Lecture 2

Question 1

What is paleoanthropology?

Answer 1

Study of fossilized remains of human ancestors. Focuses on humans and primates, the orders of which humans belong to.

Question 2

What is a fossil?

Answer 2

Preserved remains of a plant or animal that has become mineralized over time.

Question 3

What minerals replace the fossil over time?

Answer 3

Silica and calcium carbonate.

Question 4

Where are the most likely places to have bone matter to fossilize?

Answer 4

Areas with volcanic activity or ground water with high mineral content.

Question 5

What is an unaltered fossil?

Answer 5

Remains preserved without mineralization.

Question 6

What are fossil locales?

Answer 6

Places where fossilized remains of once living organisms are found.

Question 7

What are archaeological sites?

Answer 7

A place where evidence of past human activity is found.

Question 8

What is the Heritage Property Act?

Answer 8

Saskatchewan legislation designed to protect archaeological sites and other heritage resources.

Question 9

What is a site survey?

Answer 9

The process of discovering the location of archaeological sites.

Question 10

What are the techniques for locating sites?

Answer 10

1. Pedestrian Survey
2. Shovel Testing
3. Aerial photography/ Satellite Imaging
4. Geophysical Techniques

Question 11

What is pedestrian survey?

Answer 11

Walk back and forth in spaced lines called transects and look for any evidence of human activity (pottery, house foundations, etc).

Question 12

What are the limitations of a pedestrian survey?

Answer 12

You may not be able to visibly see anything if there is a lot of vegatation or the archaeological material is buried beneath the surface.

Question 13

What is shovel testing?

Answer 13

Test pits that are dug out. They will examine the soil and see if there are any artifacts that are found.

Question 14

What is aerial photography/ satellite imaging?

Answer 14

Allows you to see different earthworks or patterns that aren’t visible from the earths surface.

Question 15

What are nazca lines?

Answer 15

Very large patterns on the earths surface. (e.g. spider shapes, animal shapes).

Question 16

What are some geophysical techniques?

Answer 16

1. Electrical Resistivity
2. Magnetic Resistivity
3. Ground Penetrating Radar

Question 17

What are non-invasive, sub-surface methods?

Answer 17

geophysical techniques.

Question 18

What would geophysical methods reveal?

Answer 18

Garbage dumps, foundations for houses, burial mounds, etc.

Question 19

What are some features that are more likely to be shown on electrical resistivity?

Answer 19

Heavy things like brick walls.

Question 20

What are some features that are more likely to be shown when using magnetic resistivity?

Answer 20

Items like clay (pottery) or fire pits are more likely to be picked up.

Question 21

What are features that are more likely to be shown on ground penetrating radar?

Answer 21

Useful in finding unmarked graves – look up.

Question 22

What is a method that can be used in underwater archaeology?

Answer 22

Side Scan Sonar

Question 23

Who was Sir John Franklin?

Answer 23

A sailor who was looking to map the arctic. Two of his ships (Erebus and HMS Terror) were used, but both were lost in the expedition.

Question 24

What do you need to do when you start the excavation of sites?

Answer 24

1. Establish datum

2. Create a grid

Question 25

What is a datum?

Answer 25

A fixed location catalogue that has all the specimens identified on grid.

Question 26

What is horizontal excavation?

Answer 26

Use to expose remains of a single point in time. E.g. the floor of a longhouse.

Question 27

What is vertical excavation?

Answer 27

Used to expose a sequence of occupation. E.g. any site that has been used repeatedly like a garbage dump.

Question 28

What is stratigraphy?

Answer 28

The study of how different layers of sediments and soils, artifacts and fossils are laid down in successive deposits or strata.

Question 29

What is the law of superposition?

Answer 29

Older layers at an archaeological site are generally deeper or lower than more recent layers.

Question 30

What are material remains found at sites?

Answer 30

1. Artifacts 2. Features 3. Ecofacts

Question 31

What are artifacts?

Answer 31

Portable objects made or altered by humans or human ancestors. E.g. bone tools, pottery, arrow points

Question 32

What are features?

Answer 32

Items made or altered by humans that cannot be removed. E.g. hearths, building foundations, stone circles.

Question 33

What are ecofacts?

Answer 33

Organic materials associated with human activity, but not manufactured by people. E.g. plant remains discarded as food waste, butchered animal remains.

Question 34

What affects how and where materials are deposited at a site?

Answer 34

Environmental and cultural factors (burials, disasters, etc).

Question 35

What are biases in preservation?

Answer 35

Differences in preservation create a bias in what is found on archaeological sites. E.g. bog man (Tollund man) because of acid and lack of oxygen in the soils.

Question 36

What is Taphonomy?

Answer 36

The study of the processes that affect organic remains after death.

Question 37

What is Experimental Archaeology?

Answer 37

Research that attempts to replicate ancient technologies and construction procedures to test hypotheses about past activities. E.g. Pottery burning, tools to use on mammoths

Question 38

How are human and prehuman skeletons analyzed?

Answer 38

Species, sex, age at death, geographic origin, pathology and disease.

Question 39

What is an example in determining the sex of the skeleton?

Answer 39

Physical characteristics such as the angle of the pelvis.

Question 40

What is an example in determining the age of the skeleton?

Answer 40

Tooth eruption and epiphyseal fusion.

Question 41

How can you find the geographic origin of human remains?

Answer 41

Strontium isotope analysis can reveal information about geographic origin and migration patterns.

Question 42

How can you see evidence of malnutrition in the skeleton?

Answer 42

Enamel hypoplasia, Harris Lines

Question 43

What are the two methods in determining the age of artifacts and fossils?

Answer 43

1. Indirect methods | 2. Direct methods

Question 44

What is indirect methods?

Answer 44

Age of a fossil obtained by dating something directly associated with them. Common method is to date stratigraphic layers directly above and below the object.

Question 45

What is direct methods?

Answer 45

Applying the dating techniques to the object themselves. E.g. radiocarbon dating

Question 46

What are the two dating techniques?

Answer 46

1. Relative dating | 2. Absolute dating

Question 47

What is relative dating?

Answer 47

Reveals whether an object is older or younger than another. Placing them in a temporal sequence, but not linked to calendar dates.

Question 48

What is absolute (chronometric) dating?

Answer 48

Provides an actual date with a plus or minus margin or error. E.g. 1000 years +/- 100.

Question 49

What is seriation? (relative dating)

Answer 49

Orders artifacts into series based on their similar attributes. E.g. sites with stone tools are generally older, or see cars driving by based on their style.

Question 50

What is fluorine analysis? (relative dating)

Answer 50

Chemical method. Bones and teeth undergo a slow transformation in chemical composition. The older fossil the higher the fluorine content will be.

Question 51

What is the limitation to fluorine analysis?

Answer 51

You need to have both samples from the same area. E.g. You can't compare from different areas of the country.