ANTH 145 part 2

Core

A Lithic artifact used as a blank form which other tools or flakes are made.

Archaeological culture

A constantly recurring assemblage of artifacts assumed to be representative of a particular set of behavioral activities carried out at a particular time and place. (cf. culture).

Environmental archaeology

A field of interdisciplinary research archaeology and natural science - that is directed at the reconstruction of human use of plants and animals, and how past societies adapted to changing environmental conditions.

Religion

A framework of beliefs relating to supernatural or superhuman beings or forces that transcend the everyday material world.

Assemblage

A group of artifacts recurring together at a particular time and place and representing the sum of human activities.

Core

A lithic artifact used as a blank from which other tools or flakes are made.

Planting

A method of bonding metals together, for instance silver with copper or copper with gold

Diatom analysis

A method of environmental reconstruction based on plant microfossils. Diatoms are unicellular algae, whose silica cell walls survive after the algae die and they accumulate in large numbers at the bottom of rivers and lakes. Assemblages directly reflect the composition of the waters extinct floral communities as well as the water's salinity, alkalinity, and nutrient status.

Flotation

A method of screening excavated matrix in water so as to separate and recover small ecofacts and artifacts.

Attribute

A minimal characteristic of an artifact such that it cannot be further subdivided; attributes commonly studies include aspects of form, style, decoration, color, and raw material.

Reciprocity

A mode of exchange in which transactions take place between individuals who are symmetrically places, i.i. they are exchanging as equals, neither being in a dominant position.

Tell

A near eastern term that refers to a mound site formed through successive human occupation over a very long timespan.

New Archaeology

A new approach advocated in the 1960s that argued for an explicitly scientific framework of archaeological method and theory with hypotheses rigorously tested as the proper bias for explanation rather tan simply description. (see also processual archaeology)

Feature

A non-portable artifact; e.g. hearths, architectural elements, or soil stains.

Polity

A politically independent or autonomous social unit whether simple or complex which may in the case of a complex society (such as a state) comprise many lesser dependent components.

Interaction sphere

A regional or interregional exchange system e.g. the Hopewell interaction sphere.

Metallographic examination

A technique used in the study of early metallurgy involving the microscopic examination of a polished section cut from an artifact which has been etched so as to reveal the metal structure.

Thin-sectional analysis

A technique whereby microscopic thin sections are cut from a stone object or potsherd and examined with a petrological microscope to determine the source of the material.

Culture

A term used by anthropologists when referring to the non-biological characteristics unique to a particular society (cf. archaeological culture).

State

A term used to describe a social formation defined by distinct territorial boundedness and characterized by strong central government in which the operation of political power is sanctioned by legitimate force. In cultural evolutionist models, it ranks second only to the empire as the most complex societal development stage.

Obsidian

A volcanic glass, the ease of working and characteristically hard flint like edges of which allowed it to be used for the making of tools.

Processual archaeology

An approach that stresses the dynamic relationship between social and economic aspects culture and the enviornment and the basis for understanding the processes of culture change. Uses the scientific methodology of problem statement, hypothesis formulation and subsequent testing. The earlier functional-processual archaeology has been contrasted with cognitive processual archaeology where emphasis is on integrating ideological and symbolic aspects.

Context

An artifacts context usually consists of its immediate matrix (the material around it e.g. gravel, clay, or sand) its provenience (horizontal and vertical position in the matrix), and its association with other artifacts (with other archaeological remains usually in the same matrix).

Environmental Circumscription

An explanation for the origins of the state propounded by Robert Carneiro that emphasizes the fundamental role that exerted by environmental constraints and by territorial limitations.

iconography

An important component of cognitive archaeology, this involves the study of artistic representations that usually have an overt religious or ceremonial significance; e.g. individual deities may be distinguished, each with a special characteristic, such as corn with the corn god, or the sun with a sun goddess etx.

Isotopic analysis

An important source of information on the reconstruction of prehistoric diets, this technique analyzes the rations of the principal isotopes preserved in human bone; in effect the method reads the chemical signatures left i the body by different foods. Isotopic analysis is also used in characterization studies.

Artifact

Any portable object used, modified, or made by humans, e.g. stone tools, pottery and metal weapons.

Marxist archaeology

Based principally on the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Eagles, this posits a materialist model of societal change. Change within a society is seen as the result of contradictions arising between the forces of production (technology) and the relations of production (social organization). Such contradictions are seen to emerge as a struggle between distinct social classes.

Ice Cores

Borings taken from the Arctic and antarctic polar ice caps, containing layers of compacted ice useful for reconstructing paleoenvironment and as a method of absolute dating.

Macrobotanical remains include:

Charcoal, wood, seeds, plants

Deep-sea cores

Cores drilled from the sea bed that provide the most coherent record of climate changes on a worldwide scale. THe cores contain shells of microscopic marine organisms (foraminifera) lain down on the ocean floor through the continuous process of sedimentation. Variations in the ratio of two oxygen iso times in the calcium of carbonate of these shells give a sensitive indicator of sea temperature at the time the organisms were alive.

Hoards

Deliberately tried groups of valuables or prized possessions often intimates of conflict or was and that for one reason or another have not been reclaimed. Metal hoards are a primary source of evidence for the european bronze age.

Stone tool replication is a type of ____________ archaeology.

Experimental

Monocausal explanation

Explanations of culture change (e.g. for state organs) that lay stress on a single dominant explanatory factor or "prime mover"

Multivariate Explanation

Explanations of culture change (e.g. the origin of the state) that, in contrast to the monocausal approaches, stress the interaction of several factors operating simultaneously.

Historic and literate societies (or those that leave written records) are the only groups that leave evidence for what they ate in the past.

False

Symbollic trade and exchange are usually associated with a symbolic ritual of material goods.

False

Stone tool manufacture involves which of the following:

Flakes, debitage, shatter, cores

One technique used to separate organic materials from the soil is called:

Flotation

Coprolites

Fossilized feces; these contain food residues that can be used to reconstruct diet and subsistence activities.

Kennewick Man

Found eroding out of a riverbank in washington

Lindow Man

Found in a bog in northwest England

On your knees cave

Found in southeast Alaska

Annealing

In copper and bronze metalworking, this refers to the repeated process of heating and hammering the material to produce the desired shape

Structuralist approaches

Interpretations that stress that human actions are guided by beliefs and symbolic concepts and that underlying these are structure of thought that find expression in various forms. The proper object of study is therefore to uncover the structures of thought and to study their influence in shaping the ideas in the mods of the human actors who created the archaeological record.

Down-the-line

Involved repeated exchanges of a reciprocal natural traveling through successful territories

Large mammals are referred to as ________fauna while smaller mammals such as rodents are referred to as ______fauna

Mega:Mini

The study of pollen is referred to as ____________.

Palynology

Symbol

Representation (by word or casual imageP of an idea or concept. The capacity to use symbols in a defining feature of human cognition.

Zooarchaeology

See archaeozoololgy

Archaeobotany

See paleoethnbotany

Pollen analysis

See palynology

Refitting

Sometimes referred to as conjoining, this entails attempts to put sone tools and flakes back together again, and provides important information on the processes involved in the knapper's craft.

Archaeozoology

Sometimes referred to as zooarchaeoogy, this involves the identification and analysis of faunal species from archaeological sites as an aid to the reconstruction of human diets and to an understanding of the contemporary environment at the time of deposition.

Alloying

Technique involving the mixing of two or more metals to create a new material, e/g. the fusion of copper and tin to make bronze

Paleolithic

The archaeological period before c. 10,000 bc, characterized by the earliest known stone tool manufacture.

Material culture

The buildings, tools and other artifacts that constitute the material remains of former societies.

Oldwan industry

The easiest toolkits, comprising flake and pebble tools, used by hominids in the Olduvai Gorge, East Africa.

Ethnicity

The existence of ethic groups, including tribal groups. Though these are difficult to recognize from the archaeological and linguistic boundaries shows that ethnic groups are often correlated with language areas.

Evolutionary Archaeology

The idea that the processes responsible for biological evolution also drive culture change i.e. the application of Darwinian evolution theory to the archaeological record.

Protechnology

The intentional use and control of fire by humans.

DNA

The material that carries the hereditary instructions (the "blueprint") That determine the formation of all living organisms.

Prehistory

The period of human history before the advent of writing

paleo-enthnobotany

The recovery and identification of plant remains from archaeological contexts used in reconstructing past environments and economies.

palynology

The study and analysis of fossil plane as an aid the reconstruction of past vegetation and climates.

Bioarchaeology

The study of human remains (but in Europe its sometimes applied to other kinds of organic remains, such as animal bones.)

Landscape archaeology

The study of individual features including settlements seen as single components within the broader perspective of patterning of human activity over a wide area.

Paleoentomology

The study of insects from the archaeological contexts. The survival of insects exoskeletons, which are quite resistant to decomposition, is important in the reconstruction of paleoenviornments.

Cognitive archaeology

The study of past ways of thought and symbolic structures from material remains

Cognitive Archaeology

The study of past ways of thought and symbolic structures from material remains.

Taphonomy

The study of processes that have affected the organic materials, such as bone after death; it also involves the microscopic analysis of tooth marks or cut make to assess the effects of butchery or scavenging activities.

Archaelogy of cult

The study of the material indications of behavior undertaken in response to religious beliefs.

Microwear anaylsis

The study of the patterns of wear or damage on the edge of stone tools, which provides valuable information on the way in which the tool was used.

Microwear analysis

The study of the patterns of wear or damage on the edge of stone tools. which provides valuable information on the way in which the tool was used.

Fall-off analysis

The study of the way in which quantities of traded items found in the archaeological record decline as the distance from the source increases. This may be plotted as a fall-off curve, with the quantities of material (Y-axis)plotted against distance from source (X-axis)

Hominins

The subfamily to which humans belong, as opposed to the "hominids" which include not only humans but also gorillas and chimps, and "hominoids" which group these with gibbons and orang-utans.

Critical Theory

The theoretical approach developed by the so-called "Frankfurt school" of German social thinkers which stresses that all knowledge is historical and in a sense biased communication; this, all claims to "objective" knowledge are illusory.

Emissary

The trade is a representative of a central organization based in a home country

Trace-element analysis

The use of chemical techniques for determining the incidence of trace elements in rocks. These methods are widely used in the identification of raw material sources for the production of stone tools.

Direct access

The user goes to the source of the material

Freelance

Traders operate independently for gain

Bioarchaeology and the study of human skeletal remains can help identify sex and age.

True

Diatom analysis refers to the study of single-cell algae that have cell walls of silica instead of cellulose.

True

Kennewick man:

created a lot of contention between Native groups and scientists

According to the ceramic analysis weblink, what are three types of pottery analyses?

form, fabric, and decoration

NAGPRA is important to Native Americans because:

it protects Native American human remains and associated funerary artifacts

The study of past human use of plants is called:

paleo-ethnobotany

The study of disease and deformities found in people of the past is referred to as:

paleopathology

Which of the following is considered a composite artifact/tool?

stone arrow point hafted on a wood shaft

simulation

the formulation and computer implementation of dynamic models, i.e. models concerned with change through time.