ANT 145 Test 1

Colono-ware

A case study in typologies and ethnic baselines. Hand built (not wheel-throne) ceramic, unglazed, low-fired, locally produced from variety of clays, found in Viriginia, South Carolina, Caribbean, North Carolina, and Georgia. Similarities in manufacture and material to native ceramics made pre-colonization, found in plantation settings where enslaved Africans lived and worked, often had European forms like pitchers, spouts, ring bases. An intercultural artifact.

Historiography

A history of history, the analysis of how history is written.

LiDAR

A remote sensing method that uses a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) to the Earth. Light pulses generate precise, 3D information about surface characteristics of the earth. Can help find things hidden by vegetation. Typically used after site location is known and they want greater detail.

Lithic Analysis

Analysis of stones

Accountability

Archeological resources don't exist for archaeologists- this is someone's heritage. Responsible for consulting with affected groups to build collaborative relationships. Goal of establishing working relationship that is beneficial to all parties involved.

Dendrochronology

Based on annual cycle of tree ring growth. Direct dating of wood. More precipitation = thicker ring. Restricted to regions outside the tropics and certain species of tree. Can have very old ranges- up to 8500 BCE (Germany).

Basics of Radiocarbon dating

Based on the regular decay of a radioactive isotope of carbon, C14. Range is 400-50,000 years. Application is dating of organic matter. Limitations are that contamination is common and results require calibration. Based on assumptions that C14 in atmosphere has always been the same (it hasn't)- hence, calibration.

How and why do archaeologists maintain controlled excavations?

Before digging, create grid/matrix Horizontal and vertical; stratigraphic levels Grids, maps, photographs Datum- point from which all grid points are tied to Why? Need documentation, findings need to be accurately reported Need to know where things are found in relation to each other, what time they were found Archaeology is a destructive science- once it's been excavated, it's gone

Foodways

Can be derived from ceramic analysis. The eating habits and culinary practices of a people, region, or historical period.

Aerial Photography

Can be used to find sites that are visible from above but not obvious at surface. Ex. Crops grow taller and more thickly over sunken features like ditches. Crops show stunted growth over buried walls. Means sites can be found under crops through aerial photography.

Documentary Research Survey

Can provide important spatial and historical information, help further shape research initiatives, expose silences or fabrications. Must be understood in context to understand where the biases lie. Documents include photographs, paintings, sketches, local histories, diaries, memories, etc.

Historical Archaeology

Combines archaeology and history through the use of documentary sources. Archaeology of the modern world is post-1492, when Columbus reached the Americas. Archaeology of the contemporary past. Recovering perspectives of under/misrepresented people.

Intellectual Property

Contained in knowledge and documents created through study of archeological resource. Should be treated with principle of stewardship rather than ownership.

Primary Source

Contemporary to the event or part of attitudes/mindsets from the time period we are investigating.

Significance of the NHPA (1966) for the practice of historical archaeology

Created a National Register of Historic Places Created an Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Created State Historic Preservation Offices Offered grants Significance; cementing national heritage Led to shift in historic archaeology, enriching heritage of American history Started with architectural history, led to daily life, landscape, etc.

C-transforms

Cultural transformations to site. Depositional C Transforms are reflective of events and behaviors that occurred before it was buried (acquisition, manufacture, use, discard). Post-depositional C-transforms are evidence of cultural disturbance of a previous cultural deposit (farmers plowing over site, etc.). Looting, digging, trampling blowing, burning, building, burying

Mean Ceramic Date (MCD)

Dating technique used in historic archaeology to date sites based on the average age of recovered ceramics. 1- multiply mean manufacturing date by number of sherds for each kind of ceramic you find. Add these numbers together. Divide by total number of sherds.

What is problematic about dividing history and pre-history? Discuss how we talked about this in class and give an example from one of your readings.

Defining non-written as pre-historic Different cultures developed different forms of recording history Yakama time balls, winter counts Saying to particular groups that they don't have a history- problematic when trying to build relationships what counts as writing? Implies that if you don't have a written history, you dont have a history at all

Sampling Strategies

Depending on area you intend to study, you need to create a strategy. Will you test entire area with same frequency? Stratify intensity to account for known likelihoods? Test area randomly or at intervals? Simple random, stratified random, systematic, stratified unaligned systematic.

Three kinds of preservation?

Dry preservation; extremely dry environs preserve hair, skin, nails, textiles, leather, basketry, feathers, wood, plant remains, seeds. Slows decay by removing water. Cold preservation: preserve mostly organic matter (like Otzi!, who dates to around 5000 years ago). Cold locks moisture in. Wet preservation: (Ex. Makah Village of Ozette on Washington's Olympic Peninsula). Extremely wet conditions preserve wood, bone, and even basketry. Has to be extreme wet water logged conditions. Any kind of fluctuation causes stress to organic materials; must be prolonged and stable wet, dry, cold.

Emic v. Etic

Emic is insider view. Describing people, places, and things in terms of the categories, perceptions and concepts of the people being studied. Not projections of anthropologists' ways of seeing the world Etic is outsider view. Anthropologists use their own categories, concepts, and perceptions to categorize and conceptualize the people, places, and things In my own words: Emic is when people and cultures are described in a way that reflects how those people view themselves and the world around them. Etic is when anthropologists project their own ideas of the world and means of categorizing and describing things onto the people, places, and things being studied.

Ground Penetrating Radar

Employs radio pulses. An antenna is dragged along the ground in systematic transects, which sends electromagnetic pulses through the sediment. Echoes reflect changes in the sediment due to disturbance (like filled ditches, graves, walls, cavities, etc.) Great for precise depth readings, creates a 3D cube of readings with horizontal and vertical accuracy.

Lakota Winter Counts

Every year, designated person made a drawing of most significant event that winter. Another way to record history that's non-written.

Ethnic Baselines

From powerpoint: assigning defining/diagnostic material culture to different groups (material culture reflecting identity in a passive way). Freezes material practices expected at a single moment in time. Absence of that trait is seen as absence of people. Fuels search for "africanisms" and "indigenisms" Baseline = line of measurement, standard Ethnic baseline; what is the standard for that ethnicity? What are we looking for that makes someone a part of an ethnicity? Marker of ethnicity When looking at a site, particular things you're looking for to indicate an ethnicity (artifacts, symbols, techniques, etc.) Singleton says creating typologies and defining ethnic baselines isn't as important as finding evidence of what they're doing The minimum- "if I see this, I know there are Africans there. If I see this, I know there are Irish here" Sometimes work, sometimes don't

How are we defining historical archaeology in this class? What are its "haunts"?

Historical archaeology is post-Columbian (post 1492) "haunts"- colonialism, capitalism, Eurocentrism, modernization OR Colonialism, Capitalism, and Captivity The things that affect all of historical archaeology, they are always there in the background, always have to be contended with In studying historic archaeology, you are always studying these things

Use wear

How an object is used and the impact of that overtime

Artifacts

Human made (usually portable) objects. The material products of the human past.

Secondary Source

Interpretations of primary sources written after the fact.

Minimum Number of Individuals (MNI)

Looking for something that shows up one time in an individual (ex. Right arm). From this, we can find the least number of animals that were necessary to account for the bone sample. Can be skewed or misleading because of bacon effect.

Attribute

Material, shape, decoration.

Magnetometry Electro-resistivity

Measures small changes in Earth's magnetic fields. Different soiles and features have different magnetic values and can be mapped. Detects ferrous materials like iron, soil affected by human occupation (trash pits, middens with organic materials), excavated features, fired materials like kilns and hearths, tiles, bricks, and concentrations of ceramics.

Starch Residue Analysis

Micro botanical remains. Starch grains are identifiable to species and survive well in the archaeological record. Can provide information about diet and abundance.

N-transforms

Natural transformations to site. Flooding, wind, erosion, mudslides, volcanic ash, animal disturbance, freezing and unfreezing, decay, earthquakes, fires, etc. Ex. Pompeii!

Features

Non-portable human made traces of the human past.

Typological Sequence

Objects can be sorted according to attributes; material, shape, decoration. Products of a given period and place have a recognizable style. Change in style is often gradual (like goes with like)Typological Sequence

The law of superposition

Older layers are under youngest layers (geologically speaking)

Sites

Places where artifacts and features are found together

The Bacon Effect

Preserved cuts like bacon or jerky are boneless. Can easily be transported and last much longer than fresh meat. As such, they leave no archaeological trace.

James Deetz: Shifting patterns of mortuary art in New England. What did he find? How did he explain these patterns?

Recorded kinds of headstones, made battleship seriations Variation by location, class, status Since they're headstones, they have dates, names, iconography Used to see if seriation actually works - proved it does Death's heads, then cherubs, then urns (momento mori) Reflection of culture; Death's heads- more orthodox idea of death, more puritanical- more comfortable with skull, not abstract idea of idolatry like cherubs. Earthly idea of death. Great Awakening (1720s-60s) promise of salvation, resurrection- cherubs Then urns- "in memory of"- commemoration, focus on individuals and acheivements

Relative v. Absolute Dating

Relative dating is ordering things (artifacts, deposits, etc.) into sequence in relation to one another, oldest to youngest. Absolute dating is determining the age of things (artifacts, deposits, etc.) in calendar years

There is no such thing as an unbiased document. How do we use them effectively without unknowingly reproducing those biases? Give two examples.

Return to Voss article for more clarification All documents are reflections of culture, power, bias- emphasize or leave out a particular voice Documents almost always reflect the positions of those in power Who was this made for? Made by? Who is it about? What are they trying to convey? Combat this by taking it into account, acknowledging it, keeping it in mind Realize what it is accurate for and what it isn't accurate for Example 1: paintings of indigenous people in the Americas (can tell us about clothing, hobbies, habits, but not what people really looked like) Example 2: Urrutia drawings of presidios in the Americas. Made as a technology to extend gaze of military officials in Mexico City and Spain. Constructed view of presidios that emphasized Architectual homogeneity and underrepresented vernacular traditions and indigenous influences. (Voss article Week 3)

Battleship curve

Seriation where frequency is small, builds to a maximum, and then declines again. Can be used as a relative dating technique.

The Principles of Archaeological Ethics

Stewardship, accountability, commercialization, public education and outreach, intellectual property, public reporting and publication, records and preservation, training and resources, safe and educational workplace environments

Difference between a stratigraphic level and an arbitrary level?

Stratigraphic level is levels based on soil type, time, etc. Arbitrary at standard depths for each level regardless of variation (arbitrary measurement for each level)

Zooarchaeology

Study of faunal remains of living things. Have variable preservation and variable complex deposition. How did animals impact human economies? Tells us about diet, hunting, animal husbandry and butchery practices

Stewardship

Taking care of the archaeological record. Record is nonrenewable, irreplaceable- archaeologists work for long term conservation and protection of archaeological record. Be careful about what you're excavating and why- eye towards future research and scholars. Being responsible in record keeping.

The Brunswick Pattern

Tendency for entrances and exists where people throw trash out; "On British-American sites of the eighteenth century a concentrated refuse deposit will be found at the points of entrance and exit in dwellings, shops and military fortifications."

TPQ and TAQ (define and determine)

Terminus post quem and terminus anti quem. TPQ is Time after which and TAQ time before which. TPQ is earliest possible date for a deposit, defined by oldest object found. TAQ is latest possible date for a deposit.

Matrix

The conditions and makeup of the soil or sediment surrounding the material in question.

Provenience

The exact position of a find within the matrix.

Association

The find's relationship to other finds. Objects found in the same layer were buried at the same time.

Seriation

The frequency of a particular style is usually small to begin with, then builds to a maximum and declines again. It is possible to chronologically order sites based on matching style frequencies to the battleship curve pattern.

Paleoethnobotany

The study of past human use of plants. Macro botanical remains survive through waterlogging, carbonization, mineralization, freezing, impressions in mudbrick or pottery. Can tell us about climate, economic practices, changes in environment, diet. Soil sample from site from which you pull out botanical remains.

Palynology

The study of pollen (a microbotanical remain). Pollen of different species have identifiable shapes and can yield information about land use, climate change, economic practices. Often samples are taken as column to see stratigraphic sedimentation and wrapped in plastic to protect it from new pollen.

Stratigraphy

The study of stratification; the laying down, or depositing of strata, or layers, one above the other. A succession of layers provides a relative chronological sequence. With the earliest/oldest at the bottom and the most recent/youngest at the top. Focus on relationships between units and sequence of deposition. Is a relative dating technique in and of itself.

midden

Trash pits from the past

For what reasons might a surface survey not be an accurate representation of subsurface distribution? Benefits of Geophysical Remote Sensing?

Trees and grass grow, n and t transforms occur- can be turf, farming plowing, etc. Disturbs accuracy of surface surveys Geophysical remote sensing saves time, allows you to see exactly where artifacts are, don't have to get down and dirty

Minimum Vessel Count (MVC)

Type of analysis used number of representative parts to extrapolate the number of complete objects in an assemblage.

What are some of the problems with typologies? Explain and give examples.

Typology- breaks artifacts into groups based on attributes. Trying to find time, place, culture FROM POWERPOINT: Dividing worlds (artifacts) into categories. Means of organizing descriptive data from excavations/artifact analysis. NOT reflections of categories that exist objectively. Arbitrarily breaks things up Artifacts can be cross cultural, every thing that someone own isnt necessarily a manifestation of their culture Emic and etic (emic, in, etic out) Typologizing is often etic- can be something you made up Can also typologize based on what they were used for, etc- animal husbandry, basket making, etc. Can be problematic because it ignores other typologies (many things go into basket making- a tool used to take a tree down is also used for basketmaking) Colonoware is created typology- not as simple as part of african american culture or native american culture Trying to classify is problematic- instead of how does colonoware represent this culture, should be how did this culture influence colonoware

Yakama Time Balls

Women in the Yakama tribe made a knot for every important event in their life. They'd use the ball to recall memories in their life. An example of recording history that's not-written.

Profile

a representation of vertical spatial data (cake slice). Shows stratigraphic levels.

Parasites

can tell us about diet, trash and transhumance, health and disease, and public health concerns. Parasite eggs are durable and nearly as resistant to decomposition as pollen grains.

Ecofacts

non-human made traces of the past. Environmental remains like pollen, sediments, charcoal, and animal remains.

Skeleton Plot

representation of ring patterns of trees. Master record of whatever they have for that region.

Labor of Representation

the work put into representing something (history), which is always biased in some way. Applies to non-written artifacts too. We don't even know what the representation is, particularly with older objects.