Module 1 Flashcards
Archeology
The scientific study of human past through traces of the past that exist in the present
Anthropological Subdisciplines
1.) Archeology
2.) Cultural Anthropology
3.) Biological Anthropology
4.) Linguistics
Artifacts
Portable objects used, modified, or made by humans
Features
Non-portable artifacts
Sites
Places where artifacts, ecofacts, and features are found together
Preservation environments
Dry environments; Cold environments; Waterlogged environments
Survey
Process of locating and demarcating archeological sites
Excavation
Structured according to survey
Horizontal Excavation
Reconstructing a specific moment in time (shallow but expansive)
Vertical Excavation
Focuses on sequence of occupation by examining stratigraphy (deep but small are). Highlights change through time
Stratigraphy
The study of rock layers and the sequence of events they reflect
Provenience
Exact 3-dimensional position of a find
Context
A find’s provenience, matrix, and association with other finds
Pleistocene Epoch (2.5 mya - 11,600 BP)
Characterised by ice age (caused increase in brain size) with glacial and interglacial periods and megafauna
Holocene Epoch (11,600 BP - ???)
Characterised by warmer climate, no rising sea levels
Anthropocene Epoch
Humans cause the primary changes to environment
Terraforming
(“Symptom” of Anthropocene) Making physical changes to the Earth
Technofossils
(“Symptom” of Anthropocene) Manmade items that become part of geological layers
Anthroturbation
(“Symptom” of Anthropocene) Digging our large sections of Earth
Boundary Limits
Thresholds that, once surpassed, there is no turning back
Archeological Theory
Perspective through which archeologists interpret data (usually socially/politically motivated)
Archbishop James Ussher
Claimed Earth originated in 4004 BC, and promoted catastrophism
Catastrophism
Theory that states that natural disasters such as floods and volcanic eruptions shaped Earth’s landforms and caused extinction of some species
Antiquarianism
Collecting artifacts without proper archeology perspectives, destroying sites in the process