there is too much, can only do one portion and extrapolate to the whole. Archaeologists cannot usually afford the time and money necessary to investigate the whole of a large site.

What is Electron Spin Resonance? How does it work? What material do you use to date with this method?

Similar to Thermoluminescence but less sensitive. It can be used for materials that decompose when heated and thus when TL is not applicable. Its most successful application so far has been for the dating of tooth enamel.

Why do archaeologists dig square holes?

Square holes allow for a stratigraphic profile: stratigraphy: the layers of cultural or natural debris visible in the side of any excavation.

What are some relative dating techniques? How do they work?

Stratigraphy - in a succession of layers the bottom layer is the earliest and the top layer is the latest. Associations - objects found in the same stratigraphic layer were buried at the same time. Typological sequence - artifacts with similar characteristics were produced at the same time. "Like goes with like" Seriation - assemblages of objects can be arranged in serial order to create a relative chronology.

How are probes and shovel test pits used for finding sites? What are they?

Subsurface detection Probes is the most traditional technique of probing the soil with rods or augers, and noting the positions where they strike solids or hollows. Probing of this type was used by Chinese archaeologists to plot the 300 pits remaining to be investigated near the first emperor's famous buried terracotta army. Shovel Tests Pits (STPs) - small pits may often be dug into the ground at consistent distances from each other to gain a preliminary idea of what lies beneath the surface. These pits help show what an area has to offer and help identify the extent of a possible site, while analysis and plotting of the material retrieved from them by sieving of the soil can produce maps showing areas with high concentrations of different kinds of artifacts.

When do organic materials preserve?

Survival of organic materials is determined by the matrix (the surrounding material: soil or sediment) and by climate (local and regional) Extremely dry - great dryness prevents decay through the shortage of water, which ensures that many destructive micro-organisms are unable to flourish. Extremely cold - natural refrigeration can hold the processes of decay in check for thousands of years. Extremely wet - the wetter the environment the more likely organic materials survive. Because due to waterlogged environment (anaerobic condition) - no oxygen

What is the difference between total vs. selective excavation? What about vertical and horizontal?

TOTAL - a lot of time and money, covers the total space, depending on site can be impossible. SELECTIVE - covers selective area VERTICAL EXCAVATION: - Selective trenching or pits into deep deposits - Small glimpses at small areas - Diachronic Focuses on exposing the stratigraphy of a site, examine change through time HORIZONTAL (OPEN-AREA EXCAVATION) - Area or block excavation, exposes large area - Associations - Spatial distributions - Destructive - Synchronic Focuses on exposing a large area to one particular level to reveal associations and spatial relationships of features and artifacts, one time period.

What do TPQ TAQ stand for? How are they used to relatively date something?

TPQ - TERMINUS POST QUEM "limit after which" a dateable object provides only the date WHEN OR AFTER which the layer of soil that contains it was deposited The earliest time an event may have happened TAQ - TERMINUS ANTE QUEM "limit before which" The latest time an event may have happened

What is a typology? An assemblage? What about an archaeological culture?

TYPOLOGY - a classification according to general type, using the style of artifacts to put things into order. ASSEMBLAGE - the designation for a set of artifacts found in close association with each other and thus considered to be the product of a distinct species or culture from one period of time. ARCHAEOLOGICAL CULTURE - is a recurring assemblage of artifacts from a specific time and place that may constitute the material remains of a particular past human society.

How have satellites been helpful to archaeologists? What was the CORONA Intelligence Satellite Program? How did it help find sites? What about Google Earth?

The Corona program was a series of American strategic reconnaissance satellites produced and operated by the CIA - used for photographic surveillance of the Soviet Union, People's Republic of China. It was recently declassified. CORONA images have led to the detection and detailed mapping of numerous kinds of archaeological remains, such as ancient roads, ruins, irrigation networks and so forth. Google Earth is a free public program that allows archaeologists to also locate sites from satellite images with color. The introduction of Google Earth has been a true "aerial revolution" since it offers every archaeologist the opportunity to examine the ground and look for archaeological sites.

What is the Pompeii Premise? Why do archaeologists have to be careful of it?

The Idea that all sites are like Pompeii - last moment frozen in time. The last second of habitation of that site. Archaeologist need to be careful because in reality, sites, artifacts, remains - change through time. There are different processes that occur that affect how it looks, how it preserves, how it was found. They cannot assume that sites are like Pompeii. It is important to understand how sites preserves, what are the conditions on which we find them.

How are the site of Pompeii and the Otzi Man related to the Pompeii Premise?

The Site of Pompeii was the last moment before the volcano erupted. The Otzi man archaeologists can study what he had on him during his moment of death. Both were found in their primary context.

What is context? Why is it important?

The position of artifacts, ecofacts, and features in relation to one another and the natural environment. It is important to always consider context in order to correctly interpret.

What is the carbon cycle?

The steady atmospheric concentration of radiocarbon is passed on uniformly to all living thing through carbon dioxide.

What is taphonomy? Why is this important to archaeology?

The study of formation processes that may have affected both the ways in which finds came to be buried and what happened to them after they were buried.

What is archaeology?

The systematic investigation of material remains in order to reconstruct past human activities and to understand why such patterns developed.

What led to the downfall of the Moundbuilders? Why?

Their reliance on corn agriculture or agriculture in general led to conflict. Their crops failed. Their reliance led to their downfall due to bad seasons of harvest

Why do radiocarbon dates have to be calibrated? How do they do it?

There is always a statistical error attached to a carbon date. Calibration with dendrochronology.

How did the archaeologists and students figure out how long it took to build a mound in the movie?

They gathered a team and tried to recreate, best to their ability, how mounds were prepared, and made a mound. Timed it, figured out how much human hours it took, and figured out how long it took to create a mound. (about an afternoon) Experimental archaeology.

What was James Hutton and Charles Lyell's major contribution to geology and archaeology? What idea did they come up with?

They introduced the concept of Uniformitarianism: that geologically ancient conditions were in essence, similar to, or "uniform with" those of our own time. This idea could be applied to the human past also - established the antiquity of humankind. Biblical notions of the creation of the world just a few thousand years could no longer be accepted.

What is the difference between using squares versus transects in survey?

Transects: sampling unit is a long strip. More efficient: can save time, strip can cross a variety of terrain. Square: can expose more of the land to survey. Transects - straight paths, far easier to walk along a path than to locate accurately and investigate a square. Transects can easily be segmented into units, whereas it may be difficult to locate or describe a specific part of a square. Also useful for recording artifact densities across the landscape. COVERS LONG DISTANCES Squares - have the advantage of exposing more area to the survey, thus increasing the probability of intersecting sites. WHEN LARGER CONCENTRATIONS OF MATERIAL are ENCOUNTERED.

What are the 2 most used absolute dating techniques archaeologists use? Why?

Tree-ring dating and radiocarbon dating.

What are the 2 types of survey? What are the pros and cons of each?

Unsystematic - involving walking across each part of the area scanning a strip of ground, collecting or examining artifacts on the surface, recording their location (archaeologists randomly search an area on foot for artifacts) PROS: simpler; flexible, enables team to focus greater efforts on the areas that have proved most likely to contain sites/finds. CONS: biased and misleading, walkers will stray towards areas that seem richer, rather than obtaining a sample representative of the whole area that would enable the archaeologists to asses the varying distribution of material or different periods or types. Systematic - employing a grid system or series of equally spaced transects (straight paths) across the area. Divided into sectors, and walked systematically. Have to employ a sampling strategy. PROS: makes it easier to plot the locations of find since an exact position is always known.

What is Thermoluminescence dating? What material can you use to date? What is a major drawback of this method?

Used to date crystalline material (minerals) buried in the ground, which have been fired (usually pottery) but also baked clay, burnt stone. Difficult to make precise. Generally used when other methods such as radiocarbon dating are not available. Based on radioactive build-up Reheat object to measure TL released Ambient radiation may not have been constant

What is a typological sequence? What are some issues with it?

Uses an artifact's attributes and style to put into a chronology. Artifacts with similar characteristics were produced at the same time. "Like goes with like" PROBLEMS: - Don't know the direction of change, which end was first - Don't know how fast the change was occurring

What is ground survey? How do you do it? What is the goal?

Walk around, looking at the ground, mark where you find artifacts and features, create an inventory of ancient remains. Can help to create a map using GIS. Leave the stuff. Can use surface survey in it of itself to answer questions - to find a site can be the goal.

What is the "myth" surrounding the Moundbuilders?

Who built them: people speculated lost tribes of Israel, people from India or Central America. Because they assumed Native Americans did not possess the capabilities to have built the mounds.

Why was Willard Libby so important in archaeology? What did he invent?

Willard Libby developed radiocarbon dating in 1949. With it, archaeologists can now find an exact date, which frees archaeologists up from just doing chronology.