Archy 329 Midterm 1 review Flashcards
epistemology
branch of philosphy concerned with the nature, scope, and limitations of knowledge (“awareness of facts”)
assumptions of science
there is a real and knowable universe
the universe operates according to laws
the law are immutable (stay constant usually no matter where or when)
the laws can be studied, revealed, and understood
what questions does epistemology adress
- what is knowledge
- how is knowledge acquired
- how do we know what we know, in archy or any other field of science
- how does anyybody know anything to be actual truthful or real
the scientific process
observation
induction
deduction
testing
what is observation
process of receiving knowledge of the natural world using our senses or recording information via scientifc tools or instruments
what is induction
arguing from specific observations to generalities to form probable conclusions
what is deduction
arguing from generalities to specifics to form certain conclusions
what is testing
use of scientific methods to form inferences (hypotheses) about phenomena and deduce and predict more observable facts
what two things are hypotheses
falsifiable and testable
science vs pseudoscience
science hypotheses are testable and falsifiable
science follows rules of logic and rules of evidence
pseudoscience doesnt do either of those things
scientific debate: controversies within science
scientists do not always agree on the quality, relevance and interpretation of evidence used to support an assertion of fact
accumulated of informaiton to arrive at the best or most likely conclusion
aplways open to scrutiny, continued research
hypothesis
theory
hypothesis
an assertion about the world
theory
a hypothesis that has been extensively tested and has yet to be proven false
Ignaz Semmelweis, what did he do
the two hospitals in vienna, fixed childbed fever issue
what were ignaz semmelweis’ hypotheses for the problems and what was the results
overcrowding, no change
position while giving birth, no change
women upset by priest giving last rites, no change
student doctors rough than experienced ones, no change
what was ignaz semmelweis’ final discovery and solution
his friend died from similar symptons to the childbed fever while he was accidentally cut during an autopsy, he discovered that something in the dead bodies was being transmitted to the mothers because doctors werent washing their hands
psuedoscience checklist
does the source cite “experts” who make polit innocuous, but otherwise meaningless statmeents about the artifact in question
does the source cite “experts” but exagerate their credentials (PhD’s from uncredited institutions
does the source cite experts whose credentials are unrelated to the claims being made (einstein was science not geologist)
does the source cite experts whose previous extreme claims/ unethical behavior are not mentioned or cited
does the source make definitive statements about age of artificant without any supporting data
does the source make what appear to be definitve stateents about the culture of the artifact without any supporting data
does the source make arguments about the artifact that that make little or no sense but sound authoritative
does the source make assertions about appearance of an artifact that has very little relationship to what’s there (pareidolia)
does the source preface most claims with phrases like “maybe” “if” or “image” “could be” or perhaps” and then present detailed scenarious about antiquity, all of which require acceptance of the original speculation which is never tested or proven
does the source make demands such as “if i am wrong let the scientists prove it”
pareidolia
tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern
what do extraordinary claims require
extraordinary evidence
popular claims of ancient giants
nine ten feet tall, maybe even 20-30 feet
these giants might be the philim referred to in the old testament as the offspring between fallen angels and humans
or maybe the watchers, talking about in the Book of Enoch, written about 2,300 years ago
setting of cardiff giant
Several years after the American Civil Ware, a Hamlet call Cardiff in Onondaga County, Upstate New York
this portion of Upstate New York was known for its share of strange encounters and tales, including joseph smith’s golden plates given to him by the angel moroni
the onondaga people were part of the iroquois confederacy, considered this area their traditional homeland, had a tradition involving a mythological rock giant known as stone coat, twice as tall as normal humans and with skin as hard as stone
the find of the cardiff
William “stub” newell came across it after digging a well with his workers, found it 3 ft deep
claims the body appeared to be petrified or turned to stone in his eternal slumber
who were the ones who visited cardiff considered him an ancient statue or a hoax who were the three who called it out
professional scientists, geologists, paleontologists, and artists all visited. J.F. Boyton, geologist from U of Pennsylvania, Othniel C. Marsh, paleontologist at yale, and James Hall and Henry A. Ward
who was behind the cardiff giant
george hull, a devout atheist
why did george hull do the hoax
either money or to mock a man he had a heated conversation with. the man was a methodist minister centred on biblical stories concerning an ancient race of giant men
what role did biblical accounts of giants play in the public response to cardiff
nephilim: mysterious race of people referenced in the hebrew bible, loosely translated a giants in some versions of the work, and subsequent translations of christina old testament
may be a mistranslation because other hebrew texts refer to the nephilim as the offspring of fallen angels and humans
most common reference in genesis 6:4: when nephilim were on earth in those day and also afterward when the sons of God came into the daughters of man, and they bore children to them
other famous biblical references include the defeat of Goliath by young david in the book of samuel, this is also in the quran but under the arabic name jalut
for christian fundamentalists the find of the cardiff giant reaffirmed the authenticity of the naritives in genesis and other portions of old testament
gigantism
very rare condition that causes abnormal growth in children and adolescents manifested in increased height. caused by high levels of growth harmone usually as a result of a tumor on the pituitary gland
acromegaly
similar to gigantism but diagnosed in adults aged 30-50, commonly leads to abnormal growth of the hands feet and face, tends to progress slowly and early signs not obvious
rules for a successful archaeological hoax
give the people what they want to see
dont be too succesfull, let other people get credit too
learn from your mistakes
Darwin’s theory
Lampponed by the press and considered controversial for its challenge to Genisis in the Bible but broadly embrace by educators and intellectuals, it sparked enthusiastic searches for remains of ancestral species
What did Dubois find
Java Man, the braincase of a fossil human, discovered in 1891, 700,000 years old
what type of specimen is java man
homo erectus
Charles Dawson, who was he
Amateur sceintist, antiquarian and fossil collector during 19th and 20th century
co founder of several museum associations with Great Britian including Hastings and St. Leonards
named fellow at the geological society and soceity of antiquaries of london
charles dawson what did he do
discovered the first piltdown fossils in 1908, the four more skull pieces in 1911, almost always responsible for the finds related to piltdown
what was discovered about Dawson
his find was a human skull and ape mandible
who exposed the truth behind dawsons discovery
David Waterson, then Marcellin Boule, then Gerrit Smith Miller Jr
who helped Dawson hunt for fossils
Woodward
who supported woodward and what was he known for
Grafton Elliot Smith, the champion of the big brain, high domed brain case, primitive jaw paradigm for human evolution
piltdown skull because the new paradigm because of its:
people were looking for a large brain and primitive ape like jaw
the Taung Baby
skull of a child found in South Africa, supported the primitve skull paradigm
who exposed Dawson
Kenneth Oakley, dated the bones by fluorine testing, the jaw and teeth were not the same age as the skull and were not even fossils, just bones
key questions of Who discovered America
when was the Bering land bridge available
when was there an ice free corridor
how old are the oldest sites in serbia
how old are the oldest sites in the new world
what makes an archaeological hypothesis or site controversial or dubious in terms of the first americans
the bering land bridge
connected eastern Siberia to the North American plate during the much of last Ice Age
new evidence indicates that the land bridge only formed 35,700 years ago
the land bridge was passable between approximately 10-28000 years ago
greatest extended, measured up to 1500 kms and supported numerous megafauna
end of the last ice age, rising sea levels due to glacial melt slowly submerged the connection, forming the bering seat between the arctic and pacific oceans
paleoindian finds
clovis: 12,700-13,400 years ago, named for distincetive stone and bone toold industry, used to hunt now extinct pleistocene megafaunce, thought these were the first people in america until…
Preclovis 13,400-24,000 years ago. Small but growing body of evidence for earlier populations that predate clovis. Different lithic industry. mainly pacific coast of the americas,others in northern alaska and yukon
tracing people by their DNA
Molecular Archaeology: involves the metaphorical excavation of information hidden deep within the genes of living people
to connect modern groups of humasn to its initial population source, these archaeologists of our chromosomes sift through the genetic map of living people to determine which groups share unique codes
so many possible clusters and variants, virtual certainty that those living groups who share the same clusters of minor differences must share biological ancestors whom they inherited it
the solutrean hypothesis
suggests that the earliest humans entered the americas not from beringia but from europe, traveling in skin or wooden boats along pack ice in atlantic ocean
first put forward in the 1970s and gained support by 2010s by archaeologists dennis stanford and bruce bradley
almost exclusively based on similarities in lithic technology between the solutrean and clovis cultures
critiques of solutrean hypothesis
solutrean 5000 years older than clovis
lack of archeological evidence
technological difficulty of open ocean travel
similarities between solutrean and north american technologies overstated
all genetic evidence, include paleoindian remains from eastern parts of America, do not show any links to solutrean populations
neo-nazis and other racist groups were quick to adopt the hypothesis to assert claims of early european development in americas over that of indigenous americans
three basic themes of peopling of the new world
evolutionary: first nations evolved from earlier species of hominins in the western hemisphere
religious: how revelations of the pre columbian colonization of the new world by people of the biblical tradition advances understand god’s historical mission among people
historical: how why and when ancient civilized explorers colonized the new world before 1492 and how amazing facts in the archaeological record, particularly artifacts with fantastic inscriptions on them explain pre columbian arrivals
