Arachaeology Flashcards
What are the main kinds of matrixes
Extreme dry Waterlogged Extreme cold Bogs/marshes Heavy in preserving agents such as salt and tannin
What does matter need to decompose
Water and oxygen (anaerobic environments)
What is a grid system
An archaeological site is divided into grids then marked with string and numbered
Stratigraphy
Layers in archaeological sites are excavated one at a time. These layers are called strata layers. The closer the the surface a layer is the more recent it is
Crop marks
The landscape is photographed from the sky and crop marks indicate features beneath the soil
Soil marks
Landscape is photographed faster ploughing and soil marks outline buried features
Shadow marks
Landscape is photographed from the sky at sunset, dawn and when the sun is low. Low mounds cast shadows revealing features
Ground penetrating radar (GPR)
Radar signal as an electromagnetic force is directed at the ground. A receiver records reflection of buried objects changes in soil composition and depth
Resistivity survey
Resistivity meter passes electric current between metal posts in the ground. Measures soil resistance. High resistance indicates buried walls and low resistance indicates pits and ditches
Magnetic survey
Protonmegnemeter detects magnetic properties of subsurface materials. High reading indicates iron burned soil and rock. Low reading indicates disturbed soil or decayed organic material
destructive elements
Animals eg waste and by eating remains
Insects eat evidence and organic remains
Plants crack and destroy wood concrete plaster and stone
Warfare destroys environments habitats and looting
Tourism causes bus and car pollution camera flashes touching and thefts
Religious intolerance
Pollution and climate change
Poor archaeological methodology
Grave robbing and theft
Ethics: should we display human remains?
Religious conflicts
Familial impacts
Ethics: who owns the bone me or artefacts
Return to country of origin?
We bought it?
We found it?
Ethics: should reconstruction and restoration occur?
What if your wrong
Different materials used
What should it look like without/with
PEAT
Chronicle found in peat bogs called SPAGNAN that creates an anaerobic environment and tans bodies
Borremose bodies: location
Borre Fen peat bog Himmerland Denmark
Boremose bodies: preservation
5 degrees-cool Low moisture and oxygen levels Big body-peat Humic acid preserve soft tissue and is released when peat decomposes Anaerobic-few drainage areas
Boromose bodies: discovery
3 bodies found from 1946-48
Borromose bodies: causes of death
Man 1: strangulation with hemp rope or blow to back of the head
Women: blow to front of head. Is an unfaithful wife theory
Borromose bodies: objects found with the Bodies
Man: noose around the neck. Birch sticks. 2 sheepskin coats. Woven cap
Body 2: cloak with 4 layers of twill fabric. Leather cord with amber bead around neck. Bones of an infant. Ceramic jar
Woman: woollen garment. Infant
Relative dating
Information used to gain an approximate time period
Stratigraphic dating
Relative dating by strata level
Typology dating
Relative dating by examining style and technology levels
3 age system for dating
Relative dating system where:
Palaeolithic or the Stone Age 2,000,000-10,000BC
Mesolithic or middle stone 10,000-9,000BC
Neolithic or new stone 9,000-5,000BC
Absolute dating
Using scientific method to determine age of an object
Radiocarbon dating
Using carbon to give an absolute date to living organisms up to 50,000 years
Not organic material has carbon and carbon has a half life of 5730 years
Dendrology dating
Absolute dating possible as each year a tree ring forms you can count the rings to date wood
Note must know when the wood was cut down
Thermoluminescence dating
Absolute dating where inorganic material is heated to 500degrees and light and energy level used to date object
Potassium-argon dating or K-Ar dating
Dates volcanic rock back millions of years through radioactivity
Uranium series dating
Absolute dating method where radioactivity is used to date rocks containing calcium carbonate up to 500,000 years
Nite these rocks often found in caves
Fission track dating
Absolute dying system that determines the thermo age of artefacts containing uranium works up to 20-1,000 million years
Works on glass fired ceremics and stones used for boiling it the hearth
What is a matrix?
The environment an artefact is found in
