Ch. 1 Flashcards
Discovery Tutankhamen’s Tomb, Egypt, 1922
Archaeologists worked for 6 years to find this tomb. Carter was the one to open the door. He stated “wonderful things” when asked what he saw. Tukankhamum was nicknamed golden pharaoh. They installed an iron door to the tomb and placed a 24 hour guard outside of it. late at night they returned to make sure it was undisturbed.
The Beginnings of Archaeology
The 3 age system of stone, bronze and iron was talked about for years in the early 1800’s. This system was used in classifying the past while looking at artifacts. It became widespread in the 1860’s. Religion swayed the age of the Earth, giving it around 6,000 years of existence. In 1859 Darwin published his Origin of Species, and this showed the works of evolution. This publication provided theory that Earth’s existence extends past 6,000 years. In the early the mid 1900’s human evolution was being researched. After some time human fossils that were 1.75 million years old were found. This causes the same debates as Darwin’s publication did.
The Ancient Egyptians
They were described as the source of all the institutions of civilization. Although, Egyptian life was a mystery until 1798 when a French general invaded Egypt. The general brought 167 scientists with him. One of the foundings was the Rosetta Stone which helped them figure out the hieroglyphs in 1822. The scientists discoveries however brought in tomb robbers.
The Assyrians and Sumerians
In the 1840’s Botta was sent to Mosul on the Tigris River. His job was to dig into Nineveh. He found many things, but he didn’t look far enough to find anything truly worth something. 5 years later Austen Layard looked into a city downstream of Nineveh. He found 2 Assyrian buildings. His greatest discovery was in Nineveh though, where he found a royal library.
Troy and Mycenae
Schliemann was determined to prove Homers writing was true. He discovered 7 ancient cities that were stacked on one another. He also claimed his findings came out to more than 8,000 gold artifacts. His findings disappeared during world war 2.
Asia: Scrolls and Shoulder Blades
Sven Hedin was one of the first to explore across central Asia in 1895. Aurel Stein studied Asian languages and traveled a lot. He was one of the first to visit the caves of a thousand buddhas, and he bought 7 cases of scrolls. He smuggled these scrolls to an English museum. While Stein explored Asia, a london based society sent edward morse who found a shell mound near tokyo. This finding caused much interest in the field.
African Phoenicians?
In the 19th century african explorers found proof of ancient life due to painting and shelters they found. Karl Mauch found Zimbabwe ruins in 1871. He claimed he found the long lost place of the biblical queen of sheba. Gertrude Thompson settled in 1920 that Zimbabwe was 8 centuries old and only the work of africans.
Maya Civilization
Stephen’s and Catherwood went to central america in 1839. They struggled through rain forests. This is where they found pyramids. These pyramids covered kilometers of the jungle. Catherwood focused on sketching the findings, while Stephen focused on buying the land which he offered $50 for to the locals. They both tried to document as much as they could about Copán.
Diffusionism: How Did Civilization Spread?
diffusionism is an assumption that many major human inventions originated from a single place or person. It was spread by trade, migration, context, and exploration.
Archaeologists realized they were dealing with complex cultures though. By the1920’s this way of viewing evolution was seen as unrealistic.
Ecological/Evolutionary Approaches
Highly sophisticated ecological and evolutionary theory. Focusing on interactions between old societies and their environments. There are stresses such as: climate change, food sources, population increase, etc. It assumes cultural change from the surrounding environment.
Historical Materialist Approaches
By the late 1800’s researchers were convinced the first Americans had descendants and they were the american Indians. 1879, Hamilton traveled to new mexico to observe Zuñi culture. He stayed for 5 years, and learned about all aspects of their history and culture. In the early 1900’s Pecos used direct historical approach, working backwards from well documented historical levels far into prehistory.
