intro to archaeology Flashcards
define Anthropology
the study of humanity focusing on human diversity and evolution
Anthropology is what 3 things?
Integrative, Holistic and Comparative
what does holistic mean
you view humanity as a whole
what does integrative mean when we talk about anthropology?
a series of component parts that work together
what does comparative mean
considers similarities and differences without making generalizations
Define biological anthropology
the study of humans as biological organisms, emphasis on evolution and variation
what are the 3 subfields of biological anthropology?
primatology, paleoanthropology and forensic anthropology
define primatology
study of living non human primates & their fossils to understand evolution an behaviour
define paleoanthropology
study of human evolution through fossils
define forensic anthropology
specializes in the identification of the human skeleton
what is archaeology?
the study of human past through the analysis of material remains uses scientific method
what are armchair anthropologists?
they draw conclusions without doing their own fieldwork
what did it mean for anthropology when the industrial revolution occurred?
it led to the discovery of more artifacts as prior to that time, they did not dig far below the earth
what do uniformitarianism and catastrophism tell us about the earth?
how it was formed (terrain, water bodies)
define uniformitarianism
physical and chemical processes and forces operating today haven’t changed from the past
define catastrophism
idea that the earth was shaped by natural disasters
early archaeology was what?
more descriptive than explanatory
who developed the 3 age system and what was it based on?
J.C Thomsen; the material of tools
which stage of the 3 age system is the oldest?
the stone age
what are the 3 subsets of the 3 age system?
Stone, Iron and Bronze
what are the 3 subsets of the stone age?
paleolithic, mesolithic and neolithic
which of the stone ages is the oldest?
paleolithic
which of the stone ages is the youngest?
neolithic
the 3 levels of the paleolithic stone age are?
lower, middle, upper
the upper paleolithic stone age is what in comparison to the others?
the newest stage
the lower paleolithic stone age is what in comparison to the others?
the oldest stage
“lithic” means what?
made of rock
Lewis Henry Morgan claimed what?
that all societies had the same order of cultural evolution; barbarians, savages and civilized
what was Morgan’s theory called?
Unilineal Evolution