Exam #1 Flashcards
What is culture history?
late 1800s, early 1900s
It is what happened when, where,
and to what group in the past
How does culture history explain change?
Explains change by diffusion which is the passing of ideas between groups
What is culture history’s goal, method, and epistemology? What was the time it was popular?
late 1800s into early 1900s
Goal: Description
Method: Induction; accumulate info, organize it, and make explanations based on what they find
Epistemology: Commonsensical; good judgement and common sense
What was processual’s goal, method, and epistemology? What was the time it was popular?
mid-1900s
Goal: Explanation; why did something happen? Understand cultural context
Method: Deduction
Epistemology: Modenist (Functionalist)
What was postprocessual’s goal, method, and epistemology? What was the time it was popular?
Late 1900s to present
Goal: Interpretation
Method: Hermeneutic; based on the idea that many complex questions can never be finally resolved by a definitive answer but must be continually reassessed in the light of new understandings. That process is called the hermeneutic circle.
Epistemology: Postmodernist
What is processualism?
New Archeologists who wanted to under-
stand the cultural processes involved in why things happened.
An archaeological approach that seeks to explain the role of cultural processes in human history.
What is postprocessualism?
We’re in a postprocessual era, in which
archaeologists go after a range of topics and approaches.
Any number of interpretive archaeologies that
emerged from a rejection of the scientific, generalizing goals of processual archaeology. Some postprocessual approaches were heavily influenced by postmodern theory
What was Ian Hodder’s intellectual role in postprocessualism?
Hodder emphasized that archaeological interpretations are shaped by the perspective of the researcher, and that meanings are constructed from the evidence, not merely uncovered in an objective manner.
What was Lewis Binford’s intellectual role in processualism?
Archaeology as anthropology. Archaeology as a science; using the scientific method in
What are the three types of history of archaeological thought?
Cultural history, Processual, Postprocessual
How did arguments for cultural history become popular?
Based off of the reputation of the scholar. Their ideas were then taken into consideration becomes of their reputation
What was the Yu et al. reading about?
What are grand narratives?
(From the Wilcox Reading)
Grand narratives are big, simplified explanations of history that try to show a universal pattern of human progress. They often ignore details, individual choices, and cultural diversity, making history seem like it follows a set path rather than being shaped by many factors.
Why did Jared Diamond’s book lead to “vanishing Indian” narratives?
(From Wilcox Reading)
Michael Wilcox critiques Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse for portraying Indigenous societies as doomed by environmental mistakes or external forces, ignoring their resilience. He argues that Diamond downplays colonization’s role, framing Native Americans as passively vanishing rather than actively resisting displacement.
What are artifacts? Provide some examples
Something made or modified by humans
Ex) Stone tools, awl, pottery
What are ecofacts? What are some examples?
Non-artifactual organic and environmental remains which have cultural relevance, e.g. faunal and floral material as well as soils and sediments.
Ex) bones, skull, rock, soil, seeds
What are features? Provide some examples
Human-modified components of a site or landscape. These are immovable.
Ex) hearths, postholes, storage pits
What is a site?
A distinct spatial clustering of artifacts,
features, structures, and organic and environmental remains – the residue of human activity
What are the components of an archaeological context?
Immediate matrix, provenience, association with other finds
What is immediate matrix in terms of an archaeological find’s context?
The material surrounding it, usually some sort of sediment, like gravel, sand, or clay
What is provenience in terms of an archaeological find’s context?
The horizontal and vertical position of an object within the matrix
What is “association with other finds” in terms of an archaeological find’s context?
The location of the object in relation to other objects. It’s occurrence together with other archaeological remains, usually in the same matrix
What affect do formation processes have on archaeological finds?
The processes may affect both the way finds come to be buried and what happens to them after
What are cultural processes? Provide an example.
Involve the deliberate or accidental activities of human beings as they make or use artifacts, build or abandon buildings, destruction of archaeological sites in the present-day, etc.
Ex) Humans found an obsidian deposit, so they used the space to make stone tools
What four major categories are original human behavior often reflected archaeologically?
1) Acquisition
2) Manufacture
3) Use
4) Disposal
What are some examples of deliberate burial of people or objects? (Cultural Processes)
Human burials, grave goods, hoards
What are natural formation processes? Provide an example.
The natural events that determine the burial and survival of the archaeological record
Ex) Pompeii and the ash that covered the city
What is taphonomy?
A term to explain the processes that lead to the preservation (often fossilization) of biological remains (cultural vs noncultural)– the study of formation processes
How do humans today deliberately destroy the archaeological record?
Land drainage, plowing farm land, looting artifacts
Describe the environments that preserve artifacts well.
Dry, frozen, and waterlogged, and caves!
What kinds of materials most commonly survive archaeologically in all environments?
Inorganic materials
Ex) stone tools, fired clay, metal materials (gold, silver and lead)
What is experimental archaeology? Why is it beneficial? Provide an example.
The practice of replicating and investigating past phenomena to test hypotheses and generate new research questions, ultimately producing new data for comparison with the archaeological record.
It can provide valuable information to archaeologists about the impact of cultural and natural processes.
Ex) Man-made bank and ditch were created and different types of artifacts and ecofacts were buried in both areas to test their rates of deterioration
What is the Law of Superposition in stratigraphy?
(From Harris Reading)
In an undisturbed sequence of sedimentary rock layers, the oldest layers are at the bottom and the youngest are at the top
What are some destructive methods of ground surveying?
Subsurface testing, using an auger to dig into the ground, ground excavation units
What are some non-destructive methods of ground surveying?
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR), fluxgate magnetometer, Earth resistance survey, Magnetic instruments
For aerial photographs, what is an oblique image? Why would they be good to use?
An oblique image is taken from the side, at an angle. It is better for pictorial effect and perspective.
For aerial photography, what is a vertical image? Why would they be good to use?
A vertical image is like a plan view, looking straight down. It would be better for making maps and plans.
How does GPR (Ground-Penetrating Radar) work?
- Radio pulses are emitted through the soil which are
reflected back as an “image” based on soil changes or
features that are hit - As the slices go deeper, the Roman walls and plan of
rooms, doors, and corridors appear
What is Fluxgate Gradiometer?
- Part of magnetic survey methods that measure distortions in the Earth’s magnetic field
- Best for detecting fired-clay structures, iron objects, pits, and ditches
What are the two types of aerial survey techniques?
CORONA and LiDAR
What is CORONA?
A type of satellite imagery, like Google Earth
What is 3D LiDAR?
It is a plan view of the landscape but stripped back to uncover what is beneath the trees and other floor covering without having to physically move anything
What are the five main types of mapping techniques?
1) GIS
2) Photogrammetry
3) Aerial photography
4) Theodolites/total stations
5) 3D LiDAR
What is GIS?
- Geographic Information Systems
- GIS combines a databases (ArcGIS) with powerful digital mapping tools (handheld GPS units)
- It helps uncover the layers of the Earth to see what was there
What is photogrammetry?
The excavation process is visualized in a series of
vertical ortho-images show the structure in profile from all four sides that a regular camera would be
unable to capture
What is aerial photography?
Literally just photos that are taken from the air. This can either be done using a drone or a plane. Photos can be taken oblique or vertical.
- Oblique: angled to the side of things
- Vertical: an image that is taken straight down
What is theodolites/total stations?
- Only works for buried things
- “Can date crystalline materials (minerals) buried in the ground that have been fired” (e.g. pottery, baked clay, burnt stone, burnt soil)
What was the project they conducted in the Gonzalez Reading?
Gonzalez and her team were looking at a
What was the reasoning behind low-impact archaeology in the Gonzalez Reading?
The team didn’t want to disrespect the Native peoples who were dead and alive
What was the catch-and-release survey method used in the Gonzalez Reading?
Take the artifacts, test them, take photos, and then return them to their original place
What is the Marxist approach to archaeology?
Class conflicts
What was the Ludlow Massacre case study?
On the morning of April 20, National Guardsmen aligned with the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company attacked the Ludlow Tent Colony to try and break the UMWA strike, killing 21 people (including 11 children) in what became known as the “Ludlow Massacre.”
What are some examples of Marxist approaches in the Wurst reading?
What is a Marxist approach in archaeology?
Marxism describes class conflict- approaching a site looking for evidence of class conflict
Explain dating by association.
What are the two major relative dating techniques?
Typology and seriation
What are attributes?
Ex) Material, shape, decoration, weight, color
What is seriation? Provide an example
What is absolute dating? Can you name a few techniques?
The determination of age with reference to a specific time scale, such as a fixed calendrical system; also referred to as chronometric dating.
What is a core?
A core is any piece of material that has had flakes removed from it. Thus, a core could be used only as a source of sharp flakes
What is the cortex of a rock?
The cortex of a core of flake is the weathered, outer surface of the rock. The amount on a flake helps gauge the stage of manufacture
Which side or end of a flake should the
cortex be found?
Dorsal
Which side or end of a flake should the striking
platform be found?
Proximal
Which side or end of a flake should ripples be found?
Ventral
What is a flake scar?
What are the dorsal and ventral sides of a flake?
Dorsal is the back side of the stone tool, the weathered outside part of the flake or core. The ventral side is the inside of the rock, the part that was never exposed to the sun until it was flaked off the core
What are the proximal and distal sides of a flake?
Proximal is the top and distal is the bottom
Should ripples on a flake look like smiley faces or umbrellas when the flake is right side up?
They should look like smiley faces
Which side or end of a flake should the bulb of percussion be found?
The proximal and ventral side
What are the main components of a flake?
- Striking platform
- Bulb of percussion
- Ripples
- Hatchure lines
What are the main components of a core?
- Cortex
- Flake scar
What is a flake?
A flake is any material removed from
What are the main characteristics of a blade?
- A flake that is twice as long as it is wide
- Has parallel sodes
- Has two ridges on its dorsal side
What are the main characteristics of a biface?
- Has flake removed scars on both surfaces
(a stone artifact that has been flaked on both sides) - Usually irregular in outline and vary in thickness and size
What is a flake scar?
The flake scar is the concave surface left on a core after a flake has been removed from it. It will show the reverse image of the bulb of percussion and may also exhibit ripples
What are the main characteristics of a projectile point?
- Pointed stone tool
- Usually bifacial
- It’s often hafted onto wood to use as a weapon for hunting
What are common types of projectile points? What are the differences between the them?
Common projectile points are arrowheads and spear points
Describe feminist archaeological approaches and their roots
What was the awl case study?
(Praetzellis)
What is androcentrism? What are some examples in archaeology?
What kinds of artifacts can calendar dating be used for?
What kinds of artifacts can tree-ring dating be used for?
What kinds of artifacts can radio-carbon dating be used for?
What kinds of artifacts can potassium-argon dating be used for?
