Chapter 2: The Variety of the Evidence Flashcards
3 Reasons why we study archaeology
- Curiosity
- Protection
- Service
Curiosity
- Why did people domesticate plants and animals?
- How has our relationship with fire changed over time?
- How have gender relations changed over time?
Protection
- archaeological sites are a record of past lives
- destruction of sites by development or other processes (erosion, war) takes away possibility of learning from that record
- if cant protect then excavate and make detailed records
- research questions do NOT drive the work
- BUT – recovered artifacts can be used to address questions in the future
Service
- sites are a record of presence on the land (support claims of long-standing presence on the land by Indigenous peoples globally)
- artifacts and sites connect people to their own past/ancestors (learning identity)
3 Prioritized aspects of sites, artifacts, peoples
- Material
- Scientific
- Observable
Not prioritized aspects of sites, artifacts, peoples
- Spiritual
- Experiential
- Unmeasurable
Oral Tradition
information, memories, and knowledge held in common by a group of people over many generations
Oral History
a method of gathering, preserving and interpreting the voices and memories of people, communities, and participants in past events
Indigenous Archaeology
archeology working with indigenous values, knowledge, practices, ethics, and sensibilities
Traditional Knowledge
skills and practices that are developed, sustained, and passed on from generation to generation within a community
ex. oral traditions of the Wendat say their ancestors were present in the St. Lawrence valley in the 15th century and earlier
Hypothesis Testing
- create a hypothesis (statement)
- find something that can be observed/measured that would be true if your hypothesis is correct
- test whether this is true
- if different then say “not supported by our testing”
ex. Wendat ancestors in Ontario had an on-going, close relationship with the Iroquoian ancestors in the St. Lawrence Valley
Artifacts
portable objects used, modified, or made by humans
Ecofacts
organic and environmental remains not made by humans
ex. animal bones, seeds, wood
Features
non-portable artifacts
ex. potholes, hearths, floors, ditches
Additive Features
ex. midden (garbage heap), burial mounds (Rainy River), tells
Tells
a mound site formed through successive human occupation over a long timespan
Subtractive Features
almost all of these are filled in again so we expect to see different soil in the pit from that around it
ex. ash fire storage pits, root cellar, wells
Transformative Features
- rock art (painting and carving)
- fire on top of the ground resulting in changes in colour, but no difference in soil
Typology
the classification of things according to their physical characteristics
ex. pottery with similar functions or artwork
Attribute
a minimal characteristic of an artifact such that it cannot be further subdivided
ex. form, style, decoration, colour, and raw material
Context
- vital for understanding formation processes
- helps understand how the object got to its location and what happened after it was abandoned
- matrix, provenience, association
ex. broken pottery sherd from an amphora, context 1: on the surface of the desert with many other amphorae sherds and no other artifacts, but near a track
Best Context Preservations
areas with low biological activity
ex. extremely dry or cold, waterlogged (bogs)
Matrix
the material surrounding a find (artifact, ecofact, or feature)
ex. gravel, sand, clay
Provenience
the exact position of a find within the matrix
Association
- a find’s relationship with other finds
- usually in same matrix
Formation Processes
the processes affecting the way in which archaeological materials come to be buried, and their subsequent history afterward
Taphonomy
study of processes that affected the decay of organic materials
Cultural Formation Processes
- include the deliberate or accidental activities of humans
- applies to artifacts and landscapes
Natural Formation Processes
- natural events that lead to both the burial and the survival of the arch record
- what physical, chemical, biological factors contributed to the location and state of the artifacts, features and sites?
ex. volcanic ash covering Pompeii or chewing bones
Experimental Arch
the study of past behavioural processes through experimental reconstruction under controlled scientific conditions
ex. making stone tools, iron smelting
