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Introduction to Archaeology - Study Guide | ANTH 220, Study notes of Environmental Archaeology

University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign Environmental Archaeology

Prof. Stanley H. Ambrose

Exam 1 Study Guide Material Type: Notes; Professor: Ambrose; Class: Introduction to Archaeology; Subject: Anthropology; University: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign; Term: Fall 2010;

Typology: Study notes

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Uploaded on 05/09/2011

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Anth. 220, Introduction to Archaeology

Study Guide for Midterm Exam

Your course grade will be determined from the grades you receive on: two section quizzes (10%

each); a midterm exam (25%); ten discussion section homework/exercises (25% total); and a

final exam (30%). The midterm exam is a closed book exam, with multiple choice, true/false,

and short essay questions, and will be held in class on Wednesday, October 20, 2010.

In preparing for this midterm, you should be familiar with the following key terms, concepts, and

topics covered in the readings, films, class discussions, and online lecture illustrations and notes,

through Friday, October 15, which includes discussions up through and including the

“archaeology of social complexity,” chapter 5 of the text, and illustration notes 35.

 Archaeology as a subfield of anthropology: general labels/definitions of other three

subfields

oAnthropology: the study of humankind in all places & all times

o4 main subfields:

oSocial & cultural: study of human beliefs & behaviors that are learned within

societies, rather than genetically determined

oLinguistic: study of human languages & how they operate in different cultural

contexts

oBiological & physical: study of evolutionary history of humankind (anatomy,

demography, disease, nutrition) & genetic & environmental influences on human

diversity

oArchaeology: study of material traces of behaviors of past & present cultures

(skeletons of cultures) with archaeological methods

-Bioarchaeology: study of traces of behavior on/in human skeletons

 Hallmarks of anthropological approach: culture concept, holistic perspective

oCulture (society): a suite of learned behaviors of a specific population of interacting or

historically related groups

oShare a common language

oPossibly have close genetic affinities

oHolistic Perspective (Holism): understanding how all components of culture function &

interact with one another. The different parts of a particular cultural system are inter-

dependent with one another & function in relation to one another.

oSystemic approach: parts of a cultural system are independent; change in one part of a

system may influence other parts; internal dynamics; responses to external influences;

foundation for processual archaeology

 Four main goals of archaeology:

1

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Anth. 220, Introduction to Archaeology

Study Guide for Midterm Exam

Your course grade will be determined from the grades you receive on: two section quizzes (10% each); a midterm exam (25%); ten discussion section homework/exercises (25% total); and a final exam (30%). The midterm exam is a closed book exam, with multiple choice, true/false, and short essay questions, and will be held in class on Wednesday, October 20, 2010. In preparing for this midterm, you should be familiar with the following key terms, concepts, and topics covered in the readings, films, class discussions, and online lecture illustrations and notes, through Friday, October 15, which includes discussions up through and including the “archaeology of social complexity,” chapter 5 of the text, and illustration notes 35.  Archaeology as a subfield of anthropology: general labels/definitions of other three subfields o Anthropology: the study of humankind in all places & all times o 4 main subfields: o Social & cultural: study of human beliefs & behaviors that are learned within societies, rather than genetically determined o Linguistic: study of human languages & how they operate in different cultural contexts o Biological & physical: study of evolutionary history of humankind (anatomy, demography, disease, nutrition) & genetic & environmental influences on human diversity o Archaeology: study of material traces of behaviors of past & present cultures (skeletons of cultures) with archaeological methods

Bioarchaeology: study of traces of behavior on/in human skeletons  Hallmarks of anthropological approach: culture concept, holistic perspective o Culture (society): a suite of learned behaviors of a specific population of interacting or historically related groups o Share a common language o Possibly have close genetic affinities o Holistic Perspective (Holism): understanding how all components of culture function & interact with one another. The different parts of a particular cultural system are inter- dependent with one another & function in relation to one another. o Systemic approach: parts of a cultural system are independent; change in one part of a system may influence other parts; internal dynamics; responses to external influences; foundation for processual archaeology  Four main goals of archaeology:

o Reconstructing past cultures and lifeways o Interpreting symbolic and cognitive aspects of past cultures o Explaining changes over time in cultures o Preserving the archaeological record  History of the discipline of archaeology:  Changing perceptions of time scales

(1658): Biblical calendars hold that Earth was created in 4004 BC, while other perceptions were of cyclical time or present/past dichotomies
(1700s): standardized & uniform increments of time & space begin to develop  General impacts of Charles Lyell's uniformitarianism o Uniformitartianism: geologically ancient conditions are similar to those of the present; the past is much like the present  General impacts of evolutionary theories of Alfred Wallace and Charles Darwin o People began to search for human origins  Thomas Jefferson as among first systematic excavators in America o In 1784, undertook first scientific excavation in history of archaeology; dug a trench across a burial mound on his property  Changes in research focus over time, e.g., focus in “post-processual” archaeology on symbolic and cognitive aspects of cultures o (1492-1840) Speculative-Descriptive (Renaissance-Victorian):
Thomas Jefferson (used modern techniques)
looting o (1840-1914) Classificatory-Descriptive:
C.J. Thomsen (three age system: Stone, Bronze, Iron)
Emphasis on classification o (1914-1940) Classificatory-Historical I:
Kidder (excavations in U.S. Southwest established its chronological framework)
Creating ceramic chronologies
Diffusion (something happens in one place & spreads) o (1940-1960) Classificatory-Historical II:
Jullian Steward (cultures interact with environment as well as one another)
Less emphasis on ceramics, because of the introduction of carbon dating o (1960-1980) Explanatory Period:
Lewis Binford (culture as a system; archaeology is anthropology)
“New archaeology”; Processual archaeology o (1980-present) Interpretive Approaches:
Ian Hodder
“Post-Processual”  Understand the key parts of archaeological research discussed thus far:

local environment before, during, and after its use

Vertical: shows the stratigraphy & changes through time
Horizontal: good for single occupation sites, only dig to a certain layer of stratigraphy; spatial organizational features
Systematic grid: squares in a grid, observe what is in the same horizontal layer & what is older, by being in a lower layer
Baulks: a strip of earth left between excavation ditches to study the complete stratigraphy of a site
Trench: (step trench?) large open area which narrows as the dig descends in a series of large steps
Open area: use open areas & cut only vertical sections o measurements in excavation, e.g., datum points, transects, mapping, usefulness of Pythagorean theorem
Datum points: a fixed point of known elevation, which is used to determine the elevation of unknown points
Transects: linear paths
Mapping: drawing out the features of the site (e.g. elevation, artifact locations)
Pythagorean theorem: since sites are typically sectioned off in squares, making diagonals across opposite corners helps to map artifacts in the middle; the Pythagorean theorem is used to determine the length of these diagonals  What important information is used o context (primary vs. secondary)
Usually consists of its immediate matrix, its provenience, and its association with other artifacts
Primary: where an artifact was originally left
Secondary: where the artifact was moved from its original position, either by people or by natural causes o provenience
Horizontal & vertical position in the matrix o matrix
The material around the artifact (e.g. gravel, clay, sand) o stratigraphy, superposition, association
Stratigraphy: the analysis of the vertical time dimension, of a series of layers in the horizontal, space dimension; often used as a relative dating technique
Superposition: higher=younger
Association: occurrence together with other archaeological remains, usually in the same matrix  Understand site formation processes:  Formation processes o Cultural
The deliberate or accidental activities of human beings as they live their daily lives o Natural
Natural events that form sites (e.g. gradual burial of artifacts by wind-borne soil,

volcanic eruption)  Transformation processes o Cultural

looters’ trenches, plowing, bulldozers o Natural
animal burrows, volcanic eruption  Preservation factors and possible biases o What conditions preserve organic materials better than others
Copper mines
Salt mines
Asphalt pits
Violent storms (sand, mudslide)
Volcanic eruptions
Extremes of moisture (arid, frozen, waterlogged) o Example of Otzi and related ranges of preservation factors
Fully preserved human body found with everyday equipment and clothing intact
Dating for the man averages 3300 BC
Became encased in ice and protected by a glacier for almost 5300 years until a layer of dust from the Sahara was laid upon the glacier & caused the ice to melt because the dust absorbed sunlight.  Understand the basic characteristics of typologies and the different types of typology:  Be able to describe functional, chronological, and descriptive types
Functional: potential or actual use
Chronological: (temporal) with specific time ranges
Descriptive: (morphological) shape, size, raw material, color, etc.  Understand what attributes can be used to construct these types
Shape, size, design, material, thickness, etc.  Understand site dating techniques, both relative and absolute (chronometric) dating:  General idea of different types and what each is best suited for (should be able to describe at least one of each)
Potassium/ Argon dating: rocks, hundreds or thousands of millions of years old, but no more recent than 100,000 years old, measures decay of 40 K into 40 Ar
Thermoluminescence dating: can date inorganic materials (e.g. burnt flint, pottery) beyond 50,000 years old; electrons get trapped in materials, and are released when heated to high temperatures as light, which is measured to date the artifacts
Obsidian Hydration dating: principally relevant to artifacts of the last 10,000 years, but can be used for older artifacts; obsidian begins absorbing water once it is broken: the thicker the hydration layer seen under a microscope, the longer it has been since it was chipped off.  Seriation methods: contextual and frequency
Method of relative dating
Frequency of characteristics & how they change over time

Monarch: a person who reigns over a state or territory, typically hereditary
Emperor: the male ruler of an empire  How ranking can be recognized archaeologically (e.g., mortuary practices)
Houses: larger houses for higher rank
Burials: larger graves & better grave-goods for higher rank  Difference between ascribed and achieved status
Ascribed: social status is assigned by who one is related to, given at birth
Achieved: social status earned by one’s actions  General debates of relationship of domestication, sedentism, monumental architecture, and writing systems in development of state level societies
Not all states have monumental architecture and writing systems, but they typically have domestication to feed the extra people, and they have to be sedentary to be considered a state.  Usefulness and biases, limitations in past written records -?  Archaeology and domestication:  How do we find evidence of domestication of plants archaeologically
Plow marks, canals, drainage ditches, dams, art, seeds, evidence of grafting trees, increase of cereal grain size  How do we find evidence of domestication of animals archaeologically
Preference for one sex of animal (for milk), bone diseases related to the penning & working of animals  Does domestication always result in sedentary, urban settlements
No, but sedentary, urban settlements often result in domestication, because there are more mouths to feed & not enough natural food sources to feed them all  Do hunting and gathering societies ever show dense, sedentary settlements
No, because then the society would evolve into a segmentary society  Etc
Milankovich Cycles:
Eccentricity: Earth’s orbit sometimes more circular & symmetrical around the sun & sometimes more elliptical & asymmetrical
Precession: wobble
Obliquity: tilt

Introduction to Archaeology - Study Guide | ANTH 220, Study notes of Environmental Archaeology

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Partial preview of the text

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Anth. 220, Introduction to Archaeology

Study Guide for Midterm Exam