Chapter 1 Flashcards
artifact
any movable object that has been used, modified, or manufactured by humans; artifacts include stone, bone, and metal tools; beads and other ornaments; pottery; artwork; religious and sacred items
classical archaeology
the branch of archaeology that studies the “classical” civilizations of the Mediterranean, such as Greece and Rome, and the Near East.
antiquarian
Originally, someone who studied antiquities (ancient objects) largely for the sake of the objects themselves–not to understand the people or culture that produced them
midden
refuse deposit resulting from human activities, generally consisting of sediment, food remains such as charred seeds, animal bone, and shell, and discarded artifacts
potsherd
fragment of pottery
stratigraphy
a site’s physical structure produced by the deposition of geological and/or cultural sediments into layers, or strata
culture history
the kind of archaeology practiced mainly in the early to mid-twentieth century; it “explains” differences or changes over time in artifact frequencies by positing the diffusion of ideas between neighboring cultures or the migration of a people who had different mental templates for artifact styles
new archaeology
an approach to archaeology that arose in the 1960s emphasizing the understanding of underlying cultural processes and the use of the scientific method; today’s version of the “new archaeology” is sometimes called processual archaeology
Key Elements of Modern Archaeology
Linked to the larger field of anthropology; interested in the people behind the artifacts
Multidisciplinary, incorporating specialties of the natural and physical sciences
Uses scientific methods, but concerned with communicating results to the public
Concerned with ethics, especially the relationship between archaeology and the descendants of those whose past is studied
