Quiz #1 Flashcards
3 subfields of Anthropology (Study of Humans)
1) biological anthropology
2) cultural anthropology
3) Linguistics
the study of the human past through material remains
archeology
how does archaeology differ from history? (2 (MA)
1) Material remains & written ones
2) all levels of society (rich & poor, literate & illiterate)
How do we do archaeology? (4) (SEAI)
1) survey
2) excavation
3) analysis
4) interpretation
archaeological evidence for origins & early cultural development (3) (FRI)
1) fossils
2) rise of homo species
3) interaction with neandrathrals
what impact did domestication have on culture?
rise of complexity
Rise of complexity (8) (SWRTRDWK)
1) statues distinctions
2) warfare & violence
3) religion
4) tribes & chiefdoms
5) rise & fall of states
6) development of government & state religion
7) writing & law
8) kings, armies & conquest
2 types of empires
1) Inca
2) aztec
2 types of archaeological methods (RO)
1) recovery techniques
2) objects of study
challenges of archaeological methods (3) (PGH)
1) preservation (intentional)
2) Geologic & environmental factors (unintentional)
3) human activity (unintentional)
Preservation (2) (PN)
1) processes affect remains
2) needs to be put back together (like a puzzle)
examples of geologic and environmental factors
Earthquakes, wind, rain, erosion
geologic & environmental factors (2) (OA)
1) organic materials can decay
2) artifacts can get washed away and moved
human activity (3) (PFL)
1) people leave or die
2) farming (plows over archaeological sites)
3) looting (intentional)
Types of recovery methods (3) (SED)
1) survey
2) excavation
3) documentation
identifying and mapping physical remains of human activity
survey
how is survey done? (2) (WT)
1) walk around the grounds
2) talking to people in the area
challenges of survey (2) (TV)
1) terrain
2) vegetation (covered by dense foliage with insects)
findings of survey (2) (SR)
1) Site
2) region .
culturally or geographically defined by cluster of sites
region
any loci of past human activity (Ancient City of Or)
site
survey techniques (2) (GR)
1) GPS
2) Remote sensings
Types of remote sensings (2) (AL)
1) aerial photography (planes)
2) lidar (light detection and ranging)
how is aerial photography beneficial during surveying?
because it’s able to see remains that vegetation blocks
Lidar (2) (A3)
1) aerial laser survey
2) 3D topographical map
Example of Lidar
Caracol, Belize (4 days lidar vs. 2 years of foot survey)
advantages of survey (4) (NIS)
1) non-destructive
2) identify relationships (between sites and between sites and landscapes)
3) surface artifacts
exposure of remains via controlled digging
excavation
what is the goal of control?
to reconstruct everything and see how they fit together in space
layers represent activities and deposit (cultural and natural) from different time periods
STRATA
sequence of strata built up in layers
Stratigraphy
in an undisturbed stratigraphic sequence each layer (strata) is younger than the layer beneath
Law of Superposition
problems with the law of superposition? (3) (WMC)
1) wall can be built on top of older strata
2) making sense of what you’re digging during excavation is most challenging
3) controlled
activities at any point in time
grids (horizontal)
single fixed point that all depth points are taken from- how site changed
datum points (vertical)
goal of excavation (3) (IRR)
1) identify strata
2) recover remains
3) reconstruct horizontal (same time) and vertical (throughout time) relationships
excavation techniques (4) (DBSF)
1) digging (axes, trowels, picks)
2) brushing
3) screening (put dirt through screens and find artifacts)
4) flotation(stones will sink and bones and artifacts will float)
excavation strategies
1) horizontal excavation
2) vertical excavation
expose remains from the SAME period
horizontal excavation
expose a sequence from successive time periods
vertical excavation
excavated materials (3) (AFE)
1) artifacts
2) features
3) ecofacts
evidence of human manufacture (large fraction)
artifacts
non-portable cultural items (buildings, monuments, burials)
features
remains of biological organisms (human bones, animals, seeds, wood)
ecofacts
is a mammoth foot bone that was carved into a flute an artifact or ecofact?
an artifact because it was modified
techniques of documentation (4) (NPDD)
1) notes and forms
2) photographs
3) drawings and maps
4) digitization
what is the goal of documentation?
reconstruction of remains in context
the significance of remains interpreted based on where they deposited (provenience) and what they were deposited with (association)
context
types of archaeological method & theory (3)(DAS)
1) dating analysis
2) artifact analysis
3) skeletal analysis
chronology based on stratigraphic sequences. not sure of the actual date
relative dating
a dating technique. relative frequencies through time
seriation
dating contexts & artifacts in calandar years via scientific tests
absolute chronology
what is an example of an absoolute dating technique?
radio carbon dating
measures how long it has been since something organic died. must have once been alive.
radio carbon dating
measurement of the rate of decay of the radioactive (unstable) carbon isotope C14 from dead plant/animal remains
radio active carbon dating
facts about C14 (5) (DOCAA)
1) decays in body
2) once one dies it stops taking in C14
3) continues in body until it is all decayed
4) able to figure out how long it’s been since they stopped taking in C14 (since death) (withing a few hundred years)
5) after 40,000 years all decay is gone
6) doesn’t work on something older than 40,000
counts rings in tree-cross sections. absolute age.
dendrochronology (tree-ring dating)
measures rate of decay of isotope potassium 40 into argon 40
potassium-argon dating
what is potassium-argon dating good for?
fossil contexts
analyzing human remains
skeletal analysis
how is age assessed?
by tooth erruption and bone fusion for individuals under 25 (no matter where you’re from)
what affects assesment of age?
health
what is the best indicator of biological sex (not gender)?
the pelvis
types of artifact analysis (4) (SPEM)
1) stone tools (use wear, source material)
2) pottery (form techniques, designs, clay source)
3) ecofacts (past environments & Diets: pollen, seed etc.)
4) microarcheology
analysis microscopic residue from flotation and soil samples.
microarcheology
what type of artifact analysis radically alters interpretation and what is an example?
microarcheology
Site: Ashkelon, Israel “plaster” was actually decayed plants and fecal material
another example of an artifact analysis that alters interpretation. Lint suggests clay cylinders- loom weights.
flotation
another example of an artifact analysis that alters the interpretation. alter wasn’t for burning incense from pouring libations
soil chemistry
measures the light (stable) elements of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen & sulfur in organic samples to determine composition. (drinking water) (expensive)
stable Isotope analysis
what is stable isotope analysis done on?
animal bone, teeth and hair to determine diet and origins
types of professional archeology & theory (3) (CPP)
1) culture history (oldest)
2) processualism
3) Post Poccesualism
Precursors (2) (AI)
1) age of discovery: 15th and 17th centuries
2) Industrial revolution: late 18th and 19th centuries (western world began to change)
Intellectual developments during this time (3) (OOD)
1) order the living world
2) observe change
3) develop theory about cultural and biological evolution
Charles Lyell (4) (GFSC)
1797-1875
1) Geologist
2) fossils=time markers
3) stone tools and extinct fauna
4) convinced of antiquity of humans
The three age system (3) (SRF)
1) Stone age, bronze age, iron age
2) rooted in technology
3) focus on artifacts
Christian Jurgensen Thompsen (3) (SBI)
1816
1) stone age
2) bronze age
3) iron age
what was a concern when profesisonal archaeology emerged?
methodology
Sir Flinders Petrie (3) (FSS)
1) first to pose standardization
2) stratigraphic excavation
3) seriation (relative dating)
Culture history (4) (CDDM)
1) classifies “culture areas”
2) development over time
3) descriptive
4) material culture (pots=people)
geographic location with lots of remains
“culture areas”
V. Gordon Childe (2) (NU)
1) neolithic revolution
2) urban revolution (remains from middle east and Europe- found key moments)
settled life and beginnings of agriculture
neolithic revolution
cities and complex government
urban revolution
Processualism (3) (NAA)
1) “The New Archaeology”
2) American graduate students (1970) (reject descriptive approach of culture historians)
3) arcehology as a science (hypothesis testing and scientific method)
Lewis Binford (3) (SCE)
1) search for universal laws and process
2) culture = adaption to the environment
3) etic approacch
“objective, outsider’s view of culture” (how cultures worked from an outsider point of view)
etic approach
Post Processualism (5) (1BAAAE)
1) 1980s-1990s
2) Backlash against processualism
3) archaelogical excavation not replicable
4) archeology more like history than science (archaelogical remains in a “text”
5) Emic perspective
the “insiders” view of their own culure
Emic perspective
what is the archaelogical theory today?
anthropologists strive to achieve a balance between the scientific and intepertive
approacches to explain culture
scientific theory
approaches to understand meaning
interpretive theory
what are the cultural characteristics of a human?
complex thought & symbolism
what are the physical characteristics of a human?
large brains, bipedialism
members of human lineage after split with chimpanzee lineage
hominin
evidence of hominin origins (3) (GFT)
1 ) Geologic content (dating)
2) fossil remains
3) tools
what are the characteristics of the cranial capacity?
larger, rounder brain case
what was the volume of the brain on the earliest hominins?
350cc
what is the volume of modern brain?
1300-1400 cc
Characteristics of the human shrinking jaw (SL)
1) smaller canine and molar size
2) less prognathism (stuck forward)
why do humans have a shrinking jaw?
your bigger brain allows to make tools rather than use teeth and teeth get smaller
characteristics of bipedalism (5) (WCFAI)
1) walking upright
2) curved lumbar
3) foreshadowed pelvis
4) angled femurs/fully extendable lower limbs
5) inflexible ankles
where were humans discovered?
in Africa
sahelanthropus and chadensis (3) (EC7)
1) earliest hominin
2) chad
3) 7 million years ago
characteristics of an ape (2) (CL)
1) cranium 350cc
2) long arms = aboreal
characteristics of a human (3) (JSA)
1) jaw
2) small canines
3) angled femur = bipedialism
Ardipithicus ramidus (S4)
1) Site: Aramis, Ethiopia
2) 4.5 million years ago
Australopithecus (5) (ME364)
1) many species of hominin
2) east and south Africa
3) 3.5 million years ago
4) 6 species
5) 450-475 cc
what is an example of australopithecus (5) (LHSF3)
1) Lucy
2) Hadar, Ethiopia
3) 60% complete
4) fully bipedal
5) 3.3 tall, female
another example of austlopithecus (4) (LT3S)
1) Laetoli
2) Tanzania
3) 3.8 million years ago
4) side-by-side foot prints (volcanic erruption)
example of Genus Homo (our ancestors)(4)
1) Homo habilis
2) east and south Africa
3) 2.5-1.6 million years ago
4) more gracile
brain: 500-800cc
what is the earliest form of genus homo?
homo habilis
another example of Genus Homo (4) (HA1B)
1) homo erectus
2) Africa, Asia, Europe
3) 1.9 mya-45,000 mya
4) Brain: 750-1250 cc
what was the first genus homo outside of Africa?
homo erectus
flint- knapping (3) (CFM)
1) core: raw material being struck (rock)
2) flake (material struck from core)
3) Method: “percussion”
what is the earliest tool type
oldowan industry (2.5mya)
archeulian industry (3) (1BH)
1) 1.7mya-200,000
2) bifacial “handaxes” (front and back has been worked)
3) homoerectus
microaraeology at koobi fora (2) (WH)
1) wear pattern and polish
2) high powerscope
results of microarchaeology at koobi fora (4) (AWCS)
1) animal butchery
2) woodworking
3) cutting plants
4) smashing bones for bone marrow
newly discovered hominin. first fossils of this species ever discovered
homo naledi
characteristics of homo naledi (7) (MTTFHLH)
1) mosaic species (a lot of elements of other species in one)
2) teeth were similar to humans but not all the teeth
3) tiny brains but skull was shaped like humans
4) feet were like human (not upper leg)
5) hands similar to humans but not finger tips
6) looks more like a homo erectus than an austrolopithicus
7) haven’t been able to date remains because they were found in loose soil
homo erectus site in Dmanisi, Georgia (4) (1ECT)
1) 1.7- 1.8 mya
2) earliest evidence
3) crania 3 homo erectus
4) tools and animal bones
`homo erectus site in Atapuerca, Spain (3) (8CH)
1) 800,000 years ago
2) cave
3) homo ancestor- transitional? (30 speciman)
what time period are neanderthals from?
Pleistocene (Ice age) (cycles of extreme cold)
where were neanderthals primarily from?
Europe
what did neanderthals evolve from?
initial migration of homo erectus
origins of neanderthals (4) (2GMB)
1) 200,000-30,000 years ago
2) glacial Europe
3) Middle East
4) Brain: 1200-1700ccs
3 theories of neanderthals (3) (OMH)
1) “out of Africa”
2) multiregionalism
3) hybridization
the belief that neanderthals and homosapiens evolve separatly from homo erectus. Neanderthals in Europe and homo sapiens in Africa (knows it’s not accurate)
“Out of Africa” Theory
the belief that neanderthals and homo sapiens both evolve from 1st migration of homo erectus . Gene flow. both contribute to human genome. (logistics: not accurate because homo sapiens evolved from Africa not Europe)
Multiregionalism theory
same theory as “out of Africa” but instead of replacement, interbreeding (today’s theory)
hybridization
characteristics of a neanderthals skull (4) (EOSP)
1) elongated rather than rounded
2) occipital bun
3) sloping forehead
4) prognathic nose and brow
characteristics of a neanderthals body (4) (MSBL)
1) muscular
2) shorter
3) bowed legs
4) large rib cage
differences due to cold weather adaption (2) (LL)
1) larger nostrils for warm air
2) larger rib cage to breath easier cold air/higher altitudes
3) robust withstands cold- bowed legs from support
physical attributes of a neanderthals language ability
Hyoid bone (connects tongue and larynx) (higher on throat than humans)
neanderthals site at Kebara Cave, Israel
skeleton found with intact hyoid bone
controls movement of tongue
hypoglossal canal and nerve
speech articulation gene (DNA)
FoxP2
DNA evidence of neanderthals (2) (EID)
1) extraction and sequencing from skeletal specimans (within in range of modern human variation) (hybridization)
2) interbreeding 85,000-37,000 years ago
3) DNA for skin, hair, disease resistance and lower fertility
what race are neanderthals usually?
white
what hair color is common on neanderthals
red
what was the earliest discovery of neanderthals? (arrival)
Ehringsdorf, Germany 200,000-250,000 years ago
what was the latest discovery of neanderthals? (final replacement)
Mezmais Kaya Cava, Russia 30,000 years ago
retouched flakes used to discover neanderthals
“mousterian” tradition
la cotte de st Brelade, English Channel (3) (O2S)
1) organized hunting site
2) 20 mammoths and Swoolly rhinos
3) stampede
Schunigen, Germany(3) (MWS)
1) mass-kill site
2) wooden spear
3) simple but specialized
what is there a high % of in skeletal studies?
healed trauma (broken bones)
social organization of the occupation of Europe
1) home base sites in caves
what did the home base sites in caves tell us? (4) (SSHB)
1) sheltered
2) succesive occupation
3) hearths/fire
4) burials (first to intentionally bury dead)
(homosapians seemed to learn from them)
what did burials tell us about neanderthals?
1) compassion and possibly concept of after life
characteristics of burials of neanderthals (3) (CPS)
1) child and adult
2) pits, cave ledges and niches
3) sometimes with grave goods
neanderthal site in Shanidar Cave, Iraq (3) (AFE)
1) adult cave burial pit
2) flower pollen (pollen didn’t grow near cave, therefore it was intentional)
3) excavated in the 1970s
neanderthal site in Amud Cave, Israel (2) (CR)
1) child in cave niche
2) redder maxilla (buried with child)
what led people to believe that neanderthals practiced cannibalism
cut marks (defleshing) and percussion marks (marrow extraction)
a north African stone tool industry distinguished by the presence of points with a pronounced tang- a small projection at the base of the point and used to secure the point to a spear or handle.
Aterian
3 major time periods during the Upper Paleolithic (3) (AGM)
1) Aurignacian
2) Gravettian (Solutrean)
3) Magdalenian
what are the 3 major time periods of the upper paleolithic based on?
stone tool technologies
what else is the upper paleolithic referred to as?
the ice age
when did the upper paleolithic occur?
40,000-11,000 years ago
When did the migration of homo sapiens out of Africa occur?
approx 200,000 years ago
when did the Aurignacian occur?
40,000-26,000 years ago
what species co-exist during the Aurignacian period?
Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens
where do homo sapiens migrate from and encounter during the Aurignancian period?
Africa and encounter the neanderthals
when did homo sapiens arive?
36,000 years ago
Homo Sapiens (3) (NDS)
1) Nomadic hunter gatherers
2) diverse tool kit (stone and bone and bladelets)
3) symbolism and art
what did homo sapien jewelery include?
beads (animal teeth, ivory and shell)
evidence of shoes from homo sapiens
1) toe evidence 30,000 ya
weaker toe bones= suppoortive footwear
when were neanderthals present since?
20,000 ya
when was the first interaction in Europe between neanderthals and homo sapiens
36,000 ya
when were the last neanderthals?
30,000 ya
when did the Gravettian period occur?
between 26,000-23,000 ya
what type of species were present ONLY during the Gravettian?
homo sapien
characteristics of the Gravettian period (4) (TVFN)
1) tools= increased hunting
2) venus figurines and cave art
3) formal burials
4) nomadic camps
tools used during the Gravettian (2) (HBBA))
1) hunting points w/ hafting
2) “Burins”= working hides
3) Bow & arrow
4) atlatl
Site: Kostenski, Russia ( Gravettian)
1) semi-subterranean dwellings (mammoth bone/fur)
2) central hearths
3) storage pits
burials during the Gravettian period (2) (MG)
1) multiple individuals
2) grave offerings
child burial with grave good that could possibly represent inherited social status
Site: Sungir, eastern europe
“venus” figurines during the Gravettian period in Europe/Russia
Mobiliary art
stone, bone, ivory clay small in size (4-25cm high) that represent cultural ideas about “gender” (idealized, not realistic)
venus figurines
what do venus figurines mean?
1) Erotica
2) self-portraits
3) great goddess/fertility cult
4) marriage exchanges/ regional groups
when did the Solutrean period occur?
23,000-20,000 ya
what did the solutrean period represent?
regional developments and solutrean points
net-hunting characteristics (solutrean) (small game)
1) net impressions in burned clay
2) faunal analysis= 46% (small game)
3) paleobotanical studies= foraging for roots
when did the Magdalenian period occur?
20,000-11,000 ya
characteristics of the magdelnian (2) (LI)
1) last ice age advance
2) intesification of previous trends
tools during the magdalenian period
1) harpoons (fish enter diet)
2) variety= less chance of stravation
apogee of cave art. 2,000 figures (animal human, abstract) with the color red or black done in painting & engraving. Natural relief for perspective
Site: Lascaux, France
