Module 6 Flashcards
Isotropic
Uniform in all orientations
Cryptocrystalline
Extremely Fine grained
Knapping or flint knapping
The process of making stone tools
Conchoidal fracture
Shell-shaped fracture
Bulb of percussion
Area of conchoidal fracture produced during stone tool manufacture
Striking platform
Area where a stone tool is impacted during production of flakes
Core
Larger rock that has flakes removed from it for tool production
Flake
Smaller rock removed from a core during tool production
Hammerstone
Stone used to remove flakes from a core or to shape flakes after removal
Soft hammer
Similar to a hammerstone, but made of material softer than the rock core; often made of antler or bone
Reducing firing atmosphere
Limited supply of oxygen during ceramic firing, typically resulting in black and white ceramics
Temper
Non-plastic materials added to clay for ceramic production
reductive technology
Artifact production involves removing materials, with no possibility of replacing these
Additive technology
Artifact production involves adding materials as desired, permitting a finished product of any desired size or shape
Plastic
Materials that can be formed into any desired shape or form
Oxidizing firing atmosphere
Unlimited supply of oxygen during ceramic firing, typically resulting in red and buff or multicolour ceramics
Coiled ceramics
Ceramics produced by coiling a piece of clay into the desired shape (only form of ceramic production in the Americas prior to European contact)
Sherd/Shard
Name given to a fragmentary piece of ceramics (sherd in the Americas; shard in Britain)
censors
Name used in Mesoamerican archaeology for incense burners
Differential use of ceramics
Archaeological analysis of the distribution of ceramics in different contexts
weft
Moving element in weaving (left-to-right portions)
warp
Structural element in weaving (up-and-down portions)
bone cutting
Sawing or otherwise cutting through bone to produce a desired shape
bone grinding
Producing a desired shape in bone by abrading against a rough material like sandstone
tempering
Reheating of quenched iron to decrease brittleness
quenching
rapid water cooling of carburized iron to increase strength (increases brittleness)
carburization
Process of introducing carbon from charcoal fires to iron
steel
Hardened iron produced through use of carbon from charcoal fires
iron
Relatively soft metal
bronze
Alloy of copper and tin
metallurgy
Producing metal artifacts by heating metal to melting point, sometimes combining different metals
tin
Alloyed with copper to produce bronze
copper
Widely used in early metal working, sometimes cold hammered into desired shape
hard metals
Copper, tin, iron
s twist
Cordage produced by twisting to the right
z twist
Cordage produced by twisting to the left
sewn basketry
Another name for coiled basketry
Constituent analysis
Analysis of the composition of artifacts, such as the source of lithic raw materials
form attributes
Attributes (often of artifacts) that are directly related to function
stylistic attributes
Attributes (often of artifacts) that are not directly related to function
symbolic gift giving
Gift exchange with greater concern for the act of exchange than the item exchanged
negative reciprocity
intentional indebtedness
balanced reciprocity
Equal value transactions
positive reciprocity
Exchange with no expectation of indebtedness
Ideology and status, as it relates to trade and exchange
Rare and valuable items used to enhance status, sometimes as sacred / religious icons
Information flow, as it relates to trade and exchange
social function of markets and exchange is to acquire knowledge, rather than materials
Alliance, as it relates to trade and exchange
Balanced positive redistribution strengthens social ties
Social integration, as it relates to trade and exchange
Exchange of items through bargaining
Market exchange
Exchange of items through bargaining
redistribution
Distribution of items through government control
fictive kin groups
Anthropological name for group affiliations not based on blood or marriage (clans, totems, etc.).
big man
Anthropological term (based on ethnographic research) used to describe individuals who accumulate status through material culture over the course of their lives
Hopewell
Archaeologically defined culture known for construction of elaborate earthen mounds, long-distance trade of exotic materials
mound builder
Generic name given to societies in eastern North America who constructed earthen mounds.
interaction sphere
Relatively long-distance interaction, seen archaeologically primarily through ritual behaviours (burials, etc.) and elite (non-essential) items
Mississippian culture
Name given to mound building culture that was still active at the time of European arrival (early 1500s) in southeastern North America
clan
Fictive kin group typically based upon a shared spirit animal; members of a clan may be related by blood, but this is not a necessary requirement
spiro
Large Mississippian mound site in modern Oklahoma, mostly destroyed by looters in the 1930s.
Caddoan Mississippian culture
Western-most extent of Mississippian culture in North America
Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
Widespread distribution of ritual materials and styles in southeastern North America (known as “Southern Cult” or “Buzzard Cult” in early publications)
cahokia
Largest village / city in North America prior to European contact
Archaeological signature of marketplace
Physical and material traits that permit distinguishing market activities in a physical space
Microartifact assemblages
Collections of material remains left behind at a market space because they were too small for the vendors to notice
Transient space
Location on the landscape that can be used for a variety of different purposes
inferred market system
Market system believed to have been employed by a past society
Archaeological signature of economic systems
Means of recognizing different economic systems through material remains left behind
Embedded transaction
Transactions can only occur between individuals with a standing relationship
atomized transaction
Impersonal transaction, assumes no prior relationship of people involved
economic rationality
Assumption underlying capitalist economic theory, that ancient markets would behave like modern markets
market system
Economic system of exchange where prices are determined through bargaining, rather than by a government