Final Flashcards
Steps After Excavation
- Washing artifacts
- Faunal remains get dry brushed
- Fragile artifacts get preserved as is - Conservation
- Cataloging
Why Classify Artifacts?
- Organizing Data into Manageable Units
- Describing Types
Knowing what the artifacts are - Identifying Relationships between types
- Studying Assemblage Variability in the Archaeological Record
Organizes framework for synthesizing data
How do we Classify Artifacts?
Taxonomy:
System of classifying things
Typology:
System of classification based on construction of types
Searching for patterns
Types of Typology
- Morphological
- Functional
- Temporal
Diagnostic Artifacts
1 version of a temporal type
Definition of Attribute
Any feature of an artifact
Types of Attributes
Formal attributes
- Features such as shape, measurable dimensions and its components
- Defining features of its look
Stylistic attributes
- Surface characteristics of artifacts
Technological attributes
- Raw material characteristics
Technology
Set of techniques and information to process materials into tools
What systems/knowledge has developed that allowed humans to do things (really broad term)
Assemblage
Collection of artifacts of 1/several classes of materials that comes from a defined context such as a site, feature/stratum
Component
Archaeological unit consisting of a stratum or set of strata that are presumed to be culturally homogeneous
Phase
Series of components within a restricted geographical area sharing 1 or more distinctive archaeological types. Spatially and temporally limited
Occupation
assemblage of cultural material resulting from one use of a site by a human group (or a series of very closely spaced uses that are archaeological inseparable)
Why do we Reconstruct Reduction Sequences?
If lithic debitage can be matched with the stage of the reduction sequence in which it was produced, we can reconstruction the spatial organization of tool manufacturing, use and reworking
Stages of Lithic Reduction
- Acquire raw material
- Primary/early stage reduction
1) Core preparation
2) Initial reduction - Secondary reduction
1) Trimming, thinning and shaping
2) Preparation of preforms/tool blanks - Tertiary reduction
1) Final finishing/shaping of tool
2) Resharpening/modification of too
Primary/Early Stage Flakes
Flakes from earliest stages of breaking open raw material and preparing cores
Often 50-100% dorsal cortex
Large in size
Limited dorsal and platform scarring
Secondary Stage Flakes
Shaping and thinning of flakes to create tool blanks
Lots of variation
Medium in size/thickness
Shaping – broad; thinning - long
Platforms still fairly simple, more dorsal scarring (generally)
No cortex
Late/Tertiary Stage Flakes
Final stages of tool production – sharpening and resharpening of stone tools
Small
Multifaceted platform, angled lip
Complex scarring on platform; can be complex on dorsal surface but depends on size
Resharpening flakes have use wear on platform
Lithic Raw Materials
Better understand the knapping process (including acquisition and stone selection), settlement patterns, seasonal migration, cultural contact, trade networks, economics, and ethnicity
The best raw materials for chipped stone tools are fine grained (micro or crypto crystalline)
Identify raw materials through macroscopic and/or microscopic assessment of characteristics such as color, luster, texture, translucency
Obsidian
Extrusive, igneous, fast cooling rock
Volcanic glass
Comes from a number of sources – most common in Alberta are Obsidian Cliff (Wymoning) and Bear Gulch (Idaho), but there are also sources in Oregon (Glass Buttes), British Columbia (Mt. Edziza) and Alaska, among others.
Can be sourced to a specific volcano using XRF analysis
An obsidian flake is sharper than surgical steel
Massive Quartz
Coarsely crystalline quartz silicate
Large grain/crystal size
Fractures along facets
Multiple sources
Secondary alluvial deposits and glacial tills
Quarries in southern BC and Montana
Banff National Park
Knife River Flint
Chert silicate formed when silica replaced organic material in a North Dakota peat deposit 30-60 million years ago
Not actually flint (brown chalcedony)
Can have visible plant microfossils
Distinctive white patina with blueish tinge
Fluoresces faint orange under black light
Quarried from secondary deposits in North Dakota’s Dunn and Mercer counties
Widely used on the Plains
Swan River Chert
Chert silicate which ranges from gray to white and looks like curdled milk
Often heat treated – turns pink
Distinct vugs (irregularly shaped holes) and microfossiol inclusions
Outcrops in Swan River Valley, west-central Manitoba
Secondary deposits in gravels in alluvial and glacial deposits in southern Saskatchewan and Alberta, at least as far west as Medicine Hat
Montana Cherts
Chert silicate
Most are yellow/brown in color with black dendrites/inclusions
Avon and Madison Chert are exceptions – white/grey and creamy
Highly variable – come from a number of quarry sources in Montana, most near Helena (a few further west)
Etherington Chert
Chert silicate
aWhite to light gray, purples, mottled
Blocky, not as fine grained
Nodules in the Livingstone range of southern Alberta
Pebble Chert
Pebble sized chert silicate nodules
All sorts of colors
Outcrops in Alberta (Neutral Hills) and Montana
Also found in secondary alluvial and glacial deposits
Often subject to bipolar reduction
Chalcedony
Silicate composed of quartz and moganite
Translucent/slightly translucent
Many colors
Cryptocrystalline
In secondary deposits all over the place
Petrified Wood
Wood fossilized by replacement of organic material with silica
Cellular structure of the wood often still visible
Clear banding which tends to platy layers
Fractures follow wood grain which produces tabular flakes and stepped terminations
Yellows, browns, dark red
Relatively common in secondary deposits on the Northwestern Plains
Silicified Siltstone
Siltstone with high amounts of silica bound through metamorphosis, which bind the particles together
Larger grain size than cherts - can see individual grains with naked eye or hand lens
Lots of variability, found in secondary deposits all over
There are a few identifiable types (i.e., Banff Chert, which is actually a silicified siltstone)
Porcellanite
Mixture of silty clay and carbonaceous deposits silicified with a large amount of silica
Can occur above and below burned coal seams
Ceramic like
Less hard and dense than chert
Medium to dark grey or red, black
Large outcrops of high-quality porcellanite occur in southern Montana
Quartzite
Metamorphosed sandstone
Individual sand grands are firmly cemented together and clearly visible
Course to very course grained
Commonly used lithic raw material on the North Plains
Lots of variability in color, grain size
Cobbles found in secondary alluvial deposits throughout the Northern Plains
Basic Archaeological Units
Assemblage
Component
Phase
Integrative Units
Horizon
Tradition
Identification of Faunal Remains
Element
Taxonomic Class (Order, Family, Genus Species)
Unidentifiable fragments
Side, sex, bone, unit, completion, etc
Quantification of Faunal Remains
NISP - Number of Identified Specimens
MNI - Minimum Number of Individuals
MNE - Minimum Number of Elements
MAU - Minimum Number of Animal Units
Estimates by strata/feature
Age Determination
Dentition
- tooth eruption and wear
incremental growth lines
Bones
- Fusion of epiphyses
Sex Determination
- Anatomical features or deposits in bones
- Size differences - sexual dimorphism
- Bivariate plots of element dimension
- Statistical procedures
- DNA analyses
How to Determine Seasonality
- Migratory/hibernating habits of species
- Fetal remains
- Growth and development of antlers
- Precise age estimates from tooth eruption
- Growth increments in teeth, bones, horns and otoliths
Why do Archaeologists analyze plant remains?
collection, identification, quantification, season of site occupation, processes of plant domestication, status differences between individuals and households, reconstruct past environments
Seasonal Availability - Food Plants
Spring - greens, shoots, tree bark
Summer - berries, roots, tubers
Fall - nuts, berries, fruits, tubers
Winter - dried fruits, bark
- can also be used for fuel, architecture and medicine
Plant Domestication
Larger grain/seed, reduced branching, loss/limit of seed dispersal, loss of seed dormancy
Bioarchaeologists
Specialize in recovery and analysis of human skeletal remains
human osteology
may design and direct archaeological excavations/work as specialists in collaboration with multiple research projects
Skull Sex Differentiation
5 key traits
1. Nuchal crest
2. Mastoid Process
3. Supraorbital margin
4. Supraorbital ridge
5. Mental eminence
Os Coxae Sex Differentiation
4 Key Traits
1. Ventral arc
2. Subpubic concavity
3. Medial aspect of ischiopubic ramus
4. Greater sciatic notch
Age-at-death Estimation
Juveniles
- relies on development and maturation
Adults
- relies on degeneration
Metabolic Disease
