Lecture 2 Central Questions Flashcards
BRIEF REVIEW OF ARCHAEOLOGY
Study of humans in the past through their skeletal remains and material
culture
Archaeology examines changes in human behaviour and culture through
both space and time
Using the laws of superposition, archaeology traces the relative and
absolute ages of artifacts, organic remains, and building constructions
LAWS OF
SUPERPOSITION
younger layers of rock sit atop of old layers
DATING METHODS
Relative dating is the association between layers with the** lower strata being older** than the upper
strata
Absolute dating is a set of
archaeometric methods that produces an approximate date, with a confidence interval(have specifoc numbers)
RELATIVE DATING
Based on the presence of specific species, ceramic styles, tool types, or architectural styles, relative dates we can determine older vs. younger
layers
ABSOLUTE DATING
Carbon-14 dating is the method that estimates the decay of the radioactive isotope C14
Using this method and a calibration curve it provides the basis for absolute dates in most archaeological contexts
from the last 10,000 years
STRATIGRAPHY AND DOMESTICATION
Around 4000BP there is early evidence for the domestication of
cattle and caprines (sheep/goat)
Earlier Pre-Qijia cultural contexts
do not contain cattle and caprines
but there is a dramatic shift related
to elevation of sites in later cultural phases
ARISTOTLE’S HISTORY OF ANIMALS
-
Scala Naturae: Systematic
classification of living things
Graded scale of perfection
Essentialist worldview of immutable species
GREAT CHAIN OF BEING
Hierarchical structure to life
Humans superior to animals
Wild animals superior to domestic animals
Domestic animals superior to plants
Essentialist view of species and social strata
DISTINCTION OF HUMANS & ANIMALS
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
- Plants and animals cannot reason
- Created for human use
Bartholomeus Anglicus (1203 – 1272)
- De proprietatibus rerum (On the Order of Things)
- All animals were created to be used by ‘man’
x deer and cattle for eating;
x horse, donkey, ox for helping;
x monkey, songbird and peacock were for amusement
LINNAEUS (CARL VON LINNÉ)
1707-1778 AD
Devised an immense catalogue of all living things
- Binomial nomenclature (Meleagris gallopavo)
- Nested hierarchy (Kingdom, order, genus, species)
Systema Naturae reflected the divine plan of creation
Species were basically unchanging
GEORGES-LOUIS LECLERC,
COMTE DE BUFFON (1707-88AD)
44 vol Histoire Naturelle
Father of Biogeography
Developed the species concept based on reproductive isolation.
Domestic animals were degenerate, with greatest variability
GEOLOGY AND THE AGE OF THE EARTH
William ‘Strata’ Smith (1769-1839)
- Earth formed of layers with characteristic fossils which progressed through time
Charles Lyell (1797-1875)
- ‘Principles of Geology’ popularized concept of Uniformitarianism
- Earth shaped by slow-moving forces acting over a very long periods of time
EVOLUTION BY NATURAL SELECTION
Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace
- Origin of Species (1859)
Species change over time and space
All organisms share common ancestors
- Shared ancestry explains the similarities of organisms that are
classified together
Evolutionary change is gradual and slow
- long episodes of gradual change in organisms in the fossil record
VARIATION UNDER
DOMESTICATION
Domestic animals and plants vary phenotypically and behaviorally
Domestic plants and animals have changed through time
Change occurs due to selective
breeding by humans to preserve a
valuable (heritable) trait – “artificial
selection”
MENDELIAN GENETICS
Gregor Johann Mendel (1822-1884)
- Augustinian monk, Czech Republic
- Foundation of modern genetics
- Studied segregation of traits in the garden pea beginning in 1854
Principle of Uniformity
- Hereditary factors (alleles) are dominant or recessive and heterozygotes will share the same phenotype
MENDELIAN GENETICS
Law of Segregation
- When gametes form, each pair of
hereditary factors (alleles) segregates
independently of the other pairs.
Law of Independent Assortment
- Traits are inherited independently of
other (i.e. new combinations can arise)
VAVILOV AND
GEOGRAPHIC
ORIGINS
- Determine the geographic distribution of morphological and physiological variation
- Identify regions with maximum diversity
CENTRES AND NON-CENTRES
Domestication may originate in discrete centers or evolve over vast areas without definable centers
NEW SOURCES OF EVIDENCE
Modern domesticates: biosystematic analyses, including genetics, morphology, ecology, geography
Archaeological evidence: archeobotany, palynology, paleobotany, carbon- 14 dating, zooarchaeology, artifact evidence, art, historical sources
Ethnographic evidence: linguistics, oral tradition, techniques of use and cultivation, cultural attitudes, religion, magic, witchcraft
Other sources: geology, hydrology, erosion and siltation patterns, soil analyses, limnology,
