Chapter Seven: Dimensions of Archaeology Flashcards
What is conservation? (2)
- conserving the recovered materials
- reconstructing broken pieces
What is cataloging? (2)
- accessioning archaeological materials into a catalog to maintain provenience information
- without an organizational catalog, provenience is lost and the research value of the artifact is greatly reduced
What are space-time systematics?
patterns in archaeological material through time and across space
What is typology? (4)
- systematic arrangement or classification of artifacts into types
- basic unit of analysis is the type or class of artifacts defined by a consistent clustering of attributes
- how you define types is based on the specific context
- classification usually begins in the field with items collected according to large-scale types
What are morphological types? (3)
- based on key observations
- based on a range of variability
- purely descriptive with no function or time ascribed to them
What are temporal types? (2)
- those morphological types that have been assigned a temporal association
- in Plains typology, many sites in the region with points from dated contexts
What are functional types? (2)
- these may or may not have temporal or morphological meaning
- ex: French Middle Paleolithic Period Mousterian scraper typology
What are the two critical characteristics of a solid typology?
- minimize differences within types and maximize differences between types
- objective and explicit
What are two common similarities and differences in a solid typology?
- shape
- size
What are attributes in typology? (3)
- measurable or observable qualities of an object
- ex: length, width, thickness, weight, notched, proximal shoulder angle, etc.
- case study: Great Basin Archaic Period Projectile Point Typology
Describe the attributes of the Cottonwood Triangular projectile points. (2)
- weight: <1 g
- no notching
Describe the attributes of the Desert Side-notched projectile points. (2)
- weight: <1 g
- side-notched
Describe the attributes of the Rosegate Series projectile points. (2)
- weight: 1-2.5 g
- basal-notched or corner-notched
Describe the attributes of the Elko Corner-notched projectile points. (2)
- weight: >2.5 g
- PSA: 110-150 degrees
Describe the attributes of the Gatecliff Contracting Stem projectile points. (2)
- weight: >2.5 g
- PSA: less than or equal to 100 degrees
What role do space-time systematics play in archaeology? (2)
- framework for integrating time and space developed by Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips
- archaeological traditions/cultures represent regional manifestations of particular sets of material culture traits, such as house forms, subsistence strategies, projectile point and ceramic types
What are Archaeological Periods? Provide examples from North America. (5)
- lengths of time when particular sets of material cultural traits were in existence
- Paleoindian
- Archaic
- Woodland
- Mississippi
What are phases? (4)
- blocks of time characterized by one or more distinct, diagnostic artifact types across limited spaces or regions
- assemblages or collection of archaeological materials that come from a defined context, such as a site, feature, or stratum
- component, stratum, or set of strata presumed to be very similar culturally
- a set of components from various sites in a region make a phase