Anthropology 103 Midterm
What is a site datum and how is it used?
1.) A point from which all measurements are taken both horizontally and vertically. 2.) Reference point where all other points can be measured.
Explain the difference between inductive and deductive reasoning as it relates to the scientific method.
1.) Inductive Reasoning: working from specific observations to more general hypothesis. 2.) Deductive Reasoning: Using theory to predict specific observational or experimental results.
Theory is an explanation of observed, empirical phenomena which seeks to explain the relationships between variables. Distinguish between low-level, middle-level and high-level theory.
1.) Low-Level Theory: The observations and interpretations that emerge from hands-on archaeological field and lab work. 2.) Middle-Level Theory: Hypothesis that links archaeological observations with the human behavior or natural processes that produced them. 3.) High-Level Theory: Theory that seeks to answer large "why" questions.
You have been asked to conduct an archaeological investigation of an important archaeological site. Where would you start and how would you proceed with the investigation?
1.) Research and background knowledge 2.) Mapping and establishing boundaries 3.) Testing and ground trothing 4.) Excavation and recovery 5.) Collecting, packaging, and transportation
Science is the search for answers through a process that is objective, systematic, logical, predictive, self-critical and public. Define these steps in scientific methodology.
1.) Science is Objective: Science is concerned with the observable, measurable world. 2.) Science is Systematic: Scientists try to collect data relevant to solving a problem and they try to specify their procedures, so that any trained observer under the same conditions would make the same observations. 3.) Science is Logical: Scientists work not only with data, but also with the ideas that link data to interpretations and with the ideas that link the ideas together. 4.) Science is Predictive: Science is concerned with causes. It seeks theories—explanatory statements that not only predict what will happen under a specified set of conditions, but also explain why it will happen. 5.) Science is Self-Critical: The best scientists are professional skeptics, always asking themselves: "How do I know that I know something?" Science, in this sense, becomes the right to be wrong. 6.) Science is Public: Scientific methods, the observations and the arguments linking observations with conclusions are explicit and available for scrutiny by the public.
Uniformitarianism and the law of superposition were developed as geological concepts and were readily taken up by archaeologists to explain concepts of stratigraphy. Be familiar with these concepts and the relation to archaeological stratigraphy.
1.) Uniformitarianism: The principle asserting that the processes now operating to modify the earth's surface are the same processes that operated throughout geological time. 2.) Superposition: The geological principle that in any pile of sedimentary rocks that have not been disturbed by folding or overturning, each bed is older than the layers above and younger than the layers below; also known as Steno's law.
What are the four fields of anthropology? How does archaeology fit into the anthropological agenda?
1.) biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology and archaeology. 2.) It studies the human past through material remains and helps anthropologists learn more about human behavior
How would you define a buried archaeological site?
A site where material evidence from the human past has been buried.
What are the three characteristics of a typology?
Cataloging, classification and typology
The arguments of early American archaeologists for and against the premise that ancient Moundbuilding cultures were Native American.
Common belief that Native Americans were not intelligent enough to construct the mounds.
The 3.5 million-year-old footprints at Laetoli are an example of a site forming processes. What process was involved in preserving these ancient footprints?
Footprints preserved in volcanic ash.
What is a total station?
Total Station: A device that uses a beam of light bounced off a prism to determine an artifact's provenience; it is accurate to millimeters.
The concept of uniformitarianism and how it applies to our understanding of site forming processes.
Uniformitarianism: The principle asserting that the processes now operating to modify the earth's surface are the same processes that operated throughout geological time.
The Potlatch is an important social event practiced by the Northwest Coastal Indians in the past and to a certain extent today. One explanation for practicing this event is that it has an adaptive strategy (redistribution) and the other is that it is ideational (prestige). Could there be an archaeological signature that might hint at which strategy is operative?
1.) Adaptive strategy looks at the economy for everyone to share, ecology, population distribution. 2.) Ideational: What could be gained from this, prestige is very important in their culture and social relationships.
Define culture and why the concept is important to archaeologists.
1.) An integrated system of beliefs, traditions and customs that govern or influence a person's behavior. Culture is learned, shared by members of a group and based on the ability to think in terms of symbols. 2.) How people make a living influences the types of tools they develop, their housing and many other aspects of their culture.
Faunalturbation is an example of what type of natural site forming process? What about cryoturbation, argilliturbation, and floralturbation?
1.) Animals that can bring stuff up to the surface, squirrels, bring old stuff up to the top when they should be at the bottom. 2.) Cryoturbation: ice Argilliturbation: expansion and contract Floralturbation: plants roots
What are artifacts, features and ecofacts?
1.) Artifacts: Any movable object that has been used, modified or manufactured by humans; artifacts include stone, bone and metal tools; beads and other ornaments; pottery; artwork; religious and sacred items. 2.) Features: Nonportable archaeological evidence such as fire hearths, architectural elements, artifact clusters garbage pits and soil stains. 3.) Ecofacts: Plant or animal remains found at an archaeological site.
What is the difference between the paradigms called: culture history, processualism and post-processualism?
1.) Culture History: The kind of archaeology practiced mainly in the early to mid-twentieth century; it "explains" differences or changes over time in artifact frequencies by positing the diffusion of ideas between neighboring cultures or the migration of a people who had different mental templates for artifact styles. 2.) Processualism: The paradigm that explains social, economic and cultural change as primarily the result of adaptation to material conditions. External conditions (for example, the environment) are assumed to take casual priority over ideational factors in explaining change. 3.) Post-Processualism: A paradigm that focuses on humanistic approaches and rejects scientific objectivity. It sees archaeology as inherently political and and is more concerned with interpreting the past than with testing hypotheses. It sees changes as arising largely from interactions between individuals operating within a symbolic and/or competitive system.
What are the 6 steps in unraveling the scientific method?
1.) Define the problem 2.) Establish one or more hypotheses 3.) Determine implications 4.) Collect data 5.) Test hypothesis 6.) Reject, revise and restate
The process of field excavation, from establishing a grid system to conducting a broad perspective block excavation.
1.) Grid System: When setting boundaries and mapping; establish a datum point from which all measurements are taken, both horizontally and vertically 2.) Broad Perspective Block: When recovering data; digging deep and wide for greater excavation coverage.
What was Charles Lindberg's contribution to archaeology and why is remote sensing so important for archaeological investigation?
1.) He conducted the first aerial survey of a site 2.) Remote Sensing helps archaeologists find artifacts, features and ecofacts that they may have overlooked using traditional methods.
What is a "midden" and why would it be of importance to archaeologists?
1.) Midden: Refuse deposit resulting from human activities, generally consisting of sediment; food remains such as charred seeds, animal bone and shell; discarded artifacts. 2.) Its importance is collecting artifacts.
Explain the concept of relative chronology and how that differs from absolute chronology. Is the most precise method of absolute dating dendrochronology? How does dendrochronology work?
1.) Relative Chronology: estimate of a date 2.) Absolute Chronology: the exact date 3.) Dendrochronology is the most precise method of absolute dating. 4.) Dendrochronology: The science or technique of dating events, environmental change and archaeological artifacts by using the characteristic patterns of annual growth rings in timber and tree trunks.
The Hunley (a civil war submarine) and the Mary Rose (the flag ship of King Henry VIII) are examples of extraordinary preservation. Discuss the nature of each.
1.) The Hunley: It was a big mystery on how it disappeared. Found ship and was put into a salt bath to preserve. 2.) Half the ship was buried in mud, no oxygen, so it persevered everything.
The Terra Cotta Army of Emperor Qin of China is an example of the largest block excavation in the world. Justify this excavation method in such a complex archaeological site. Why was mercury used at the site?
1.) Thousands of warriors were recovered, the area was bigger than most buildings in Seattle and horses, chariots and statues with incredible detail were also recovered. 2.) Emperors tomb had a ton of mercury because back then they used it to create a landscape and also because Mercury was used as rivers and oceans to honor Emperor Quin.
Define each of the three forms of site preservation and how these processes work.
Anaerobic Preservation: Waterlogging refers to the long-term exclusion of air by groundwater, which creates an anaerobic environment that can preserve artifacts perfectly. Frozen Preservation: There are various types of sites and contexts that frequently involve long-term frozen conditions. There are some differences among them, which can influence preservation conditions and determine choices for excavation techniques. These include permafrost, cold dry sites (polar or alpine), ice patches and glaciers. Arid Preservation: Materials found in this preservation state are unsaturated and oxidizing and they are often found in undisturbed underground openings such as caves and unbackfilled tombs.
Antiquarian archaeology was best exemplified by the circus strongman Giovanni Belzoni. What is antiquarianism and how does antiquarian archaeology differ from a modern approach to archaeology?
Antiquarianism: Originally, someone who studied antiquities (that is ancient objects) largely for the sake of the objects themselves, not to understand the people or culture that produced them. Antiquarian archaeology requires meticulous notes.
What is an archaeological site?
Archaeological Site: Any place where material evidence exists about the human past. Usually, "site" refers to a concentration of such evidence.
In a historic site where radiocarbon 14 dating is not possible, what methods can be used to date the site?
Artifacts you can see how they were made to determine what time period (i.e. pipes and bottles, color of bottles).
The basic concepts and limitations of GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar).
Concepts: Finding something there that shouldn't be there. Limitations: Can't do anything below a couple of meters.
Name the two forms of glaciers that dominated the landscape of North America at the end of the Ice Age (Pleistocene).
Continental Glacier and Alpine Glacier
The concept of radioisotope half-life, specifically for Carbon-14 (14^C), a dating method most often used by archaeologists and calculate the second, third and fourth half-life dates of Carbon-14 where the first half-life is 5730 years (no calculator necessary).
First Half-Life: 5730 Second Half-Life: 5730 + 5730 = 11460 Third Half-Life: 5730 + 5730 + 5730 = 17190 Fourth Half-Life: 5730 + 5730 + 5730 + 5730 = 22920
Why do archaeologists dig square holes?
It helps them keep records of where they make each find.
Explain the four theories of megafaunal extinction at the end of the Ice Age.
Overkill (human hunters), overchill (climate change), overill (hyperdisease) and overgrill (comet impact or airbust).
Neanderthals appear to be our nearest cousins, what characteristics of Neanderthals best exemplifies this connection?
Skin tone, hair color and sleep patterns.
Thermoluminescent dating, a form of measuring trapped charges, is primarily used to date what type of non-organic artifact? How does the method work?
Thermoluminescence: A trapped charge dating technique used on ceramics and burned stone artifacts—anything mineral that has been heated to more than 500°C.
