Chapter Two: Power Point Flashcards
Define Artifacts.
Objects made and used by past peoples.
Define Ecofacts.
Environmental elements that exhibit traces of human use or activity.
What are Archaeological Sites defined by?
The recovered objects and the physical arrangements of the remains.
Define Taphonomy.
The study of how paleontological remains ended up in a particular place.
What are Features?
Clusters of archaeological material that can be analyzed in our attempt to reconstruct a particular activity or set of behaviours.
What is Primary Refuse?
When the items are used together and deposited together are left exactly where they fell by ancient people.
What is Secondary Refuse?
Deposits where people took their trash to a pile or pit, removing it from the immediate vicinity of their living quarters.
What is Morphology?
Analysis of the form of the object, what it looked like, and the evidence of wear patterns.
What is Sexual Dimorphism?
The fact that most animals exhibit two distinct forms on the basis of sex.
What is the significance of Pollen Rain?
Percentages of the various kinds of pollen from a site can be analyzed to find information about ancient environments.
What is Palynology?
An analysis that provides a vital, direct link, to the plant communities that characterized given places and times.
What can bones of human ancestors tell us?
- How human ancestors walked
- The kinds of climate they were adapted to
- The kind of food they ate
- General level of nutrition
- Diseases and traumas from which they suffered
What three things are bones quickly used to identify?
- Species
- Sex
- Age of Death
When can K/Ar Dating be used?
For early human ancestors.
When can 14C Dating be used?
Within 40 000 years
