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+ARCH 112 > 1 - Introduction to Archaeology > Flashcards

1 - Introduction to Archaeology Flashcards

1
Q

Anthropology

A

the study of humanity is holistic; studies human culture and evolutionary aspects of human biology; broad discipline

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2
Q

Subdisciplines of Anthropology

A

archaeology, cultural anthropology, biological anthropology, linguistics

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3
Q

Cultural Anthropology

A

contemporary and modern cultures

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4
Q

ethnology

A

studied through comparison

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5
Q

ethnography

A

studied by living/observing a culture

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6
Q

archaeology

A

the study of the human past through the examination of its material remains; remains can be used to reconstruct the past

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7
Q

prehistoric/precontact

A

time period before written words; precontact used more for north america

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8
Q

Biological anthropology

A

focuses of humans as biological organisms, examining human evolution and human variation

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9
Q

What is emphasized in biological anthropology?

A

interaction between culture and biology, they affect one another (ex: development of cooking tools results in change of diet, teeth shape, etc)

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10
Q

Specialties within bio. anth

A

paleoanth, osteology, primatology

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11
Q

paleoanthropology

A

study of human evolution; fossil remains

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12
Q

osteology

A

study of skeleton

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13
Q

primatology

A

study of non human primates, out closest living relatives

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14
Q

culture

A

all aspects of human adaption, including tech, traditions, language, religion, social roles; transmitted through learning not biological/genetic means; one of the reasons we can adapt so well to the environment is our ability to use culture

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15
Q

first scientific excavation on record

A

mid 1500s

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16
Q

antiquarians

A

people interested in the past, dig up artifacts unscientificl rich people would travel the world to collect artifacts for their personal collections; developed as a popular hobby until the late 1600s

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17
Q

Christian J Thomsen

A

3 age system; recognized that material culture changed over time; marked beginning of shift to scientific understanding of artifacts

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18
Q

Jens Worsaae

A

Christian Thomsen’s assistant, tested theory of age system

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19
Q

Thomas Jefferson

A

one of the first people to have archaeological excavtion in NA; wanted to understand construction/origin of burial mound on his property; took careful notes (stratigraphy); found that the mound builders were native Americans

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20
Q

burial mounds

A

mounds and native americans were not inked; lots of myths to explain the mounds (ex: lost tribes of Israel, vikings, garden of Eden), well known one is the Serpent mound in Ohio

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21
Q

Establishment of the antiquity of Earth

A

the idea that the earth is super old is relatively new; universe = 15 bill. yrs old; earth = 4.5 bill. yrs old

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22
Q

Archbishop James Ussher

A

Analyzed Bible (particularily Genesis) to determine that the Earth was created in 4004 BC; the idea that the Earth is young was major obstacle encountered by theory of evolution

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23
Q

James Hutton

A

Estimated the earth was few hundred thousand years old; developed uniformatiarianism

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24
Q

Uniformitarianism

A

the theory that Earth’s features are a result of long term processes that continue to opperate in the present as they did in the past

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25
Q

Charles Lyell

A

founder of modern geology; built in uniformitarianism; dating methods like salt deposit formations, stratification, etc

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26
Q

Establishment of the antiquity of humankind

A

1800s –> irrefutable evidence for the existence of human remains with extinct animals like stone tools
1857 –> Neanderthal skulls discovered
1797 (possible typo)–> John Frere discovered stone tools under layers that contained bones of extinct animals like wooly mammoths, water bison, etc

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27
Q

Jaques Boucher de Perthes

A

discovered ancient stone tolls with bones of extinct animals; his writings were controversial but agreed with other scientists of the field at the time

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28
Q

Great Chain of Being

A

heirarchal system with all species in a chain; all species had permanent positions, could not go extinct; gradual continum towards perfection with God at the top; predominant worldview for a long time

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29
Q

Fixity of the Species

A

notion that once species were created, they could never change; another huge obstacle encountered by evolutionary theories

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30
Q

Georges Cavier

A

French paleontologist; Catastrophicism; still believed in fixity of the species

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31
Q

catastrophicism

A

changes in earth could be accounted by series of catastrophic events

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32
Q

Jean Baptiste Lamark

A

Suggested relationship between an organism and its environment; one of the first scientists to investigate evolution; theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics

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33
Q

Theory of Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics

A

an animal’s activity patterns ward change to accommodate the new circumstances; this would result in eventual modification of body parts; classical example is explaining why giraffes have long necks; thought that traits acquired by parents over lifetime could be passed down to offspring (clearly doesn’t happen, but still a significant contribution)

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34
Q

charles darwin

A

theory of evolution by natural selection; started as a medical practitioners; only published partial studies because of his wife’s religion and general controversy until Alfred Wallace showed up with very similar ideas

35
Q

Alfred R Wallace

A

Independantly arrived at the theory of evolution by natural selection

36
Q

Natural selection

A

genetic change(s)in frequencies of certain traits in populations due to differential reproductive success between individuals

37
Q

Main Principles of Natural Selection

A

variation, inheritability, differential reproduction success

38
Q

Main Principles of Natural Selection: variation

A

within a species, some are better adapted to their environment and others are less so

39
Q

Main Principles of Natural Selection: inheritability

A

offspring inherit traits from their parents

40
Q

Main Principles of Natural Selection: differential reproduction success

A

those better adapted to their environment are more likely to make offspring, and those offspring are more likely to have better adapted traits

41
Q

Examples of principles of natural selection

A

peppered moths, galapogos finches, bacteria

42
Q

paleoanthropology

A

the study of fossilized remains of human skeletons, focuses on humans/primates (the order to which humans belong)

43
Q

Fossils

A

the preserved remains of a plant or animal that has been mineralized over time; silica or calcium carbonate replaces organic matter, needs right conditions, groundwater with high mineral content, lava, covered up right away and doesn’t decompose immediately, etc

44
Q

Unaltered fossils

A

remains preserved without mineralization, ex: baby wooly mammoth frozen in ice, can be preserved by maintaining temperature or injecting them with resin, plastic, etc

45
Q

Fossil locales

A

places where fossilized remains of once living organisms are found; Oldvvai Gorge, Tanzania is one of the most well known

46
Q

Archaeological Sites

A

a place where evidence of past human activity is found

47
Q

Heritage Property Act

A

Sask. legislation designed to protect arcaheological sites and other heritage resources; laws are a provincial responsibility; road construction, mining, etc cannot unnecessarily disrupt heritage resources; most of these development projects require a cultureal resources evaluation executed by a person in CRM (cultural resource management)

48
Q

Site survey

A

the process of discovering the location of archaeological sites; aka site reconassaince

49
Q

Pedestrian survey

A

field walking in straight lines (transects) looking for traces of artifacts and other archaeological materials; most common type of field survey; restrictive in that artifacts must be visible

50
Q

Shovel testing

A

Often combined with pedestrian survey; dig 15 cm holes to see what is underground; sometimes use augers instead of shovels, but augers risk damaging artifacts

51
Q

Aerial Photography/Satelite Imagery

A

Sometimes differences in land levels are too flattered to notice on the ground but can be seen in the air; Nazca lines are examples of geoglyphs are 100-200m long

52
Q

Geophysical Techniques

A

Non invasive, doesn’t break ground surface, doesn’t show “snapshot” but suggests where irregularities

53
Q

Electrical resistivity

A

measures differences in sediments’ etc electrical conductivity

54
Q

Magnetic resistivity

A

uses a magnetometer to measure differences in relative magnetivity

55
Q

Ground penetrating radar

A

uses pulse of electromagnetic radiation to produce maps of disrupted areas; commonly used for finding unmarked graces and building foundations etc

56
Q

John Franklin’s ship

A

two ships trapped by King Williams Island, some remains have been found on island sicne, slide scan sonar were used to find ship in September 2014, location confirmation Inuit oral recounts of the ships

57
Q

Excavation of sites

A

establish datum, area where artifacts are going to be searched for; create grid with detailed maps

58
Q

Horizontal Excavation

A

achieved through grid system, used to expose large area over single point in time

59
Q

Vertical Excavation

A

achieved through depth from certain datum point, used to expose a sequence of occupation

60
Q

Stratigraphy

A

the study of how different layers of sediments and soils, artifacts and fossils are laid down in successive deposits or strata

61
Q

the law of superposition

A

states that older layers at an archaeological sites are generally deeper/lower than more recent layers; frost, human interference, and animal burrows can disrupt this law; spatial context is crucial

62
Q

Artifacts

A

portable objects made/altered by humans/human ancestors (ex: pottery, arrowheads)

63
Q

Features

A

items made/altered by humans/human ancestors that cannot be moved (ex: building foundations, hearths, soil staining, stone circles)

64
Q

ecofacts

A

organic materials associated with human activity, but not made by people (ex: food waste, butchered animal remains)

65
Q

Site formation processes

A

environmental and cultural factors that affect how/where materials are deposited at an archaeological site or fossil locale

66
Q

taphonomy

A

how materials become part of the paleontological/archaeological record, the study of the processes that affect organic remains after death

67
Q

experimental archaeology

A

research that attempts to replicate ancient technologies and construction procedures to test hypotheses about past activities ( ex: clovis points)

68
Q

Goerge Frison

A

Clovis points; could these Colvis technologies really be used to hurt mammoth? replicated colvis tools and used elephants to test them

69
Q

analysis of skeletons: sex

A

certain physical characteristics, sexual dimorphism (ex: angles of pelvis), sex can be determined over 95% of the time

70
Q

analysis of skeletons: age

A

bones (tooth eruption, epiphyseal fusion), diaphysis (shaft) and epiphyses (end caps) fuse together at relatively set time during teens

71
Q

analysis of skeletons: goegraphic origin

A

stronium isotope analysis can reveal information about geographic origin and migration patterns (ex: similarities between east asians and north american aborigines)

72
Q

analysis of skeletons: health

A

tuberculosis, severe fungal infections, cancer, etc leave traces on bones; evidence of malnutirition can be seen on teeth and bones (ex: wilson bonds, enamel hypoplasia, harris lines)

73
Q

Indirect dating methods

A

age of fossil obtained by dating something directly associated with it; common method is to date the stratigraphic layers directly above and below the object

74
Q

direct dating methods

A

apply the dating method directly to the object themselves

75
Q

relative dating

A

reveals whether an object is younger or older than another

76
Q

absolute (chromatic) dating

A

provides an actual date, plus or minus margin of error

77
Q

stratigraphy

A

relative dating, law of superposition

78
Q

seriation

A

relative dating, orders artifacts into series based on their similar attributes (ex: similar features in cars)

79
Q

fluorine analysis

A

relative dating; used in bones and teeth; they will absorb chemicals from groundwater after being buried for a long time; restricted to specimen tests from the same site

80
Q

radiometric decay

A

absolute dating; measure the rate at which radioactive isotopes disintegrate

81
Q

potassium-argon / argon-argon dating

A

absolute dating; for argon 40 build up in volcanic rock, radioactive potassium’s half life of 1.25 billion; useful for measuring early homonid sites

82
Q

radiocarbon dating

A

absolute dating; for organic materials up to 50 000 years old through carbon 14; 14 C has a half life of 5 730 years

83
Q

accelerator mass spectometry

A

allows much smaller samples to be dated

84
Q

dendrochronology

A

true dating method used to determine the age of wood samples by examining growth rings; has been used to asses the accuracy of radiocarbon dating

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