Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

Archaeology 321 > Midterm Exam #1 > Flashcards

Midterm Exam #1 Flashcards

1
Q

Location of the Northern Plains

A

Northern Plains - north of the 44th latitude - northeastern plains and middle Missouri
Northwestern Plains
Palliser’s Triangle/The Palliser Triangle

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Orogeny

A

result of collision of landmasses

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Glaciation

A

as they move it makes/wipes out land

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

Fluvial

A

modern transportation of sediments

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

Aeolian

A

windblown deposits

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Colluvial

A

when things fall down
sediments fall off hill site and collect there

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Great Plains - Climate

A

Continental climate –cold/dry winters, warm dry summers.
Precipitation gradient east to west
Temperature gradient north-south
Mean annual temperature 2ºC in the north, 19ºC in the south
100 frost free days in the north, 200 frost-free days in the south
Gulf of Mexico in the southeast and Rocky mountains in the northwest are important factors

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

The Great Plains - Vegetation

A

shortgrass prairie, tallgrass prairie

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What are The Methods of Studying Climate

A
  1. Local
    - pollen cores
    - macro botanical remains
    lake sediments
    - ostracods, diatoms, midges
    - water chemistry
  2. Global
    - ice cores
    ocean cores
    paleoclimate modeling using general circulation models
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Pollen Cores

A

Key ways to reconstruct environment - regional - bit more specific

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Quantification

A

Presence/absence
Ubiquity indices - U=n/N, where N is total number of samples with remains of species ‘a’
Pollen diagrams - counts of 500 per level

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Quaternary Period

A

The most recent and shortest geoglacial period characterized by significant climate instabilities

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Pleistocene Epoch

A

4 major advances or glacial stages separated by interglacial stages
Glacial stages = Nebraskan, Kansan, Illinoian, Wisconsinan
Interglacial stages = Aftonian, Yarmouth, Sangamon

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Holocene Epoch

A

Where we start to see more continuous warming - No more return to glacial
Start of when we see human navigation in north america

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Wisconsinan

A

most recent glacial advance
Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets
Eustatic sea level change - glaciers coming on land makes sea levels lower

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Inland (Ice Free) Corridor

A

Concept might be wrong
Because place would’ve been inhabitable even if it receded
When glaciers recede we can walk down them - but what would that place look like - is that area a sustainable place to live in?

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

Glacial Lake Calgary

A

formed when laurentide ice sheet drowned the bow river

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

Deglaciation

A

Younger Dryas event - Rapid cooling
Caused glacial lakes to burst
Did get cooler for a while

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

Hypsithermal Interval

A

a semi-formal interval, defined climatically, in Holocene history corresponds to the “Atlantic” biozone

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

Altithermal/Mid-holocene Thermal Maximum/Mid-holocene Climatic Optimum

A

Episode of aridity
Increased temperature, Decreased precipitation
Lowered water tables
Volcanic eruption exasperated the temperatures, huge bloom of ash all over northern western north america - not entirely agreed upon
Causes:
Aridity = increased temperature, decreased precipitation
Tree lines move north and upslope
Expansion of grasslands - especially on the Northern Plains
Decrease in the amount of potable water - increased salinity
Southern Plains considered uninhabitable - Northern Plains marginal

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

Neoglacial

A

Medieval Warm Period
Little Ice Age

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

Late Pleistocene/Holocene Climates

A

Blytt-Sernander Sequences
Glacial
Late Glacial
Late Glacial/Pre–Boreal Transition
Pre–Boreal Climate
Boreal Climate
Atlantic Climate Hypsithermal
Sub–Boreal Climate
Sub–Atlantic Climate
Scandic
Neo–Atlantic Medieval Warm Period
Pacific
Neo–Boreal Little Ice Age

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

Western North America - Early Holocene

A

Climatic instability; Pleistocene megafauna extinction; rising sea levels

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

Western North America - Middle Holocene

A

Transitional; climatic warming; desiccation of areas like Great Basin; higher cycles of rainfall.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

Western North America - Late Holocene

A

Climatic stability; establishment of modern vegetation zones

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

Eastern North America - Early Holocene

A

Environmental warming, deglaciation and colonization by boreal forest tree species; emergence of major waterways/river systems

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
27
Q

Eastern North America - Middle Holocene

A

period of warming/instability; eastward movement of forests; establishment of prairie/forest boundary; sea levels reach modern limits; rising human population levels with diverse range of adaptations

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
28
Q

Eastern North America - Late Holocene

A

Climatic stability; establishment of modern vegetation zones; plant domestication; cooling period during the Little Ice Age

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
29
Q

Categories of Lithics

A
  1. Expedient - made on one off basis
  2. Stone tools
  3. Debitage - waste bits left behind
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
30
Q

Define Architecture

A

Physically standing things
ex. historic structures, sweat lodge frame

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
31
Q

Define Manuports

A

Just rocks, brought by humans but not modified by them
ex. iniskim (ammonite cast), freshwater mussel shell

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
32
Q

Define Cultural Landscapes

A

Trying to move towards a more meaningful description to past groups of people
ex. buffalo jump complex, raw material quarries

33
Q

Precontact Site Types - Stone Features

A

Stone circles/arcs (tipi rings)
Cairns (pile of rocks - 3 or more grouped together)
Stone alignments
Medicine Wheels
Effigies (rock alignments with a discernable form)
Rubstones/Grandfather rocks (rocks that have ribs carved into them)
Undefined platforms

34
Q

Precontact Sites

A

Camps
Processing Areas
Workshops
Kill sites
Pit features
Rock art
Quarries
Vision Quests - for fasting

35
Q

Defining Characteristics of the Plains Culture Area

A

The Plains as a Culture Area and Plains Peoples as Hunter-Gatherers

36
Q

Seriation

A

Typology as chronology
focus on projectile point sequences
archaeological population vs culture/identity

37
Q

Cultural Resource Management

A

Working in industry - engaged in preservation of sites - serving, documenting and mitigating when sites are in danger
Cultural resource management (CRM) archaeology is the survey, documentation and mitigation of archaeological sites where these sites are in conflict or potential conflict with proposed developments
CRM also involves screening of developments to determine potential impacts, and making recommendations based on these impacts

38
Q

Define Historic Resources

A

Archaeological sites (buried artifacts and other evidence that tell us about human life in the past)
Paleontological sites (fossilized plants and animals)
Historic buildings/structures
Aboriginal traditional use sites

39
Q

Mitigative Permits

A

Assess potential impact
On behalf of developer
Most permits in Alberta are this type
Over 99% in Alberta

40
Q

Research Permits

A

Professional researchers (i.e., universities, museums, etc.
Focused on answering specific research questions

41
Q

The Steps

A

Stage 1 Mitigation (Historic Resources Impact Mitigation)
Excavation
Construction Monitoring
Other
Stage 2 and 3 Mitigation

42
Q

Assessing Potential

A

Sites present
Site characteristics
Landforms
Regional context
Degree of previous assessment
Degree of disturbance
Anticipated impacts

43
Q

4 Principles of OCAP

A

Ownership
Control
Access
Possession

44
Q

Origins of New World Peoples

A

Jose do Acosta - spanish missionary - believed indigenous ancestors traveled by foot 2000 years ago (not true) - his theory about their ancestors being asian might be true
High degree of standardization in tools
Expansion of anatomically modern humans into Arctic latitudes about 40,000 years ago
A vast treeless arctic plain broken up by steppe tundra, arid grasslands, rivers, lakes and valleys
Central asia and Siberia characterized by great biodiversity

45
Q

2 major clusters of Pleistocene sites

A
  1. Mal’ta Buret Culture
    Mostly in western Siberia
    Hunting primarily mammoth
    Lifeway focused on exploitation of Pleistocene megafauna
    Tools
    primarily unifacial - associated with modern humans (homo sapiens)
    Bone, ivory and antler tools reflect an adaptation to a steppe tundra environment
    Lithic tool kit comprised of microliths
    Art
    not pictographs
    portable
    many depictions of burials, women and mammoths
  2. Dyuktai Culture
    In Valley - geographically closer to where land bridge will show up
    Strong technological affinities to New World
    Focused on hunting big game
    Tools
    Use of microblades - also seen in northern north America - has distinctive core
    Lithic assemblage is different - bifacial lithic technology
    Focused on production of microblades
    By end of period microblade is spread across northeast asia and north america - and Alaska
    Bifacial lithic technology, focusing on production of microblades truck from prepared cores
46
Q

Solutrean Hypothesis

A

Nobody believes in this anymore
Clovis material looked similar to Solutrean culture - Solutrean people used watercraft to travel from Europe to the Americas
Problem is there’s a 5000 year time gap and colonization of North America would require water craft

47
Q

Bluefish Caves

A

Excavated by Jacques Cinq-Mars
Located in Keele Range, Yukon
Plenty of huge megafauna
Microblades - similar to the ones in Siberia

48
Q

Early Sites in Alaska

A

Broken Mammoth - stratified site, microblades
Mead, Swan Point (Tanana Valley)
Dry Creek Caves - tools similar to Dyuktain culture - microblades and bifaces
Mesa Site
Walker Road
ALL EARLY SITES - no clovis points but there is microblades

49
Q

Early Sites in South America

A

Pedra Furada
series of rock shelters
dates are disputed
Monte Verde
Dates are disputed
Before clovis
How they get there though
Meadowcroft Rockshelter

50
Q

Ice Free Corridor

A

Is a real thing
Came across bering land bridge got stuck in alaska and eventually dispersed
Geologist say its not possible so they must’ve come down before/after ice free corridor
Possible the ice free corridor couldn’t have supported life

51
Q

Coastal Routes into North America

A

Groups moved out of beringian meridian by going the coastal route
Submerged archaeological sites
Lower sea levels
Higher sea levels
Lower sea levels
Impacts where early archaeological sites will be found
Pebble tool and microblade traditions on Northwest coast suggest ties to Northeast Asia

52
Q

Meadowcroft Rockshelter

A

In area that wouldn’t have been glaciated early
Area of US called coal country
Near dissected Pleistocene terrace - 68 m above current stream
Lithics, wood, pottery, bones
Materials from terrace are being pushed in by fluvial deposits
Located in southwestern pennsylvania
Excavated by James Adovasio
Deeply stratified site (5m) with multiple components

53
Q

Problems with Meadowcroft

A

Contamination of lower strata by humic acid (dead carbon)
Possible that Meadowcroft was underwater at time of supposed occupation
Flora and fauna remains suggest more temperate climate than 1 would have expected so close to the ice sheet

54
Q

Topper Site

A

Located on Savannah River in South Carolina
Materials moved down slope
Thermal and physical fracturing

55
Q

Wally’s Beach Site

A

Located in Southwestern Alberta
Evidence that Pleistocene horses were hunted by humans
Clovis site
Animal tracks of megafauna Pleistocene
Site able to excavate while water levels are down
Pleistocene horses with clear tools and butchering marks
Point in time where ice free corridor is either barely open or not open yet
Different species of megafauna north and south of the ice sheets
Southern species - should be the northern species
Clovis people moved north??

56
Q

Underwater Sites

A

Discovery of early Clovis settlements on submerged section of continental shelf
Sites located 9 miles from coast of Florida
Discovery of a suwannee spear point directly ancestral to Clovis

57
Q

Discovery of Clovis

A

Blackwater draw, new mexico is the Type site for Clovis
Best documented evidence of Clovis tool kit discovered in 1930s near Clovis New Mexico

58
Q

Clovis Culture

A

C14 dates from sites like Lehner and Murray Springs are remarkably consistent.
The dry, arid grassland and lakeside environments inhabited by Clovis supported large ice-age herbivores.
A bias towards big game hunting has pervaded Clovis interpretations, due to preservation and archaeological visibility

59
Q

Clovis Technology

A

Tool kit reflects high mobility
Selective use of lithic raw material.
Fluted points are a distinctive feature of Clovis.
Point caches suggest ritual dimension to points (East Wenatchee site)

60
Q

Mammoth Hunting

A

Observations of Mammoth behavior.
Use of coordinated hunting strategies.
Use of strong, reliable tools

60
Q

Clovis Kill Sites

A

Murray Springs Site (Arizona).
Naco Site (Arizona)
Archaeological record seems biased towards kill site

61
Q

Gault Site

A

Texas
Includes Clovis component and mammoth kill
New interpretations of Clovis Culture

61
Q

Clovis Origins

A

Do the origins of Clovis lie in Alaska - north of the ice sheet?
Clovis sites lack microblades, and Alaskan microblade sites lack fluted points.
Cactus Hill - possible transitional site.
This suggests that Clovis technology developed south of the ice sheets, and in the New World

61
Q

Clovis to Folsom

A

Megafauna disappear - unsure why it went extinct but t did go extinct during this time
Bison and antelope survived
Climatic shift to warmer temperatures
Transition occurred quickly

62
Q

Blitzkrieg

A

Over-hunting versus other mechanisms of human-related extinction
Hunted more than they could reproduce so they went extinct
Fast model of extinction

63
Q

Quaternary Extinction Event

A

End of ice age, 33 different megafauna became extinct
Smaller animals hanging on
Big animals don’t really - descendants are probs small nowadays

63
Q

Sitzkrieg

A

Environmental factors and megafauna extinction
Slower extinction of megafauna
Assigning role to human predation and environment cause
Low density population of people in North America during this time = not possible that humans are sole cause of megafauna extinction

64
Q

Later Paleo-Indian Groups on the Plains

A

Shift to warmer climate
The Great Bison Belt of western North America
Bison antiquus occidentalis survives where other large Pleistocene animals had failed.
Plains hunter-gatherers had made the transition from hunting diverse big game species to hunting bison - adapted to the environment
Transition in lifeways to indigenous people
Hunting of different species to just hunting bison

65
Q

Folsom

A

First found on farm in New Mexico
Distinctive fluted points widely distributed across North America - highest frequency on Plains
Harder to manufacture because of flute - have a lot of spurred end scrapers
Goshen Complex possibly transitional between Clovis and Folsom
Mill Iron Site
We have both Folsom and Goshen sites in Alberta, as well as Plainview - all present in Alberta

66
Q

Goshen points

A

There is no dates for goshen layer
Found points below folsom points in fertile soil
Very similar to folsom
Earlier than folsom
Don’t have flute
Found at mill iron site - dates range from Contemporaneous with clovis

67
Q

Plainview points

A

Found to be later than Folsom
Large unfluted lanceolate points
Found in Plainview Texas - kill sites

68
Q

Goshen and Plainview Points

A

Both very similar - morphologically similar
Plainview points are spatially concentrated in north
Goshen is found more in the south
Are the points actually different - is Plainview just an extension of Goshen point
unresolved

69
Q

The Lindenmeier Site, Colorado

A

Oldest Folsom site
Campsite with associated kill site
Seasonally visited by at least two groups - cooperated on bison hunts
High volume and variety of artifacts
variety of bone tools
decorative items include a tubular bone bead and decorated bone pieces
discs perhaps gaming pieces
bluntly and sharply pointed bone tools —punches, flakers, or awls
bone needles (1-2mm wide, to 7cm long), some with eyes

70
Q

Folsom Social Groups

A

Presence of 2 social groups
Consistent difference in point styles
Area II: body and base outline straighter
Oblique non-overlapping lateral flaking
Longitudinal flaking on the channel flake
both sources are equidistant (550km) from the site
expansive annual ranges; down the line trade; individual walkabout; long distance rangers; logistical task group; rendezvous centers
Area I obsidian points – source = central New Mexico
Area II obsidian points – source = Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming

71
Q

Lindenmeier - Redefining Folsom

A

People resided in 1 place for a long period of time
People traveled long distances
People had the time and inclination to create decorative items
People cooperate and interact socially

72
Q

The Hanson Site

A

Folsom site in Wyoming
Remains of several circular “lodge-like” structures identified
Wide variety of animal remains

73
Q

Cooper Site, Oklahoma - Ritual

A

Ceremonial site?
Along beaver river
More recent sites
Is a kill site
3 main sites
Projectile points and knives found
Bison skull had red ochre on it - oldest known painted object in North America

74
Q

Differences Between Clovis and Folsom

A

Clovis
Larger point, shorter flute
Biface and blade reduction
Less diverse toolkit
Caches common
Raw materials from different sources
Natural traps - bogs, marshes crossings
single/small herds
No reuse of kill sites
Large animal ranges but no defined territories
Smaller number of points
Folsom
Smaller point larger flute
Biface reduction
More diverse toolkit
No caches yet
Raw materials from different sources
Natural traps - arroyos, sand dunes, steep cliffs, snow banks
Small herds
Limited reuse of kill sites
Large annual ranges but no defined territories
Larger number of points

Archaeology 321 (2 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions