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Intro To Archaeology > Ch. 2 -- Probing The Past > Flashcards

Ch. 2 -- Probing The Past Flashcards

1
Q

Hypothesis

A

A proposed explanation for some phenomenon

Must be tested

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2
Q

Sites

A

Places where physical evidence of a past human presence can be recovered

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3
Q

Artifacts

A

Objects made and used by past peoples

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4
Q

Ecofacts

A

Environmental elements that exhibit traces of human use or activity

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5
Q

Taphonomy

A

The study of how paleoanthropological or archaeological remains ended up in a particular place

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6
Q

Features

A

Combination of artifacts and/or ecofacts at a site, reflecting a location where some human activity took place

Nonportable, complex artifacts

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7
Q

Activity areas

A

A place where an activity or group of activities were carried out in the past

Transformed into an archaeological feature by the loss or discard of material items used in the activity that was carried out there

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8
Q

Primary refuse

A

Archaeological artifacts and ecofacts left at the place they were used or produced

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9
Q

Secondary refuse

A

Archaeological artifacts and ecofacts that were removed by the people who made, used, or produced them from the place where they were made, used, or produced, to a designated refuse area or areas

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10
Q

Ejecta

A

All the material thrown out of a volcano during an eruption

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11
Q

Pumice

A

A light and porous volcanic rock

Forms when a glassy molten froth cools and solidifies quickly

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12
Q

Pyroclastic

A

A swiftly flowing mass of ash, molten rock, and gas spewing from an erupting volcano

A “burning avalanche”

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13
Q

Pedestrian survey

A

A systematic walkover of an area in the search for archaeological remains

Useful in search for sites especially in areas where ancient people built structures with durable materials, where natural processes didn’t cover up materials on the ground, or where natural or cultural processes have exposed buried layers on the surface

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14
Q

Test pits

A

A hole or boring into soil in the search for archaeological evidence

In some places is a primary method by which archaeological sites are searched for and by which the spatial distribution of buried materials at a site is first identified

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15
Q

Associations

A

Term relating to the spatial relationships among archaeological artifacts, ecofacts, and features

Objects found in proximity to each other are said to be in association

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16
Q

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR)

A

A noninvasive technique to investigate the subsurface

An electromagnetic pulse is passed through the soil. The pulse encounters objects or differently compacted soil layers and bounces back to a receiver. The signal can be interpreted and imaged, revealing buried walls, earthworks, or other cultural features

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17
Q

Proton magnetometer

A

A noninvasive technique to investigate the subsurface

Measures the strength of the earth’s magnetic field from the surface and detects anomalies or small variations that may result from the presence of buried walls or soil disturbances

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18
Q

Paradigms

A

An overarching perspective, a broad view that underlies a specific discipline

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19
Q

Trace element analysis

A

Determining the geographic source of the materials used by an ancient people through the analysis of small or “trace” concentrations of elements or chemicals in those raw materials

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20
Q

Neutron activation analysis

A

Form of trace element analysis

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21
Q

X-Ray fluorescence

A

A technique for identifying the chemical makeup of a raw material

Each chemical element in the raw material of an artifact gives off a unique set of energies when bombarded with X-Rays.

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22
Q

Experimental replication

A

The process of attempting to authentically re-create ancient artifacts

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23
Q

Morphology

A

The study of form/appearance

An analysis of the shape and form of skeletons or artifacts

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24
Q

Wear patterns

A

Characteristic and diagnostic traces of damage or polish left on stone tools as a result of their use

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25
Q

Osteological comparative collections

A

Bone libraries, where ancient specimens can be compared to known, labeled specimens to help identify the species recovered in excavation

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26
Q

Faunal assemblage

A

The animal bones found at a site and the species represented by those bones

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27
Q

Sexual dimorphism

A

Differences in the form and size of the two sexes

28
Q

Osteological

A

Related to bones

29
Q

Artificial selection

A

The process used in the domestication and refinement of plants and animals whereby human beings select which members of a species will live and produce offspring

Decisions made based on the basis of need or desire concerning the form or behavior of the species

30
Q

Coprolites

A

Fossilized feces, useful in the reconstruction of an ancient animal’s diet

31
Q

Pollen

A

The male gamete in plant sexual reproduction

32
Q

Pollen rain

A

The percentages of the pollen of different plant species that rains down in the spring today

33
Q

Palynology

A

The identification of plants through the remains of their pollen grains (morphology of pollen specific to the species it comes from)

34
Q

Photosynthesis pathways

A

Different specific modes of photosynthesis various plant groups employ in the production of energy from sunlight

35
Q

C3 Pathway

A

The photosynthetic process employed by most trees

Carbon 13 filtered out

36
Q

C4 Pathway

A

The photosynthetic process employed by most grasses and sedges

Carbon 13 is used

37
Q

Isotopes

A

Variety of an element’s atomic form (variable numbers of neutrons)

38
Q

Carbon isotope analysis

A

Analysis of the proportion of Carbon 12 and Carbon 13 in a bone or soil sample

Useful in dietary and environmental reconstruction because different groupings of plants use carbon compounds containing Carbon 12 and Carbon 13 differentially

39
Q

Phytoliths

A

Microscopic, inorganic particles produced by plants (very durable and morphology is species specific)

40
Q

Foraminifera

A

Microorganisms used in the study of ancient environments

By measuring the ratio of Oxygen 16:Oxygen 18 in foraminifera fossils, the amount of the earth’s surface covered in ice at any given point of time can be indirectly determined

41
Q

Deciduous dentition

A

Baby teeth

42
Q

Diaphysis

A

The shaft of a long bone

43
Q

Epiphytes

A

The endcaps of the long bones

44
Q

Epiphyseal fusion

A

The epiphyses of each long bone join to the diaphyses during the process of physical maturation

Degree of epiphyseal fusion exhibited in a juvenile can show approximate age

45
Q

Cranial sutures

A

The places where the different cranial plates come together

46
Q

Pubic symphysis

A

The region where the pubic bones come together

47
Q

Paleopathology

A

The study of ancient disease, trauma, or dietary deficiency

48
Q

Stratigraphy

A

Related to the geological or cultural layer in which something has been found

Stratigraphic layering represents a relative sequence of geological time and/or cultural chronology

49
Q

Radiometric

A

Any dating technique based on the measurement of radioactive decay

50
Q

Absolute (chronometric) date

A

Any date where a year or range of years can be applied to a site or artifact

51
Q

Relative date

A

A date that places a fossil or archaeological site or artifact in a sequence with other specimens, but does not allow for the assignment of an age in terms of years or even a range of years

52
Q

K/Ar dating

A

Potassium/argon dating

53
Q

Argon/argon dating

A

Absolute dating method based on the decay of radioactive potassium to stable argon gas

(An updated and more accurate version of K/Ar dating)

54
Q

Half-life

A

Measurement of the amount of time it takes for half of the radioactive isotope in a given sample to decay into a stable form

55
Q

Radiocarbon dating (carbon dating/14C dating)

A

Radiometric dating technique based on the decay of a radioactive isotope of Carbon (Carbon 14 or radiocarbon)

56
Q

Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dating

A

A variety of radiocarbon dating

Counts the Carbon 14 atoms left in the sample

57
Q

Dendrochronology

A

Tree-ring dating

58
Q

Master sequence

A

The regional pattern of tree-ring width yearly variations

59
Q

Calibration curve

A

Curve resulting from the graphing of dendrochronologically derived dates for an extensive series of tree rings and the Carbon dates determined for each of those same rings

60
Q

Varves

A

Layers of sediment that are deposited annually along lake and ocean shorelines and whose ages can therefore be calculated directly by counting back from the present

61
Q

Luminescence dating

A

Determining the age of an object by releasing as light the energy it has accumulated during its existence

The amount of light it emits in this process is directly proportional to its age

62
Q

Thermoluminescence (TL)

A

A “trapped charge,” radiation damage technique for dating archaeological objects

Energy produced by natural radiation in soil becomes stored in nearby objects

63
Q

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL)

A

Method of luminescence dating in which time-dependent energy stored in an archaeological specimen is released by the application of laser light

64
Q

Paleomagnetic dating

A

Dating method based on the movement of the earth’s magnetic poles

65
Q

Archaeomagnetism

A

Orientation of the earth’s magnetic field can become fixed in relatively recent cultural deposits like the sediments in a canal.

The date of a site can be determined where that orientation points to a location of magnetic north already fixed in space and time along a master curve

Intro To Archaeology (14 decks)

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