Archaeology Final
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Complete list of Terms and Definitions for Archaeology Final

Terms Definitions
Agriculture ...
strata a layer
Coprolites carbonized fecal matter
artifacts human made tools
potlatch Among nineteenth-century Northwest Coast Native Americans, a ceremony involving the giving away or destruction of property in order to acquire prestige
A long narrow excavation trench
Paranthropus species characterized by massive molars and muscles for chewing, dating from 2.5 to 1.4 million years ago
element specific skeletal part (tibia etc)
site place where artifacts are found
Choga Mami 6000 BC Iran/Iraq border First irrigation proof, just out of limits of dry farming Settled near drier areas because of channels
Ecofact Organic environmental remains. Not made by humans.
An archaeological construct consisting of a stratum or set of strata that are presumed to be culturally homogeneous; a set of components from various sites in a region will make up a phase component
Excavation Strategies Sounding Trench, decapage or horizontal exposure, Wheeler-Kenyon
Medium Pyramid Built by Sneferu, collapsed Originally started as a Step Pyramid
Harriet Boyd Hawes Classificatory/ Historical Phase: ethnographic analogy; her focus was on pottery
ecofacts unmodified, natural items found in archaeological contexts
stratigraphy the study of the Earth's layers.
Flinders Petrie and Howard Carter (discovered king tut, sequence dating) ...
datum a pint with known locational coordinates and elevation; a fixed point for surveying
Natural Formation Processes Geological processes, Natural disasters, Weather, Water, Bioturbation
Sahul The landmass consisting of Australia, New Guinea, and the surrounding continental shelf during the late Ice Age.
flot the lighter, carbonized plant remains that "float" in the flotation methods of recovering plant remains
Site: Vedbaeck First established cemeteryEvidence of violence, family buried was murderedantlers under old peoples heads
Village Farmers: Ancient Mesoamericans (Mayans, etc.) practiced slash & burn (aka swidden) farming & gardening; their primary crops were maize & beans. -S&B farming involves cutting down vegetation & burning it so that ash & charcoal act as fertilizer for the soil. -S&B gardens called milpas -Remained fertile & productive for about 2 years & have to lie fallow for 4-7 years. -S&B adaptive for relatively small pop. but burden on landscape when pop. grew large. -S&B not only technique; Mesoamericans also used raised fields, canals, drained swamps, & terraced slopes to water fields & to grow crops;; in Oaxaca, pot irrigation used; In Valley of Mexico floating gardens or chinampas used.
dromos a passageway into an ancient subterranean tomb
Postdepositional-process analysis examines the natural and cultural processes that have affected the formation of archaeological sites
Acquisition First stage of behavioral processes in which raw materials are acquired
Neolithic Revolution - Neolithic= new stone age - Characterized by stone age farmers - Food production is the deliberate cultivation of cereal grasses and edible root plants - Food production first emerged in SW Asia (especially in the Fertile Crescent region of Iraq) about 10,000 BC o Natufians - Perhaps in China about 10,000 BC - Food production in Mesoamerica 5,000 BC - Parts of Africa at 1,000 BC
Evolutionary Ecology The concepts of adaptation and selection are used to analyze cultural behaviors
Penetrating Excavations excavations that reveal the vertical dimensions of archaeological deposits to define the depth, sequence, and composition of buried data
molecular clock a relative dating technique which looks at differences in DNA between species based on information from other dating techniques
• Excavated minoan town of bronze age Gournia in Crete in 1901
sites a locus of past human occupation, modification or use.
Olmec Mexico's southern Gulf coast was home to people called the Olmec, meaning "rubber people" The Olmec of the Formative period created Mesoamerica's first monumental architecture
Ethnoarchaeology a study of contemporary cultures with a view to understanding the behavioral relationships which underlie the production of material culture
thermoluminescence electron trap technique that uses heat to measure the amount of radioactivity accumulated by a specimen such as a stone tool since its last heating
Pleistocene Geological era that began 1.8M years ago, characterized by the frequent buildup and retreat of continental ice sheets
kneel to put one's knees on the ground
(Sociopolitical Organization) Bands- association of families; 25-60 people; close knit social ties; most Hunter-Gatherers up to the origins of agriculture lived in bands (99% of human history has been lived in bands!!!)
Jericho tower a 9-meter-high structure made of undressed stone and mud brick dating to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A. is an example of a display ritual piece
What carbon isotope is used in radiocarbon dating? 1
African Burial Ground In NYC - Descendant African-American Community
Yabrud Cave, Syria Evidence of early humans excavating earlier handaxes
Lion Gate (At Mycenae) statues of two lions looking down
metallurgy extracting metal or using them to make artifacts
wickiup A conical structure made of poles or logs laid against one that served as fall and winter homes among the prehisotric shoshone and Paiute
Where is pastoralism found in New World_________ Only Peru
Complex Society composed of 3 parts (1) large population, (2) social differentiation (3) economic differentiation. As the society becomes more complex it has more parts that are different and are interdependent
Taphonomic Effect The result or trace of taphonomic agents having acted on bones
Fossil A part or imprint of something that was once alive.
Interpreatation (4 stages) to pull together information from differant sources to determine what the object was used for.
index fossil concept the idea that strata containing similar fossil assemblies are of similar age. this concept enables archaeologists to characterize and date strata within sites using distinctive artifact forms that research shows to be diagnostic of a particular period of time.
Homo Erectus The first hominin found on sites outside of Africa Earlist dates between 1.9 and 1.5M yrs ago
Processural archaeology and "archaeology of the mind" Though processual archaeology was initially optimistic that all aspects of the human conditions were available for archaeological investigation, the proponents of processual approaches during the 1970s and 80s were lukewarm, if not hostile, toward efforts to interpret symbols and construct an "archaeology of the mind"
americanist archaeology the brand of archaeology that evolved in close association w/ anthropology in the Americas; it is practiced throughout the world
Early Egypt: -By 5000 B.c., simple farmers of grains and cattle settled odwn along the Nile River valley as far south as modern-day Sudan. -This event marked the begginning of the Pre-Dynastic Period (ca.5000-3100B.C.) -Before 3100B.C., disorganized kingdoms & villages were unified by a single ruler into a state. -Neither population growth nor pressure seem to have played a role in the formation of the Egyptian state. -Egyptian civilizations lasted some 2000 years before weakness & invasions brought Nubians, Assyrians, Persians, Alexander the Great, Greeks & Romans onto the scene (between ca. 730-30 B.C.).
Tools produced by pecking, grinding, and polishing of stone to produce a tool/artifact ground stone tools
Main Types of Dating 1. Scientific Dating: when artifacts are analyzed in a lab to determine their age 2. Cultural Dating: when archaeologists compare objects they find with information they already have
How are penises 'posta make children Hadean, Archean, Proterozoic, Paleozoic, mesozoic, cenozoic, eras
sample units survey units of a standard size and shape, determined by the research question and practical considerations, used to obtain the sample
Cultural Homogeneity means "of a single group". So cultural homogeneity means having culture without diversity, or cultural environment where most is the same without many differences or variations, uniform and similar. Egypt was a homogeneity culture.
increase in Interpersonal Relationships Why were "SICK" ppl kept alive?
Archaeology the study of the past based on what people left behind
Core used in stone tool making. It is a chunk of preferred stone that is hit with a hammerstone to remove a large flake. This flake is then further flaked to create a tool.
Chacoan exchange (materials and direction of flow of goods) -ceramics, turquoise, timber, flaked stone, meat flowed into-no evidence of any export
Spindle Whorl used for both plant and animal fiber spinning
wood, bone, and antler ate often used as ___ or ____ tools processing, hunting
ecofact- ____ that provide _____ about the ____ ____ of ____ ______ objects, information, environmental context, human acticity
law of superposition old stuff on the bottom; young stuff on the top
Bifold rotational symmetry flip pueblo bonito over and rotate 180 degrees
CE "Common Era" Basically the same as AD, except that it is intended to avoid any religious connotation or privilege
A set of human burials that come from a limited region and a limited time period. The more limited the region and the time period, the more accurate will be inferences drawn from analysis of the burials burial population
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"
What are the issues with Diffusionism? Doesn't look at social relationships between these two "points" or cultures. Also, doesn't ask whether the cultures reinterpret the "diffusion" within their own cultural framework
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 Seen as a human rights legislation, ensuring that human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony are offered for repatriation to culturally affiliated tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations. It sets up a process to determine the ownership of human remains found on federal and tribal property after 1990.
How the Nazca Lines were dated From Carbon 14 analysis, wooden stakes mark the termination of some of the long lines, and one is dated to AD 525 (+/-80). Also, style of lines related to Nazca art.
Homo habilis, time period, brain size, and tools 2.3-1.6 mya Overlap with Aus. for 1 m.years!500-650 ml brainFirst known TOOL MAKERS!Oldowan tools (2.5 mya)
temporal typing can be used to tell you... ...the general time period a site was occupied
Tollund 2400
Century 100 years
Linear B Mycenaean writing
tell an artificial hill
Lugalzegesi 2,375-2,350BC, powerful Sumerian Ruler, oversaw huge portion of Mesopotamia, power based on control of trade, which helped spread Sumerian ideology
Arslantepe 4th millenium, Turkey First palace Developed before Mesopotamia Decentralized urbanism Traded with Mesopotamia for textiles
phases always defined _____ provisionally
___________are miscroscopic silica bodies produced by plants, within/between cell walls. Grass Phytoliths
lipids organic substances- including fats, oils, and waxes- that resist mixing with water; found in both plant and animal tissues
Chavin de Huantar 900-200BC Coastal highland architecture with Amazon iconography First signs of true social complexity Status differentiation Craft specialization Early horizon period Shamanism Lanzon Stele
European Neolithic 8/6,000 - 4,000 BP
Archaic Homo Sapiens 400,000-130,000 B.P. Shares characteristics with with Homo erectus and anatomically modern humans
Processual Archaeology Explicitly concerned with separating observations and inferences. Re-focused attention on the processes of cultural and behavioral change. Emphasis on reconstructing behavior through actualistic research. Proposes hypotheses that can be proven wrong!
Gobekli Tepe Ritual center used by hunter-gatherers Oldest known public architecture Stone have carvings of foxes, lions, scorpions, and vultures Stone circles appear
slag the material residue of smelting processes from metalworking
ceramic fired clay artifacts-often pieces of broken and discarded plates and bowls
developed the technique of radiocarbon dating Libby
Poverty Point 3,500-3,200 BP (1,500-1,200 BC), Louisiana, largest Archaic mound site in NA
rank inherited positions in societies based on birth order and ancestry
moundsville, AB mississippian tradition burial (ranked society) of 3000 people. cheifs have ascribed status.
Flores midget skeletal materials with homo erectus morphologies present at the time of AMH's thought to SE Asian equivalent of Neandertals, native population encountered by Out Of Africa homo sapiens
NISP Number of Identified Specimens. Used in archaeology and paleontology when counting bones from a site. It counts each bone and fragment as one unit. Is an estimate of the number of individuals at that location.
Oldavai Gorge, Tanzania LeakeysMini-grand canyon--erosion has exposed very early bedsenormous molars, small front teeth, Homo habilis living at the same time as Australopithecus robustus???
2 groups of analogy types general/specific, formal/relational
archaeological record the artifacts, ruins, bones, and fossils that archaeologists discover and study
Socio-Cultural Anthropology Analyzes human culture and societies through ethnography and ethnology
dendrochronology otherwise known as tree ring dating. The scientific method of dating based on the analysis tree ring patterns. They can date the time at which tree rings were formed, in many types of wood. It's a process made known by A.E. Douglass
Mercati In 1518, recognized stone tools before they were made but ideas weren't accepted
Moche Maker's Marks Archaeologist Michael Moseley studied symbols impressed into the bricks of the pyramids (the Maker's Marks). 100 different types of marks Pyramids were built in sections, bricks from each section bearing the same marks.
town larger than a village with internal differentiation in size and location of structures and usually containing one or more public buildings
Shovel Testing uses either posthole diggers or shovels to make a rapid determination of the density and distribution of archaeological remains
Archaeological Setting Residues of behavioral processes that interact only with the physical environment.
assemblage a collection of artifacts form a site
Berengia big open ocean-- good way to travel
a ramidus 6-4 1 my older than lucy forest areas neither man nor ape bipedalism
Catalhoyuk early Neolithic farm site in Turkey, ongoing excavation site with all data available online
paleolithic art modern human brains appeared 200k years ago but art didn't come until 60k years ago
Tim Ingold Relationship b/t humans & nature changes: Hunter-gatherers = "trust" Agriculturalists = "domination"
Ethnography and symbolism Where archaeologists have some ethnographic data available that are closely related to the archaeological case, they may be able to extrapolate backward from the present to the past. Even those cases, however, harbor the chance that a symbol meant something different in the past than it does in the present
indirect dates? taken from the materials associated with the object of interest.
Mummification: -Preservationo of a body. Can be preserved wet, frozen or dried. -Egyptians used natron to dry the body. -Natron is a natural substance foundin abundance along theNile river. It is made up of four salts.
The specific chemical process through which plants metabolize carbon; the three major pathways discriminate against carbon-13 in different ways, therefore similarly aged plants that use different pathways can produce different radiocarbon ages photosynthetic pathways
sample survey design take a small space for research
blade The flat cutting part of a sharpened weapon or tool.
Mitochondrial DNA located outside of the cell nucleus, combines DNA from each parent
Food production of sub-saharian africa__- sorghum and yams 4500 b.p.
Urban Revolution the cities became more dependent on the agricultural societies and there was the rise of the state (centralized federal government). 3500 BC in Sumer/ Mesopotamia
Club of Great Powers Egypt, Babylonia, Elam, Assyria, Mycene, Hatti
• Flotation: • Definition: a method of recovering plant remains by passing them through screens and water ○ Used byexcavators to get seeds from hearths and ry storage pits • How: water frees the seed and the seeds float on water whereas the dirt falls to the bottom • Importance: showed in North America a gradual shift from foraging of wild plants food sto subsistance patterns that relied heavily on cultivation of native plants
Underwater (spec. example) Scuba, techniques and methods adapted to underwater environment, knowledge of boats and ships, complex record keeping The Pharos lighthouse in Alexendria, Egypt, half underwater.
Pompeii a Roman city buried in Volcanic ash, preserving complete cities with the inhabitants, shows a city in working order just as it was in 79 AD
Late Pleistocene Extinctions most dramatic extinctions happened in the Americas and Australia dire wolf, mammoths, camels in america, saber-toothed tiger, megatherium
Neolithic Revolution: Used to describe the transistion to agriculture as an even that affected every aspect of human society. Coined by Childe
Neanderthals (3) -No bone, antler, horn tools (some exceptions)-No boon needles – no tailored clothing-No house structures
science The search for universals by means of established scientific methods of inquiry.
what is the halflife for uranium dating? 4,470,000,000 years
what is conservation dependant on? the type of material
Akhenaten and Nefertiti married to Nefertiti at the very beginning of his reign, 1336 BC or 1334 BC
Harris matrix a tool used to depict the temporal succession of archaeological contexts and thus the sequence of deposition on a "dry-land" archaeological site
Electrical Resistivity the damper the soil, the more easily it will conduct electricity, i.e. the less resistance it will show to an electrical current
absolute date a date expressed as specific units of scientific measurement, such as days, years, centuries, or millennia; absolute determinations attempting to pinpoint a discrete, known interval in time
Synthetic Aperture Radar an instrument that beams energy waves to the ground surface and records the reflected energy
mortality profile char that depicts the various ages (at death) of a burial population
Archaeological Time Period (in order) Paleolithic > Mesolithic > Neolithic
Sites during Olmec -San Lorenzo, La Venta, Tres Zapotes, Monte Alban
Dedicatory Cashes put stuff in cornerstones to mark the significance of the building
WHat means a younger date in FUN dating? More nitrogen
San Lorenzo and La Venta The roots of Mesoamerican civilization on the coastal plain of Southern Veracruz.
Date for Beringia crossing 12,000 BP (10,000 BC) (Land exposed 13,000-12,000 BP)
Lascaux Cave implied that there was a vision of the full cave before the actual painting
Minoans @ Pi-Ramsses The Minoans needed to trade (being a small island, they couldn't produce the masses of goods that left their ports), and Crete was an important "gateway." Minoan frescoes and artwork found in houses in the Egyptian city of Pi-Ramesses indicate that the Minoans were involved with trade throughout the Mediterranean.
when are plants preserved in humid climates? when burned and carbonized
Frederic Putnam (Peabody Museum at Harvard University) worked at Harvard University's Peabody Museum, he realized that the nation would soon lose the Serpent Mound site in Ohio, and her raised enough money to purchase it.
What are Casual Tools? Tools rarely recognized as such in the archaeological record.
Fieldwork begain with what view of Cultures? Scales of development or Cultural Evolution Europeans at top Stages from Primitive to Civilized Johann Friedrich
What are some of the common elements of Poverty Point, Adena, Hopewell, and Mississippian? ceremonial center, piling earth, religious iconography
Levels of inference required in applying label When debating if a settlement is a state, what needs to be looked at is if there is a high level of concentration of people, intensive/diverse food quest, if there’s food storage and lots of it to sustain the population, permanent settlement, specialized technologies meaning tools, hunting gear and plant processing, specialization of labor, social ranks and hierarchy, exchange of goods and an extensive trading system, and increased ceremonial life and practices. For it to be a state-level society, there must be all components of the inference for it to even qualify.
If a looted object comes from a war zone... you are able to publish it if you give an Iraqi Museum number and promise to repatriate it at some point.
Lascaux 16000
BC Before Christ
Graham Clark environmental archaeology
Krotovina? a rodent hole.
Tiwanaku 450-1200 AD, Andes Religious pilgrimage center around Lake Titicaca Sunken courtyards Extended down to Peru No administrative rule
Tree-ring dating (dendochronology) developed by Douglass
Chiefdom Adds some ascribed positions Begins complex economic relationships Inegalitarian, Ascribed
_____________is direct obsevations of living societies by cultural anthropologists. Ethnography
Clovis The earliest well-established Native American culture, throughout north america, dating 10,900-11,200 BC
Great House Complex multiroom/floor stone buildings Chaco Canyon Pueblo Bonnito
Chacoan decline and collapse (causes) -famine-drought
Capsian designating an Epipaleolithic culture of northwestern Africa, characterized by the use of geometric microlithic tools
Olorgesailie Peninsula in Africa. Hand axes, acheulean tools. Killing baboons. Suggests cooperative hunting. Implies if not full language, a fairly complex form of communication system which is probably symbolic. 200,000 years ago
excavation systematic digging of ground to recover the archaeologic record
Baghdad wealthy buyers drive this destruction, encouraging a country to rob itself of its cultural patrimony, and to destroy irreplaceable records of human history.
gender role the culturally prescribed behaviour associated with men and women; roles can vary from society to society
The first cities in Mesopotamia developed during the __________ Period Uruk
NAGPRA Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act 1990
exchange transfer of material or information among individuals or groups
cavities come from: carbohydrates resting on teeth
hydrophilic chemical compounds with an affinity for water which are used to remove water from artifacts during conservation
Acheulian Lower Paleolithic stone tool industry dated in Africa between 1.7 and 200,000 years ago, characterized by bifacial tools including handaxes and cleavers
Middle Paleolithic tools Scrapers, denticulates, finer handaxes than Auschulian (debate), Levallois (thought process required)
3 parts of environment physical, biological, social
Approximately one quarter of the C-14 originally in organic matters is left after ____ years 11,400
Context Defines a place and its surroundings, consisting of a physical location and information about environment
Ice Free Corridor Narrow corridor between ice-sheets that clovis people followed south from Alaska. had serious obstacles for humans but most widely accepted route Evidence has suggested that the corridor would not have been habitable prior to 11kya, which is later than the earliest sites in America.
gravity model interaction among settlements is based on size, bigger communities have more interaction and influence on smaller communities
Sir Charles Lyell Wrote "Principles of Geology". Stretched the timeline of the earth back by billions of years. Father of Uniformitarianism
Publication Completes the research cycle by making the findings fully accessible so that they can be used & retested by fellow archaeologists.
hominins members of the evolutionary line that contains humans and our early bipedal ancestors
provenance position of an archaeological find in time and space, recorded three-dimensionally
archeologists have as their focus remains by humans
Aurignacian Lots of tools used to make clothing characterized by presence of continuous re-touch, large blades and bone points at the transition from Neandertals to AMH's
Neanderthals (1) Descend from Homo heidelbergensis and then die out ca. 27 KYA
Cultural Ecology Concept by Julian Steward, Emphasized the interaction between society and environment (physical and social): Saw it as mulitlineal Evolution Believed that cultures adapt to their environment, and that the environment sets limits to the culture, but does not determine the culture
floral macrofossils charred seeds or other plant parts
Analysis of material associated with the data under study to derive a chronological evaluation indirect dating
ejutla valley main valley was surveyed but not south. full coverage survey, surface collection and excavation
interglacial period A time between glacial periods when ice melts and the sea level rises.
Sahelanthropus tchadensis one of te earliest-known members of the hominin lineage, dating to 7 million years ago
environment the natural and social milieu in which human societies operate
Historical Linguitics study_________ how languages relate to each other
Explain Taphonomic Studies__________ how natural processes contribute to the formation of the archaeological record (plant and animal) closely related to forensia science
Pactolus river of Pactolus is where King Midas went to wash off his golden touch; water supply of Sardis; this is why Sardis is considered rich with gold
anthropology the study of humankind in the widest possible sense
Hebrew This is a Semitic language. It is considered the language of the Jewish people.
Robert Carneiro warfare played key role in state formation. "coercive theory" of state origins argued that the amount of agricultural land in these valleys was limited and surrounded by desert. especially known for his theory of the state formation ("Carneiro's Circumscription Theory") that explains how the constraints of the environment interact with population pressures and warfare to form states (Carneiro, R. L. 1970. A Theory of the Origin of the State. Science 169: 733-738). He has also made important contributions to the general theory of cultural evolution. He claims that in primitive war if the losers get away far enough then everything is quite fine. As seen with Ancient Egypt, when an area conquered along the Nile, the people can not just run off into the desert, therefore they are bound to their area, as seen with China, Iraq, etc.
Levallois technique by which a stone core is specially shaped so that predetermined flakes can be struck from it
Tehuacan Valley A valley in the Mexincan highlands where excavations recovered early evidence of domesticated plants in Mesoamerica
Upper Paleolithic 40 KYA- 10 KYAH. sapiens populate worldNeolithic 10KYA- 5KYA
trait list A simple listing of a culture’s material and behavioral characteristics, for example, house and pottery styles, foods, degree of nomadism, particular rituals, or ornaments. Trait lists were used primarily to trace the movement of cultures across a landscape and through time.
paeleofeces direct evidence--f it came out, it had to go in, coprolites--found individually or in concentrations, fut contents--from intestinal tract, cess--privy deposits and remnants
stylistic attributes include... surface characteristics such as color, texture, decoration, etc.
Obsidian hydration measures the decay of the surface of obsidian artifacts
Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) employs radio pulses; 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, etc, but also basis of the travel time of the pulses
RADIOCARBON DATING a method for determining the age of once living things, based on the fact that their radioactive carbon decays at a regular rate
attritional age profile distribution of ages at death of animals in a population that were killed by selective hunting or predation
18th and 19th Century Europe 1. interpretation of earliest artifacts 2. age of artifacts/bones
analysis of strontium (Sr, a stable mineral component of bone) against calcium (Ca) ratios can also yield dietary information: vegetarian has high Sr:Ca ratio, carnivore has low Sr:Ca ratio.
Dhaka a mixture of clay and gravel that was used for building huts at Great Zimbabwe
3 types of temper plant fiber, shell, ground igneous rock/limestone (grit)
Principles of conchoidal fracture the way that stones crack, fracture, and split apart
C horizon A layer found below the B horizon that consists of the unaltered or slightly altered parent material below the C horizon is bedrock
Absolute Dating Process of finding age & years of an object
Problems with theories- The important thing that we can take away from a discussion of the various theories that have been introduced are that no one theory is applicable on a worldwide scale. In order to explain the origins of agriculture, archaeologists must appreciate the conditions of each individual area of domestication.
tool technology of old world oldowan - h. habilis acheulian - ergaster and archaic sapiens chopping complex - erectus and archaic aterian - MSA mousterian - Middle paleolithic levallois technique later stone age- blade tech. upper paleo- blade tech
John Loyd Stephens and Catherwood Travelled to central america and wrote books and made drawings. Also stated that Myan culture was created by the same race of people that live in modern times.
Which types of animals are domesticated? Social animals are most easily domesticated. Herd movement. Tolerant to feeding & breeding in confined environment. Animals are similar. By controlling their movement, their feeding, and most importantly, their breeding, humans introduce genetic changes into the population that make it increasingly hard for the animals to survive in the wild. The animals that are most tolerant of this treatment are social, herd animals such as sheep, goats, cattle, and horses.
What how 6 reasons clues are destroyed? Natural decay, building work, battles at sea/storms, robbers or thieves, wars, religious fanatics
(The Egyptian Pantheon [Gods & Goddesses]) Horus- Theson of Osiris & Isis, the avenging son, god of order & justice.
Where was the Uluburun ship found? Off the coast of turkey. Nearest town is Kos
Stonehenge 3500
AD Anno Domini
Colin Renfrew cognitive archaeology
potsherd fragment of pottery
Robert Braidwood excavations in iraq
Mesoamerican Chiefdoms Zapotecs (highlands) Olmecs (coastal)
Easier with fine-grained assemblages MNI
Plato Student of Socrates Wrote about Atlantis in "Timaeus" and "Critias"
Kancha rectangular enclosure containing 3 rectangualar buildings symmetrically placed around a main courtyard. the basis for temples and palaces. an example is the temple of the sun
SITE: Copan -Honduras -"Venice" of Maya World -Sculpture (Stela) -18 Rabbit --18 faces of the god -Yax K'uk Mo's Tomb (founder) --Deep in the acropolis -Through Stable Isotope Analysis determined spent life in Peten -Fracture on forearm and shattered sternum -Altar Q --monument that signifies that he is the first ruler --came from Peten to rule in Copan
Bezeklik Caves 500-1300AD Universal appeal of buddhist monk surrounded by various ethnic backgrounds frescos in cave
Aztec Ruin -chacoan outlier community-resembles anasazi-kivas
Woodland culture a pre-Columbian tradition characterized by the corded pottery, hunting and agriculture, and burial mounds in the eastern United States
Lucy a partial hominin skeleton, discovered at Hadar in 1974; is assigned to Australopithicus afarensis
cultural dating gathering information by comparing objects with information they already have; performed on non living objects such as coins and pottery
Clark Erickson Found raised-field agriculture near Lake Titicaca on the Peru-Bolivia border that provides viable alternatives for rural development and cost effective. Failure to adopt this is due to socio-political constraints.
Mississippian a widespread cultural tradition across much of the eastern United States from AD 800-1500. Mississippian societies engaged n intensive village-based maize horticulture and constructed large, earthen platform mounds that served as substructures for temples, residences and council buildings
Domesticated grains in Europe came mostly from the Middle East, the exception being ____, which was domesticated in Europe Oats
soil another term used by archaeologists which means dirt or earth
territory a recognized and defended area utilized by a group or society, often associated with agricultural societies
lithic analysis analysis of ancient stone technologies
Primary Sources Sources produced during the event
Gravettian Second major Upper Paleolithic Arch period in Europe
Ethnography vs. Ethnoarchaeology ethnography: observations of present-day people and their behaviorsethnoarch.: linking present behaviors to possible past behaviors
2 types of social status ascribed, achieved
Deductive research and multilinear evolution is systems ecological approach
Formation Processes All the forces that effect preservation from the end of an artifacts use to its recovery
archaeological site any place where material evidence exists about the human past
Technological Analyses study how tools were made  Experimental  Ethnographic (women the toolmaker)  Refitting  Raw material sourcing
Mound 72 Archeologists recovered more than 250 other skeletons from Mound 72. Scholars believe almost 62 percent of these were sacrificial victims, based on signs of ritual execution, method of burial, and other factors.[17] The skeletons include: Four young males, missing their hands and skulls. A mass grave of more than 50 women around 21 years old, with the bodies arranged in two layers separated by matting. Mound 72 A mass burial containing 40 men and women who appear to have been violently killed.
rock art decoration of rock surface by painting, pecking, or engraving
Critical Archaeology Mark Leone; Archaeologists must work within the paradigm or framework, and there is no way for archaeology to be completey objective. Attempts to understand the ancient frame of mind.
Transformational Processes All conditions and circumstances that modify the tangible remains from the time of deposition until the moment of discovery.
graviturbation a natural formation process in which artifacts are moved downslope through gravity, sometimes assisted by precipitation runoff
culture history descriptions of human cultures derived from archaeological evidence
a robustus and biosei saggital crest vegan diet speciality -> downfall
Guila Naquitz Valley of Oaxaca. "adaptive computer simulation model". Over a long period of time, they learn to schedule 11 major food plants over the year, in an environment where the sequence of dry, wet, and "average" years is totally unpredictable. Used collective memories of successive generations until band is efficient in all conditions.
acculturation when two cultures come together and interact, both may change but the two remain distinct
Megafauna Species of large animals that became extinct in many areas of the world, including the Americas and Australia, toward the end of the Pleistocene
Awl Punch for making holes in hide, etc.
Edward B. Tylor Helped develop Anthropological thought in the early 20th century Helped create the concept of Cultural Evolution
brow ridges are more ___ in men pronounces
in what period can someone be aged? 0-45
Geographical information systems (GIS) data analysis systems, computerized mapping
Torralba and Ambrona 2 almost identical sites, contain deposits of stone artifacts and the bones of extinct elephants, horses, deer, and other animals. The bones and stones accumulated here during a colder episode of the Pleistocene, probably during a glacial period, perhaps 350,000 years ago. Acheulean stone artifacts.
demography the study of human populations with a focus on size, age and sex distribution, birth and death rates, and migration. Prehistoric demography is also known as paleodemography
Elgins Marbles are__________ a collection of classical greek marbles sculptures from Parthenon British ambassador to Ottoman empire got controversal permission Now greek government wants back from Britain
Forms of Burials (2)__________ Mounds: all over world Tombs: monumental structures
Jericho a city located near the Jordan west bank. Jericho is the lowest permanently inhabited site on earth, also might be one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, more than 20 successive settlements in Jericho (9000 BC)
Israel under rule of Egypt until Bronze Age; independent in 9th century; writing derived from Phoenicians; believed kingdom of Israel and Judah started as one in bible; taken over by Assyrians; mound of Jericho
cultural process the ways in which human cultures change over time
Irrigation/dry farming irrigation farming is done with lots of water and therefore is easier, where dry farming is where there is not a lot of water so it is harder to do. Lower Mesopotamia and both Upper and Lower Egypt (along the Nile) was irrigation farming. The Nile flooded annually and at a predictable time while the Euphrates/Tigris were unpredictable. The Levant was dry farming.
Lapita Culture an early maritime culture in the southwestern Pacific, centered on the Bismarck Archipelago off New Guinea, remarkable for its long-distance voyaging and trade, 1600 to 1000 BC and later.
secondary characteristics of complex societies long-distance trade monumental public works improvements in math and sciences writing? standardized monumental artwork
Kebaran Period Most sites dating this period are small hunter-gatherer encampmetns with few remains other than stone tools and animal bones.
Middle Paleolithic 250KYA – 40 KYAFully modern H. sapiensNeandertalensis, Mousterian Tech.
shovel-testing A sample survey method used in regions where rapid soil buildup obscures buried archaeological remains; it entails digging shallow, systematic pits across the survey unit.
niche the role an organism play sin its envrionment
derive temporal types by... ...grouping individual artifacts into morphological types and then testing them against independent data
Tenochtitlan where Aztecs lived. it was in a like, surrounded by mountains, dug ditches in the shallow lake and then piled to the mud to make fertile islands, and resourceful canals.
Vertical excavation excavation to expose the record of a sequence of occupation
Step-trenching a large open area at the top which gradually narrows as the dig descends in a series of steps
second migration out of africa 15,000 ya to north america
HISTORY A record of what happened in the past; the study of the past; including explanations of the events.
catastrophic age profile distribution of ages at death of animals in a population that died of natural causes
Luminescence Dating 1. trapped energy from the sun in soil, stone or ceramics 2. ****when heated the clock is reset**** 3. When heated in lab: energy is released and recorded 4. up to 800 ky over time soil built up over rocks, stopping the absoption of energy
ancient coastlines (changes due to water locked up in polar ice; eustasy or changes in sea-levels)
Building J found at site of Monte Alban in Oaxaca, Mexico. Structure built with no right angles
A trapped charge technique used to date tooth enamel and buried stone tools; it can date teeth that are beyond the range of radiocarbon dating. electron spin resonance
Explanation of Venus Figurines good luck charms (evidence of polish), symbols of fertility, cult objects, palaeolithic porn, self representations of women by women (looks like modern pregnant bodies)
Direct Dating obtaining a date or age for a specific item of interest
Ecclesiastical Cults: A set of rituals in which a religious specialist is charged with performing rituals for the benefit of an entire congregation.
What does rock art mean? hunting magic? puberty rites? group identity?
Tomb of Caecilia Metella Large tomb on the Appian Way. Later converted to fortress
Definition of historical archaeology: The study of peoples with a written record
Pressure Flaking Use of a tool such as wood or bone to drive flakes off by pressure (more control)
Egyptian Six important aspects that made up a human being: The physical body, shadow, name, ka (spirit), ba (personality) & the akh (immortality).
When Homer wrote about the Trojan war 8th century BC. Recording an oral tradition being handed down for five centuries.