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Archaeology Exam 1
Ussher - Answer -made first educated guess on age of earth based on Bible (4,004 BC) Thomsen and Worsaae - Answer -Together created the three-age system: describing the sequence of technological periods in the Old World, each period characterized by predominant use of stone, bronze, or iron tools. Thomsen organized artifacts in the Danish Nat'l Museum of Antiquities according to this scheme while colleague Worsaae conducted excavations in burial mounds that verified that stone tools were under bronze which were under iron (Stratigraphy + evidence supports chronology of ages) Thomas Jefferson - Answer -Conducted the first American scientific excavation of a conical mound in Mississippi Valley, Va in 1784. * use of systematic excavation, accurate recording, and Stratigraphy*, - tested and verified theory that American Indians built mounds Petrie - Answer -pioneers of archaeology, working primarily in Egypt and Palestine. -Advocate recovery of ALL objects-sequence dating-total recording of the excavation-schools Pitt-Rivers - Answer -He developed the idea of typology - the classification of artifacts in a chronological sequence, showing their development over time, felt it was important to keep important records Mercati - Answer -In 1518, recognized stone tools before they were made but ideas weren't accepted Hutton - Answer -18th geologist who argued processes responsible for creating current natural, slowly working processes were the same as those in the past i.e. principle of uniformitarianism
Lyell - Answer -19th C. Hutton laid the conceptual foundation for uniformitarianism geology and Lyell built the structure of geology upon that foundation Perthes - Answer -Found a group of stone handaxes and extinct animal bones that supported his belief that humanity had clearly been around for far longer than 6,000 years ago, contrary to Bishop Ussher. Dugdale - Answer -17th C. rightly ID'd stone handaxes as belonging to Britains before iron was being used—rejected because it conflicted with dominant view based on view of creation from old testament Ambani - Answer -witch doctor in Kenya; shows us that Anthropology is looking at similarities and differences among cultures and asking why Lubbock - Answer -published Prehistoric Times and broke up stone age into Paleolithic (old stone age) and Neolithic (new stone age) --Palaeolithic (2.6 million years ago- 10,000 years ago)=Chipped/ flaked stone tools made by direct/indirect percussion --Neolithic (10,000 years ago)=Add pecked, polished and ground tool-making methods Frere - Answer -1797 he publishes evidence of an association between flint artifacts and animals, 12ft below the surface of the earth—remains belonged to a very remote period beyond that of the present world Uniformitarianism - Answer -processes responsible for creating current natural, slowly working processes were the same as those in the past chaine operatoire - Answer -sequence of operations acquisition, technology, use, discard in situ - Answer -in position (primary context) original position of an artifactual find undisturbed by later activity Provenance (provenience) - Answer -3-dimensional location of an artifact/ecofact/feature, ie. Its horizontal and vertical dimensions, within or on the matrix at the time of discovery
purpose-- to consider the nature of hunter-gatherer variation to understand better ceramic-using hunter-gatherers generally and in an African context -ceramics were the focus of the thesis and one of the primary goals was to develop a methodology for consistently classifying the variation that characterizes Kansyore pottery Law of Superposition - Answer -The sequence of layers of deposits from bottom to top reflects the order of deposition from earliest to latest (refers to age of deposits not necessarily age of material) Head-Smashed-In - Answer -Buffalo Jump in Alberta, Canada, Used about 6000 years ago until mid 19th C. o Evidence of preferential part removal Olsen-Chubbuck - Answer -Bison kill site from 8500 yrs ago, where bison skeletons and stone tools at the bottom of a ravine revealed that the animals were driven over the ravine edge, butchering techniques (which bones were stripped on the spot, which were carried off to the campsite) and yield (how much meat/byproducts would have been available from the kill) Catastrophism - Answer -Earth's features were shaped by violent cataclysmic events transformation processes - Answer -begin after deposition and include all conditions and events that affect material remains from the time of deposition to the time the archaeologist recognizes and acquires them as data 2 kinds Cultural transformational processes - Answer -caused by human behavior (see 67-8) Natural transformational processes - Answer -caused by natural forces (Animal burrowing, erosion, rain, rusting,-->decomposition behavioral processes - Answer -Produce material remains in four consecutive stages 1)acquire the raw materials, 2) manufacture it , 3)use it, 4)discard it doesn't have to go through ALL 4
10,000 years ago - Answer -neolithic 40,000 years ago - Answer -Upper Paleolithic 100,000 years ago - Answer -middle paleolithic 1.7-1.8 million/2.6 million years ago - Answer -Lower Paleolithic Archaeologist - Answer -Professional scholar who studies the human past through its physical remains Psuedoarchaeology - Answer -Use of real or imagined archaeological evidence to justify nonscientific accounts about the past Archaeology - Answer -Study of the human past through its material remains Archaeological record - Answer -The physical remains produced by past human activities, which are sought, recovered, studied, and interpreted by archaeologists to reconstruct the past Historical archaeology - Answer -use written record to supplement but focus on more recent historical times- colonial, slave time, medieval times Prehistoric archaeology - Answer -Research on societies and time periods that lack written record Diachronic - Answer -Stresses development through time Synchronic - Answer -Emphasizes contemporary state of human societies with little or no time depth Ethnography - Answer -Study of individual cultures throughout the world
Acquisition - Answer -First stage of behavioral processes in which raw materials are acquired Manufacture - Answer -2nd stage of b.p. in which raw materials are modified to produce artifacts Deposition - Answer -Last stage of b.p. in which artifacts are discarded Transformational processes - Answer -Conditions and events that affect archaeological data from of deposition to the time of recovery -2nd stage in the formation of archaeological data and begins after material remains have been deposited -(1) changes by natural agents—organic decay, volcanic activity, animal activity disturbances -(2) changes caused by humans(cultural)—plowing or looting Taphonomy - Answer -Study of what happens to plants and animals after they die Matrix - Answer -The physical medium that surrounds, holds, and supports archaeological data Provenience - Answer -3-dimensional location of any kind of archaeological data within the matrix Association - Answer -Two or more artifacts (or any other kind of data) occurring together in the same matrix Context - Answer -Characteristics of archaeological data that result from both behavioral and transformational processes, which are evaluated by means of recorded association, matrix, and provenience (2 types) Primary context - Answer -Condition that results when provenience, association, and matrix have not been disturbed since the original deposition of archaeological data
use-related primary context - Answer -artifacts recovered from the place where they were acquired, made, or used transposed primary context - Answer -artifacts that have been deposited by human activity outside of the places where they were acquired, made or used Midden - Answer -Accumulation of debris resulting from human disposal and removed from areas of manufacture and use Secondary context - Answer -Condition where provenience, association, and matrix have been wholly or partially altered by transformational processes after original deposition of archaeological data Research design - Answer -Systematic plan to coordinate archaeological research to ensure the efficient use of resources and to guide the research according to the scientific method Formulation - Answer -1st step in research design-Defining the research problem and goals, background investigation, and feasibility studies Implementation - Answer -2nd step in research design that involves completing all the arrangements necessary to the planned fieldwork Data gathering - Answer -3rd step-survey (reconnaissance) and excavation Data processing - Answer -Manipulation of raw data and the creation and manipulation of records Analysis - Answer -Extracting information about each data category used in archaeological interpretations Interpretation - Answer -Synthesizing the results of data collection, processing, and analysis to meet the original goals of the investigation
Ground-penetrating radar - Answer -Sends electromagnetic waves into the earth to be reflected as echoes by subsurface discontinuities Stratification - Answer -Observed layering of matrices and features Law of superposition - Answer -Sequence of strata from bottom to top reflects the order of deposition from earliest to latest Penetrating excavations - Answer -Primarily deep probes of subsurface deposits Clearing excavations - Answer -Aim primarily at the horizontal investigation of deposits Subassemblage - Answer -Grouping of artifact classes based on form & function that is assumed to represent a single occupational group within an ancient community Assemblage - Answer -Gross grouping of all subassemblages assumed to represent the sum of human activities carried out within an ancient community Archaeological cultures - Answer -Sum total of material remains assumed to represent the culture of a past society Lithic technology - Answer -Artifacts made from stone by either (1) chipped-stone industryà fracturing or flaking stone; or (2) ground-stone industry, based on pecking and grinding or polishing stone Core - Answer -Struck stone from which flakes are removed Flake - Answer -Fragments removed from the core when struck Direct percussion - Answer -Striking the core with a hammer stone or another tool or against a fixed stone (produced first stone tool)
Indirect percussion - Answer -Uses a punch made of bone or wood placed between the core and the hammer stone to direct and soften the resultant blow, producing longer and thinner flakes Pressure flaking - Answer -Uses steady pressure on the punch to detach flakes quern - Answer -Long, thin parallel-sided flake usually made from a cylindrical core (usual result of i.p. or pressure flaking) Retouched - Answer -Technique in chipped stone in which pressure flaking removes small steep flakes to modify edges of flake tools Debitage - Answer -Debris from the manufacture/making of stone tools Ceramics - Answer -All industries in which artifacts are modeled or molded from clay and then made durable by firing Venus figurines austria 24-27000 years ago - Answer -Earliest known from of ceramic technology Pottery - Answer -Clay is formed into containers by hand or in molds or with a potter's wheel, often decorated, and fired Vitrification - Answer -A complex process in which glass and other new minerals are formed in the clay, occurring at temperatures above 1000°C; it fuses the clay so that the vessel walls become waterproof Metallurgy - Answer -Complex technology used to extract metal from ores to produce metal artifacts classical archaeology - Answer -focuses heavily on text, art, and architecture (rome, Egypt) preservation - Answer -what preserves well in organic material
- Extreme cold, dry, or wet and continuously so
- ↑deters bacteria/fungi from deterioration
commensals - Answer -animals (such as mice) that are drawn to human settlements for food and end up in the archaeological record Coprolites - Answer -carbonized fecal matter
