Archeology Flashcards
What are artifacts?
Artifacts are objects made by people.
What is archeology?
Archeology is the study of past human life as revealed by preserved relics.
What is Aristotle’s dictum?
The benefit of the doubt is to be given to the document itself, not assigned by the critic to himself.
What is the internal test?
The internal test is a test to see whether or not the document is internally consistent.
What is the external test?
The external test is a test to see whether or not the document contradicts other known historical facts.
What is the bibliographic test?
The bibliographic test is a test that attempts to determine whether or not the version of the document that exists is a faithful representation of the original.
What is a known age?
A known age is an age of an artifact determined by a date printed on it or a reference to it in a work of history.
Known ages are the only certain ages in archeology.
What is dendrochronology?
Dendrochronology is the process of counting tree rings in order to determine the age of a tree.
Ages determined by dendrochronology are upper ages for the age of an artifact.
What is radiometric dating?
Radiometric dating is the use of a radioactive substance to determine the age of an artifact.
Radiometric dating is not a very reliable dating method.
What is absolute age?
Absolute age is the calculated age of an artifact determined by a specific dating method.
What is the Principal of Superposition?
When artifacts are found in rock or earth that is layered, the deeper layers hold the older artifacts.
