Archaeology Midterm
assumption underlying archaeology
"...human behaviour has remained unchanged since at least the appearance of 'anatomically modern humans'...and is therefore predictable" -paul bahn
paul bahn's definition of archaeological record
"What you threw in the garbage yesterday, no matter how useless, disgusting, or potentially embarrassing, has now become part of the recent archaeological record" "Rubbish" = the material remains that are the result of past human behavior -artifacts/ecofacts -features -human remains -sites -changes to the physical environment
historical archaeology
"text-aided" archaeology uses historical documents to locate and enrich the archaeological record = backed up by written history
monte verde, chile
- older than Clovis by a couple thousand years (at around 14,000 years ago) -has compelling evidence because it was a water-logged site, now a marshy site with peet, now an anaerobic site- organic stuff survived -finding animal sites, hair, a structure, footprint, chunks of meat, mammoth tusks -also found stone tools (pre clovis technology)
lewis binford
-"father of new archaeology" -introduced processual archaeology -we could apply the scientific method to archaeology (objective knowledge) -we could put less emphasis on assumptions and more on explanations -cultures as systems
Ramapithecus: A cautionary tale
-India, 1932, found an incomplete upper jaw bone from an unidentifiable animal- found by G. Edward Lewis -Yale University, 1961: identified by Elwyn Simons as first known hominin species based on molar characteristics -Using the evolutionary "package", Simons and David Pilbeam (Cambridge) described it as a bipedal hunter living in a complex social environment & dated it to 30-15 mya -huge assumption - can't assume walking ability from teeth -late 1960s: Wilson and Sarich (UC BErkley) compared human and ape blood proteins -results suggested the first human species evolved 5-7 mya -dispute and debate ensued -early 1980s: more complete fossil specimens found in Pakistan and Turkey revealing only superficial similarities to humans -biochemical evidence still holds up against independent testing -it was actually an ape -now have to reconstruct the story -lessons learned 1) problems with inferring a shared evolutionary relationship from shared anatomical features 2) proved the problems with the evolutionary "package" (biology v. culture)
meadowcroft rockshelter in pennsylvania
-James Adovasio -archaeologist -found bifaces, lanceolate projectile points in stratified deposits -went down layer by layer by layer finding more evidence of human activity
application of scientific method
-a tool to maximize probability that their conclusions are correct -be doing the 4 steps at the time - not in a set order -about seeing the outside world, trying to figure out patterns, make a test to see if your hypothesis is correct
biological evidence for fire and cooking
-big changes biologically between austrolopithecus and homo erectus - brain gets smaller, smaller pelvis, smaller chest -reduced jaw and teeth -smaller gut -higher energy expenditure -changed digestive system
4 types of commonalities (the categories you want to maximize as an archaeologist) -considering the ancient civilization and the modern one
-common subsistence strategies (hunting and gathering vs. developed agriculture) -common technological developments -common forms of social organization -common ecological conditions (same region or ecological province)
processual archaeology
-developed by louis binford -they believe they can understand past cultural systems through the remains they left behind. -limit assumption, more scientific -big difference between processualism and post processualism is the WHY application of the scientific method (objective knowledge) -emphasis on explanations -emphasized finding explanations for past human behavior. In particular, they viewed cultures as systems, with changes in one part of the system (the environment, for example) causing changes in other areas (subsistence, housing, etc.). -make the reasoning that underpins your explanations explicit & testable -experimental archaeology
Christian Jurgen Thomsen
-developed the three age system: Stone, Bronze, Iron (grouped stuff by what they were made from) -1st curator of Denmark's National Museum of Antiquities - made a guidebook
post-processual archaeology
-emphasizes the subjectivity of archaeological interpretations; they thought the beliefs were important -look at rituals, cultural implications, spiritual ideology -focus on symbolic & cognitive aspects -became popular in 1980s -Post-modernism holds that all knowledge is subjective, and that there can be no single, correct interpretation (of literature, art, archaeology, etc.) -Post-processualists feel that the symbolic elements of culture (belief systems, cosmologies, etc.) heavily influence how cultures develop, and are therefore worthy of attention. -Ian Hodder was influential
evolutionary package
-from darwin -bipedalism (walking on 2 feet), technology, and an enlarged brain -if you find one of these traits, you can find all of these traits
hawkes ladder of inference (the reading)
-in 1953 there was a conference at Harvard about method and theory in archaeology -Christopher Hawkes-old world prehistory -Walter Taylor wrote: A Study of Archaeology - thought New World archaeology was just a chronicle of history and connections and materials - he wanted to take a deeper look into their way of life (Hawkes agreed with this) -recommended a fresh approach: "conjunctive" -called this because material/analytic side will be joined with deeper lives of thought/operation
effects of having cooked food
-increased the value of food -changed our bodies (didn't have an intense digestive system - didn't take so long) -changed our brains - more nutrients, helps brain work better -changed our use of time -change our social lives- the fire is a gathering place at night, start of oral tradition -we are dependent on 'hidden fire'- power coming from somewhere
post excavation
-lab analysis -can often bring up more questions -research -PUBLICATION (most important step)- ethical issue if we don't publish our findings - if not we are just people that just ruin historical sites
bamboo technology reading
-lack of evidence b/c can't find bamboo left behind because it had decayed (organic); logical fallacy of negative evidence- couldn't prove it b/c they didn't have evidence -have to come up with other forms of evidence -compared it to other cultures, compared it to the geographical line -Movius line is where bamboo grew - matching environment stuff - used in modern world for tons of stuff (ex. make it into sharp knives)- could replace stone handaxe -bamboo tools make different cut marks than stone tools do - did tests to compare marks of stone tool and marks of bamboo tool on a bone -why should we assume people in Africa and people in Asia need the same tools if they are dealing with different circumstances and environments -this model of cultural change is no longer acceptable. -suggested that there wasn't a need for Acheulean handaxes in eastern Asia because the groups living there began producing bamboo tools, and that chopper tools were sufficient for their needs in chopping down and shaping the bamboo. Negative evidence is a logical fallacy in which it is claimed that a premise is true only because it has not been proven false, or is false only because it has not been proven true. creative forms of evidence to support their claim: -they discuss the different environments that existed in Africa and Asia, noting that the 'Movius line' roughly coincides with the natural point at which bamboo becomes available -They also look at modern usages of bamboo to show that it is a material that can be used for a variety of purposes, including as cutting implements. -they turn to the archaeological record, comparing cutmarks on ancient bones to those made on modern bones using bamboo tools, demonstrating that they were made by similar implements.
hawke's ladder of inference
-made up of four degrees of difficulty; the higher you go, the more inference you will be required to use in answering questions on these topics -technology, economics, social and political organization, ritual and religion
similarities in exploitation of marine resources
-micro flora and fauna collections -used seals for food, fuel, tools
unilinear cultural evolution
-model by Edward Tylor and Lewis Morgan -proposed that every society moves through three set stages of change: savagery, barbarism and civilization -developed these categories by comparing contemporary ethnographies, which are cultural studies of modern societies, to what they considered to be the most highly developed culture available, their own -suggested that each stage had unique material cultures, particularly tools. Savages used stone, barbarians a lesser metal like bronze, and civilizations used iron, steel, etc.
pre clovis sites
-monte verde -cactus hill -meadowcroft rockshelter
experimental archaeology
-one of the methods of ethnoarchaeology -processualists like this because they actually get to see how things work -archaeologists recreate ancient technologies that can be tested
Jacob Jens Worsaae
-proved the three age system in the fields -stressed the importance of careful excavation and record keeping -recognized primary purpose of excavation
beringia model evidence
-radiocarbon dating and skeletal-morphology analysis) of seaweed collections from Monte Verde -genetics (the study of the minority mitochondrial DNA constituent "haplogroup X" -the five main mtDNA haplogroups found in the Americas were all part of one gene pool migration from Asia
moche story
-site of Sipan -Moche culture of northern Peru -3 major phases of archaeological research: discovery, analysis, interpretation -3rd pyramid in Lambayeque valley looted -excavations led by walter alva -uncovered 3 tombs: 1) lord of sipan 2) high priest of sipan 3) old lord of sipan -excavated series of meter square units on top -excavated slowly and carefully, everything catalogued, used scaffolding to prevent any further damage -john verano-studid human remains, examined skeletons
riddle of the sphinx (schoch)
-sphinx was originally dated at 2500 BC -Schoch thinks its from 5000 BC -seismic research: hitting a steel plate with a sledgehammer to generate energy waves that traveled below the surface - microphones picked up the vibrations, could pick up what was underneath without disturbing -relative dating -sphinx was built in stages -examined precipitation induced erosion and weathering patterns -compared sphinx to other structures
ethnoarchaeology
-studying people anthropologically to learn moe about them archaeologically archaeologists trained as social anthropologists, go out and do research, have their own specific questions - lived with people, observed, then excavated -often includes the use of informants who are descendants of prehistoric peoples
what do archaeologists use technology for
-technology can be indicative of differing lifestyles -It can help archaeologists document, describe and explain cultural change in past human societies b/c technology represents human progress
prehistoric archaeology
-the study of non-literate ancient societies -a multi-disciplinary field that uses techniques and information from many disciplines -Documents human development in its entirety (the bulk of what archaeologists study) (no written record to support)
technological similarities
-thin bifaces -overshot flaking method -projectile points -large blade
radiometric dating
-uranium series dating -tracks the decay of uranium (238U and 235U) to daughter elements Thorium
behavioral similarities between clovis and solutrean
-used exotic raw materials to make specialty tools -avid travelers -uniquely used quartz crystal and jasper
V. Gordon Childe
-wrote: The Dawn od European Civilization (1925) -termed "cultural historical approach" -wanted to talk about the narratives of the different types of people
ian hodder
-young hot headed student who stood up to procesualists -studied post processual archaeology -influenced by post modernism -mad that nobody was paying attention to the cognitive aspects and symbolism of dead people- he thought this was important because people's belief systems and reasoning are important to who they were- you can't make assumptions about what kind of person someone was just by the physical stuff
archaeological evidence for fire and cooking
1) Gesher Benet (Ya'aqov, Israel) -burnt seeds, wood flint, hearthlike pattern 2) Swartkrans (South Africa) -burnt bones at 600 degreed celsius 3) Klasies River Mouth (South Africa) -60,000-90,000 years ago -found burnt fish bones and shellfish - evidence because these food items aren't normally from here
scientific method steps
1) Observe 2) Induce (hypotheses) 3) Deduce (if...then... statements) 4) Test
scientific method rules
1) There is a real and knowable universe. 2) The universe operates to certain understandable rules or laws. 3) These laws are immutable. 4) These laws can be discerned, studied, and understood by people through careful observation, experimentation, and research.
4 categories of chemical weaponry that salad deploys
1) nutrition blockers 2) toxins 3) mutagens - alter genetic material 4)carcinogens
late ice age tool reading
Archaeologists try to piece together a complete picture of past events by examining objects left at the scene. Although artifacts buried under layers of sediment for long periods are often decayed, scattered and damaged, they offer a tremendous amount of information about the people who made them and about how and why they were produced. In recent years, archaeologists have increasingly adopted an experimental approach to gain fresh perspective on the clues they unearth. By trying to replicate certain objects and use them as our ancestors may have, researchers can test their theories and gain insight into the course of daily life millennia ago. Using this method, I investigated the hunting tools and practices of the Cro- Magnons, who lived during the Late Ice Age (40,000 to 12,000 years ago). From studies of Cro-Magnon food debris and artifacts, workers have long known that those ancient people were highly successful at killing large game. All the same, until recently no one had considered how Late Ice Age humans had designed and used their sophisticated hunting weapons. Cro-Magnon arsenals may well have included traps and snares made from wood and plant or animal fibers. These hunters also used spears, consisting of a sharp point (made from stone, antler, bone or ivory) that was hafted, or fastened, to a wooden shaft. For the most part, only the spearpoints themselves have survived. Luckily, archaeologists have recovered such points from many different sites throughout Europe.
polynesian boat article
In the summer of 1985, a mostly Hawaiian crew set out aboard Hokule'a, a reconstructed ancient double canoe, to demonstrate what skeptics had steadfastly denied: that their ancestors, sailing in such canoes and navigating solely by reading stars, ocean swells, and other natural signs, could intentionally have sailed across the Pacific, exploring the vast oceanic realm of Polynesia and discovering and settling all its inhabitable islands. Their round-trip odyssey from Hawai'i to Aotearoa (New Zealand), across 12,000 nautical miles, dramatically refuted all theories declaring that--because of their unseaworthy canoes and inaccurate navigational methods--the ancient Polynesians could only have been pushed accidentally to their islands by the vagaries of wind and current. "In the 1960s this revival of canoe voyaging was initiated, along with the art of navigating by naked-dye observations of celestial bodies, ocean swells and other natural phenomena, for two purposes: help resolve a controversy over how Polynesia had been explored and settled, and enable contemporary Polynesians to learn about .... their seafaring ancestors. " "By the early 1970s, ... studies began to appear that challenged thinking about the random, accidental settlement of Polynesia and the subsequent development of local cultures in isolation." "The results of these trial, which demonstrated the long-range capability of non-instrument navigation and that double canoes were well adapted for trade wind sailing, led me to challenge the contention that Polynesian canoes and ways of navigating were inadequate for long, navigated voyages ..." "In 1975 we launched our double canoe, christening her Hokule'a after a bright star Arcturus... " All but three segments of these round-trips were navigated without instruments.
excavation strategy
a "battle plan" that will help you fulfill your research strategy -archs dont do it all the time because it is so expensive, and logistics can be so difficult, can take a long time
survey
a systematic search of the landscape for artifacts and sites -field walking -aerial survey -soil analysis (phosphate) -geophysical survey (magnetometer; electrical resistivity; GPR)
archaeology vs. antiquarianism
archaeology is the study of the human past through it's material remains (using many different techniques), wheras antiquarianism seems to be a more general collecting of and study of antiquities
absolute dating
assigns a precise calendrical date -radiocarbon dating -dendrochronology -radiometric dating
seriation (typologies)
changes in styles in a series of related types of artifacts (similar in function or manufacture)
what are nutrition blockers
chemicals that bind with some desirable vitamin or mineral and prevent your intestines from absorbing it
sneak solution
cooking has been practiced for at least 250,000 years without causing any dramatic biological changes
late solution
cooking is recent (less than 25,000 years ago) -cooking did little to influence human evolution -highly improbable theory
basal solution
cooking was adopted at origin of homo erectus and responsible for biological changes: reduced jaw and teeth, smaller gut, higher energy expenditure
cultural historical approach
emphasises defining historical societies into distinct ethnic and cultural groupings according to their material culture. (about description- who what where when) -v. gordon childe was influential
definition of culture
everything we have, everything we do, everything we think Something that defines a people: 1. Artifacts/objects 2. Layout (buildings) - site 3. Burial
what did fire do to nutrients
fire denatures proteins, release nutrients, neutralizes toxins, makes digestion easier
jefferson article
go over notes -"father of American archaeology" -different b/c actually was carefully, took detailed notes, asked questions- quest for information (empirical observation) -burial mound excavation -recognition of statigraphy -archaeology starts to become a discipline -1900s- arch becomes academic discipline -people start to ask, how old is this stuff, how can we determine age -did 1st excavation in the new world
experimental archaeology movie notes
in sardus, turkey trying to replicate a bath here - in 7 weeks, it would have taken the romans months 3 rooms: cool room, warm room- change clothes and have massage, hot room-heated pool did not have soap- slaves rubbed guys with oil and soil, they wrestled, scraped off the dirt and oil, plucked off all body hair furnace heated the floor dome room - leap forward in architecture - perfected it more than greece - built it in section to make it curved with a keystone - makes more space pantheon - temple to all the gods - perfected dome rome's greatest contribution to architecture - concrete -very versatile, strong -Petruleus wrote down the recipe - main ingredient is limestone - when you add water to limestone, it creates a putty used to seal concrete together- add some sand and rock to it Erota that love oysters, needed a thing to cook them, made a hypercost with a fire underneath to be able to adjust heat chimneys to let the smoke out Teoman -the guy in charge of this project problem- it started to rain the roman aqueduct- the single greatest water transportation method- their source of water was 50 miles away 38 AD - aquiclaudia built- underground mineral buildups in the ground prevented bad stuff from getting into the pipes they had a public latrine- no privacy
archival research
info that is already known about the area or site -records -environment -history of previous work -maps -photographs
historical dating
is applicable only to cultures that were literate. These involve using the archaeological record to retrieve calendar dates ex. Chinese, Maya, Egyptian
problem with historical dating
issue of correlation - problem because every defines time differently
3 possible solutions to cooking question
late solution sneak solution basal solution
radiocarbon dating
measures the level of the unstable isotope carbon-14 remaining in an organic substance -carbon 14 has a half life of 5730 years -applicable up to 50,000 years ago -developed by willard libby -problem: consistency of atmospheric supply -solution: dendrochronology (tree ring dating) based on the concept that all organic material, which includes plant materials, animals and humans, have the unstable isotope of carbon-14 in their systems while alive. Because of its instability, this isotope is constantly breaking down and being replaced as it is absorbed from the atmosphere into the food chain, where it is then passed from organism to organism. Once an organism dies, however, this absorption is ended, and the carbon-14 begins to break down without being replaced. Knowing the half-life of carbon-14 (5730 years), which is the time it takes for half of the original level of carbon-14 to break down, and the original level of carbon-14, archaeologists can calculate how long the organism has been dead. This also, of course, gives us an indication of when the organism lived, and thus a date for the archaeological material associated with the organism
law of superposition/stratigraphy
older layers are situated below younger layers
relative dating
ordering things in relation to each other -stratigraphy/law of superposition -seriation (typologies)
example of nutrition blocker
oxalic acid - raw green beans, swiss chard, rhubarb
beringia model idea
people crossed Beringia during the most-recent Ice Age, at which time the sea-level was decreased — let's say 15 thousand years before present (BP,) and that the emergence of organized material hunter-gatherer culture in about 11,500 BP, amongst the so-called Clovis people
primary purpose of excavation
produce info on man's history and cultural development rather than just to gather stuff for collections
3 types of dating
relative, historical, absolute
research strategy
specific questions you would like to answer or research aims you would like to achieve
ethnography
study and description of human societies
ethnography
study of living people
three age system
system for classifying prehistoric artifacts according to successive stages of technological development, divided into the Stone, Bronze, and Iron ages
what is technology
taking a natural object, modifying it to be able to do something useful; application of your knowledge technology measures human change
occam's razor
the explanation with the fewest assumptions (least amount of inference) is the best -scientific 'tool' for maximizing probability
epistemology
the study of knowledge; how you know what you know
Paul Bahn's definition of archaeology
the study of the human past through material traces of it that have survived ; studying stuff left behind to find out more about human behavior and culture
multilinear cultural evolution
theory of cultural evolution that sees each human culture evolving in its own way by adaptation to diverse environments: different 'pathways' of evolutionary development followed by different societies. Sometimes divided into four broad stages of evolving social organization: band, tribe, chiefdom, and state-organized society.
dendrochronology
tree ring dating -we can test individual rings, can count back individual years - see what atmosphere was like in a specific year
ethnographic analogy
using examples from the present to make inferences about the past
why is it important to study this discipline's history
we need to know how things used to be done to better improve techniques and methods
clovis/solutrean debate
• Clovis explains how some people got to the Americas, but not everyone • Solutreans had similar technology- bifacial projectile point • Solutreans would have had to have crossed the Atlantic Ocean • Asian and Clovis tools are very different • Solutreans and Clovis peoples used the same technique to make their tools (overshot flaking) • Record of the Solutrean people ends 5,000 years before Clovis • Cactus Hill, VA site between Solutrean and Clovis time periods • Shows progression between Solutrean and Clovis culture • Ethnographic evidence - modern Inuits and Ice Age Solutreans • Had similar environments, and similar resources • No evidence that the Solutreans had boats and fishing • The coastline could be underwater • Solutreans had lots of cave art, but there is no Clovis art in the US
key technologies of the roman bath film
• Had three rooms, cold, tepid and hot • Domes instead of Greek columns • Could make concrete • Hypercaust- fire underneath, used underfloor heating for a long time • Ducts under the floor, and flues built into the walls • Floors raised • Had a furnace outside the house