Module 8- Cognitive Archeology Flashcards
Cognitive archaeology
Attempt to understand past human behaviours motivated by ideas, rather than physical necessity
Supernatural
Culture-specific concepts about existence beyond the living world of the earth, such as deities, spirits, an afterlife, etc.
Belief
Culture-specific ideas about how the cosmos work, the presence of deities, spirits, and so on
Ideology
Culture-specific beliefs about how the cosmos should work and the role of humans, etc., within this
Ascending scale of difficulty
Suggested by Hawkes, the idea that certain aspects of past societies will be more difficult than others to understand through archaeological research
Emic
Insider’s perspective on culture as a participant
Etic
Outsider’s perspective on culture as a non-participant
Human cognition
Ability to think, reason, understand
Cognitive ability
Degree of cognition available to different human ancestors
Analogy
A form of inference by comparison
Analogous reasoning
Using comparisons to understand behaviours, functions of material objects, etc.
Function
The use or purpose of certain material objects within a society
Form
The shape or appearance of certain material objects within a society
Symbol
Object or act, verbal or non-verbal, that (by cultural convention) stands for something else, with which it has no obvious connection
Symbolism
The way in which symbols (verbal or non-verbal) were used by a past society
Uses of symbols
Multitude of different functions of symbols within a society
Expressions of abstract concepts
Using symbols to represent ideas that do not necessarily have any physical form or expression
Cultural grammar and grammatical rules
Culture-specific rules about how symbols are to be employed, when these are considered appropriate and inappropriate, meaningful and not-meaningful, etc.
Ritual and ritual behaviours
The idea that human behaviours directed at the supernatural can effect the outcome of mundane activities on earth (such as gaining assistance in finding good hunting grounds, having an abundant crop yield, etc.).
Ritual as symbolic behaviours
Idea that behaviours themselves can stand for something unrelated, like any other symbol
Burials as symbols
idea that intentional burial of the dead represents abstract concepts (such as an afterlife) or can re-create aspects of the life of the deceased (such as including objects within the burial that are related to their role in life)
Shaman, shamanism, shamanic behaviour
Ritual practitioner who enters an altered state of consciousness as a means of entering the spirit world to intervene with the spirits on behalf of the human community
Priest
Ritual practitioner typically associated with a particular deity or temple to a deity; priests do not enter altered states of consciousness or interact directly with deities
Do shamans exist?
Rhetorical question posed by some anthropologists about whether shamans are real ritual practitioners or simply the creation of other anthropologists
Ecstasy
Literally a state outside of normal
Ecstatic state of consciousness
State of consciousness outside of normal, such as a trance
Spirits, supernatural world
Common belief in beings that are not part of the everyday world
Death and rebirth
Common theme in belief systems and myth – individuals are killed and then reborn, often as something better / more powerful than they were during life
Spirit quest
Quest undertaken by apprentice shamans attempting to find their tutelary (guardian, teacher) animal
Wounded healer
Term used to describe shamans because (1) they heal the sick or wounded and (2) because they have been wounded or sick themselves and survived
Altered state of consciousness
a state outside of normal, such as a trance
Technique of ecstasy
Ritual ways of reaching a state outside of normal
Ritual performance
Undertaking ritual activity, at least in part, for the benefit of an audience
Shamanic flight, soul flight, spirit flight
Concept that shaman travels into the spirit realm by flying / falling / swimming / dancing; different cultures use different names for this concept
Multiple planes of existence
Idea that the cosmos is divided into different levels (3 is the most common), such as the underworld, the living world (of humans) and the sky world
Axis mundi
Link that connects the different planes of existence
Cosmic tree, sacred tree, sacred mountain
Widespread concepts of the physical manifestation of the axis mundi
Moving between worlds
An ability possessed by shamans, but not by average people
Hardships to bring about altered states of consciousness
Behaviours sometimes undertaken by shamans to achieve an ecstatic state; may include prolonged exercise, prolonged periods of fasting, sleep deprivation, etc.
Divination
Ability to predict the future
.
clairvoyance
Ability to communicate with the spirit world
Recovery of lost souls
Ability to intervene with the spirit world to assist those who died and have restless spirits (often causing problems among the living)
Healing
Shamans are capable of assisting the sick or injured back to health
Animism
Belief system underlying shamanism – that spirits inhabit all aspects of the cosmos including animate and inanimate objects
Mental illness
Culturally defined illness, common among people who become shamans
Social outcast
One who does not fit well within society; common for people who become shamans
Magico-religious practitioner
Generic name given to shamans, mediums, witches, etc
Shamanic sacra
The “toolkit” employed by shamans for ritual activity; can also include sacred spaces
Shamans versus priests versus mediums
Different types of magico-religious practitioners. Shamans interact directly with spirit realm; priests do not interact with spirits or deities; mediums are controlled by spirits or deities
Shamanic state of consciousness
Altered state of consciousness experienced by shamans when they will enter the spirit realm
Psychotropic plants
Plants that produce hallucinations and other reactions when injested
Entopotics
Geometric shapes often seen by shamans during altered states of consiousness
Tobacco and nicotine intoxication traits
Tobacco is a common psychotropic plant; nicotine intoxication (overdose of nicotine) results in the loss of colour perception in vision (except for yellow)
Peyote intoxication traits
Vision filled with vivid, dayglow colours, typically lacking greens
Datura intoxication traits
Severe reactions, including violent convulsions, ability to see and speak with the dead, inability to see normally
Rhythmic sounds, noisemakers
Believed to be common methods for inducing altered states of consciousness; noisemakers include drums, bells, whistles
Hallucination
Vision seen only by certain individuals, often induced by psychotropic plant injestion
Liminal state
A state between two phases of being, such as between liquid and solid; usually considered dangerous for people, as outcome is unpredictable
Tutelary animal
Animal that assists shamans, helps them to build relations with spirits, etc.
Guardian spirit
A form of tutelary animal
Shamanic sacra
Physical manifestations of shamanic rituals, the tools used by shamans
Ritual space
Locations where rituals are performed, often believed to have special powers (caves are common)
Portal
“Doorways” or entry ways, sometimes symbolic, sometimes perceived as actual ports of entry into the spirit realm
Triboluminescence
Rocks (such as quartz) that retain energy and will “glow” if rubbed together
Art
Difficult to define, typically explained as the presence of depictions (abstract or naturalistic) or artifacts that have no obvious function in the eyes of archaeologists
Portable art
Artworks that can be easily transported
Etched clamshells from Trinil
Possible examples of art from 500,000+ years ago
Homo erectus
Direct human ancestor dating as early as ~2,000,000 years ago
Bilzingsleben
Site in modern Germany famous for a piece of etched bone, possibly an example of abstract portable art
Blombos Cave
Cave site in South Africa famous for an etched piece of ochre (mineral pigment), possibly an example of abstract portable art
Ochre
Mineral pigment often used in creating paints; can be red, yellow, orange, and similar colours
Entoptics
Geometric images often seen by shamans during a state of trance
Aurignacian culture
Upper Paleolithic culture (archaeologically defined) from western Europe; known for cave paintings and portable artworks
Aurignacian animal carvings
3-D representations of animals, often with entopic-type markings, from Upper Paleolithic Europe
Lion-Man of Hohlenstein–Stadel Cave
3-D carving of a figure that is half-human, half-lion from cave site in Germany
Venus figurine
Generic name given to numerous examples of human figurine; all are female, usually corpulent and large breasted, lacking facial features
Dolni Vestonice
Archaeological site in Czech Republic, famous for portable artworks, including Venus Figures
parietal (wall) art
Non-portable art depicted on walls (often inside caves); earliest examples are painted, but some later examples are etched into the walls
Sulawesi cave art
Early cave art from island SE Asia, dated to ~40,000 years ago
Lascaux
Cave art site in France
Altamira
Cave art site in Spain, famous for depictions of bulls
Chauvet
Cave art site in France, famous for overlapping depictions of the same animal; argued by some to represent early animation
Oil lamps, fire
Only means of bringing artificial light into caves
“Dark areas” with cave paintings
Areas in caves where natural sunlight would never penetrate (due to positioning within the cave), often found with paintings; creation of paintings would require use of artificial light (fire)
Handprints, positive and negative
Common depictions in parietal art. Positive handprints produced by applying paint to the hand and applying the hand to the wall. Negative handprints produced by placing the hand on the wall and blowing paint over the hand; removing the hand leaves a negative print
Transformation
Changing from one form to another
Shapeshifter
Common descriptive name for individual who can transform from one form to another, often from human to animal (and back again)
Animation
Illusion of movement through use of static images
Sympathetic magic
Idea of using rituals to influence outcomes; for example, depicting a successful hunt in a painting will result in a successful hunt in real life
Binary opposition
Concept of opposites at the furthest possible extreme: life-death; dark-light; day-night, etc.
Structuralism
Theoretical framework in anthropology (also linguistics) that attempts to understand the workings of cognition; anthropological structuralism focuses on binary oppositions
Claude Levi-Strauss
French anthropologist who created structuralism
Noam Chomsky
Linguist who explained how the “deep structure” of structuralism (different conceptually from Levi-Strauss) underlies language
Deep structure
Linguistic concept: the underlying though process that – through the application of cultural rules or “grammar” – produces concepts that can be understood by others
Surface structure
“finished product” of the application of grammatical rules to ideas from the “deep structure”
Calendric rituals
Rituals relating to specific times of year, often the solstices and equinoxes
Archaeoastronomy
Study of evidence for a concern with astronomical phenomena in the past, especially seen in architecture
Constellations
Patterns of stars recognized by humans; these vary from culture to culture (although they are largely standardized in modern society)
Alexander Marshack and the lunar calendar bone
Famous bone artifact that appears to depict the different phases of the moon over the span of a lunar month (~29 days)
Göbekli Tepe, the “comet swarm” and the Younger Dryas
Archaeological site in Anatolia; “comet swarm” is a description given to a particular carved stela from Göbekli Tepe, argued by some to depict comets approaching earth. Younger Dryas is the name given to a global cooling phase ~13,000 years ago, possibly brought on by comet impact to the earth (highly controversial)
Stonehenge
Most famous stone circle in Europe
Sarsen Circle
Famous circle of upright stones at Stonehenge; sarsen is a local sandstone
Lintels
Horizontal connecting stones in the Sarsen Circle at Stonehenge
Offerings, caches
Deposits considered to be gifts to the deities; called “caches” by Maya archaeologists
Ritual deposits
Any deposit relating to ritual behaviour
Sacred
The realm of the supernatural, spirits, deities
Profane
The everyday world, realm of humans
Ceremonial trash
Name given to ritual items that have been worn out through use
Sacrificial object
Name given to ritual objects that are deliberately broken as part of ritual
Kratophany
A powerful fear of the sacred
Kratophanous object
Ritual objects that are deliberately destroyed because of stored powers from ritual use; objects too dangerous for the uninitiated to handle due to their ritual powers
Transformation ritual
Ritual that transforms something into something else – liquid to solid, for example
Transformation mask
Mask used in rituals to help people visualize transition from one thing to another. For example, mask may permit the wearer to change from a human to an animal
Maya caches
Deposits that represent the aftermath of ritual or sometimes offerings to the spirit realm
Exterior vs. Interior cache placement
Maya archaeology: primary distinguishing characteristic (or sorting characteristic) for understanding ritual deposits, based on whether a large audience was potentially present to observe the ritual and placement of cache
Stingray spines (stings)
Toxic marine items argued by some Maya specialists to have been used as ritual blood letters
Marine toxins
Venoms and other poisons associated with marine animals; many marine objects from Maya caches had highly toxic venom when they were alive
Tetrodotoxin
Neurotoxin found in certain parts of the pufferfish; injestion by humans can result in death or near-death symptoms
Reanimation
Concept of bringing a dead entity back to life
