Chapter 2 Terminology Flashcards
Antrhopology
The study of all aspects of humankind - biological, cultural, and linguistic; extant and extinct - employing an all-encompassing holistic approach
Adaptive perspective
A research perspective that emphasizes technology, ecology, demography, and economics as key factors in defining human behavior.
Achaeology
The study of the past through the systematic recovery and analysis of material remains
Biological Anthropology
A subdiscipline of anthropology that views humans as biological organisms; also known as physical antropology
Cultural Antropology
A subdiscipline of anthropology that emphasizes nonbiological aspects; the learned social, linguistic, technological and familiar behaviors of humans.
Culture
An integrated system of beliefs, traditions and customs that govern or influence a person’s behavior. Culture is learned, shared by members of a group and based on the ability to think in terms of symbols
Data
Relevant observations made on objects that they serve as the basis for study and discussion
Deconstruction
Efforts to expose the assumptions behind the alleged objective and systematic search for knowledge. A primary tool for postmodernism
Deductive reasoning
Reasoning from theory to predict specific observational or experimental results.
Ecofact
Plant or animal remains found in archaeological site.
Enlightment
A shift in Western philosophy that advocated ideas of linear progress, absolute truth, science, rational planning of ideal social orders, and the standardization of knowledge. It held that rational thought was the key to progress; that science and technology would free people from the oppression of historical traditions of myth, religion, and superstition; and that the control of nature through technology would permit the development of moral and spiritual virtues.
Features
The non portable evidence such as fire hearts, architectural elements, artifact clusters, garbage pits, soil stains and so on.
General systems theory
An effort to describe the properties by which all systems, including human societies, allegedly operated. Popular in processual archaeology in late 1960s and 1970s.
High level theory
Theory that seeks to answer large “why” questions
Hypothesis
A proposition proposed as an explanation of some phenomena
Ideational perspective
The research perspective that defines ideas, symbols and mental structures as driving forces in shaping human behavior.
Inductive reasoning
Working from specific observations to more general hypotheses
Linguistic anthropology
A subdiscipline of anthropology that focuses on human language; its diversity in grammar, syntax and lexicon; its historical development; and its relation to a culture’s perception of the world.
Low-level theory
The observations and interpretations that emerge from hands-on archaeological field and lab work
Paradigm
The overarching(πρωταρχικό) framework, often ustated, for understanding a research problem. It is a researcher’s “culture”.
Participant observatioin
The primary strategy of cultural anthropology in which data are gathered by questioning and observing people while the observer lives in their society.
Postmodernism
A paradigm that rejects grand historical schemes in favor of humanistic approaches that appreciate the multiple voices of history. It seeks to see how colonialism created our vision of the world we occupy today; it eschews science and argues against the existence of objective truth
Postprocessual paradigm
A paradigm that focuses on humanistic approaches and rejects scientific objectivity. It sees archaeology as inherently political and is more concerned with interpreting the past than with testing hypotheses. It sees change as arising largely from interactions between individuals operating within a symbolic and/or competitive system
Potlatch
Among nineteenth century Northwest Coast Native Americans, a ceremony involving the giving away or destruction of property in order to acquire prestige
Processual paradigm
The paradigm that explains social, economic and cultural change as primarily the result of adaptation to material conditions; external conditions (for example, the environment) are assumed to take causal priority over ideational factors in explaining change.
Rockshelter
A common type of archaeological site, consisting of a rock overhang that is deep enough to provide shelter but not deep enough to be called a cave (technically speaking, a cave must have an area of perpetual darkness).
Science
The search for answers through a process that is objective, systematic, logical and predictive, self-critical, and public.
Scientific method
Accepted principles and procedures for the systematic pursuit of secure knowledge. Established scientific procedures involve the following steps: define a relevant problem; establish one or more hypotheses; determine the empirical implications of the hypotheses; collect appropriate data through observation and/or experimentation; compare these data with the expected implications; and revise and/or retest hypotheses as necessary.
Stelae
Stone monuments erected by Maya rulers to record their history in rich images and hieroglyphic symbols. These symbols can be read and dated.
Testability
The degree to which one’s observations and experiments can be reproduced.
Theory
An explanation for observed, empirical phenomena. It is empirical and seeks to explain the relationships between variables; it is an answer to a “why” question.
Trade language
A language that develops among speakers of different languages to permit economic exchanges.
