Test 1 Flashcards
Pseudo-archaeology
the idea that myth, casual, observation or opinion NOT SUPPORTED by evidence is equally valid as dedicated evidence based understanding of the past
public and archaeology
public is interest in the past
pop shows do a poor job of depicting real discovery
archaeology
The scientific and systematic study of human groups and their culture through material remains
-deal with only part of cultures materials
only see what survives long-tern burial (unless preserved)
artifact
any portable object that is made, modified or used by human beings (non portable are hearts, post holes, etc)
ecofact
non-artifactual organic and environmental remains which have cultural relevance (soils, plants, fauna (animals), residues, chemical remains)
CARBONIZATION AIDS PRESERVATION
Archaeological Sites
A distinct spatial clustering
of artifacts, features,
structures, and organic and
environmental remains
-min requirement in AR is 3 artifcats
taphonomy
study of site formation
cultural (humans)
natural (change or preservation, roots, rodents, insects (bioturbation), soil)
matrix
the material
surrounding an archaeological
find
provenience
the position of
the material within a matrix
association
its spatial and
temporal relationship with
other finds
law of superposition
lower soil layers always deposited first
Exception of law of superposition
reversed stratigraphy
Good preservation
extremely wet (castilla elastica in aztec lands)
extremely cold (Otzi, Italian Alps)
older known murder victim
otzi, arrow embedded in left shoulder
skeletal morphology
habitual bipedalism: spine, pelvis, foot, cranial attachment
manual dexterity
cranial capacity
thicker enamel
Laetoli, Tanzania
2-3 bipedial hominin
volcanic ash dates to 3.5 mya
Indirect evidence of evolution
technology: tool use, fire, clothing, modification of environment
culture: social groups, lang, art, abstract
stone should have these qualities
homogeneity
elasticity
isotropic ( no cleavage planes)
highly siliceous
fracture mechanics
conchodial fracture when struck
waves of force travel out
hertzian cone
Heinrich Rudolf Hertz documented the cone shaped fracture patterns in
fine grained materials
Lomekwi
OLDEST, Australopithecine ca. 3.3 mya
Oldowan
2nd oldest ,ca. 2.6-1 mya (homo habilis) hard hammer, cobble and flake tools
Achuelan
3rd oldest ca. 1-.3 mya, homo errectus, soft hammer
1 mill years ago, bifacial tools
mousterian
4th oldest, levallois technique, ca. 200-35 kybp, homo neanderthalensis and sapiens, soft hammer, evidence of hafting
upper palaeolithic to recent
homo sapiens, punch and hammer, pressure flaking, more efficient,
what does flaking show about cognition
Planning
* Anticipating need
* developing cognition & localized
mental-maps
* Small home territories
tool making hands
precision grip, makes tool making and use possible
challenges of first homo habilis model
tools found in dried river bed
kenya
3.3 mill years ago
first tool was not homo
Australopithecus Sediba has tool using hands
The point of these recent challenges is that the species who first used stone tools is far from resolved
expensive tissue hypothesis
large brain takes a lot of energy
comes at expense of energy elsewhere in human bio
levallois technique
conscious effort to conserve material, planning reduction sequence, shows cognitive abilities
lascaux cave france
Walls and ceilings covered by herds of
animal paintings and hunt scenes
-mostly herbivores (Bison, horse, deer,
and cattle)
-deep recesses of the cave have
dangerous animals (lions, bears, and
woolly rhinos)
remote sensing
identifying archaeological features w/o actually visiting the site
aerial photography
simplest form of remonte sensing
multispectral satellite imagery
every grid square contains multiple bands to rep diff wavelengths of the light spectrum
RGB color channels
computers, printers use this to display color
LiDAR
Light Detection and Ranging
lase sends signal to the ground and return signal when it hits object
light travels at constant rate
millions of laser pulses
Watson Brake and Poverty Point
isolated sites (1st)
Adena
Ohio River Valley, Woodland Period
Hopewell
ORV (after adena), focused on burial, rapid expansion of trade, increasing status diff
astronomy, calendrics
Mississippian culture
south E, after hopewell
platfors for temples, rigid social class (divine rank)
Beg. of woodland culture
earliest mounds tend to be burials for important indiv. who ACHIEVE STATUS IN THEIR LIVES
Accretional construction
built stages over time to accomodate relatives of lineage
Ethnographic Example
- Mapuche, South America
(Dillehay 1990) - Renewal ceremony when a
new layer of earth is laid
down over mounds - Opportunity for political action
Shamanic rituals
Leaders coordinating
invitations and feasts
Alliance making - Community Building
- Territorial claims
Neolithic Revolution
Domestication of Plants and Animals
initiated global transition from mobile
hunting-gathering to:
1. Shift to agriculture (food production)
2. Surplus and storage
3. Sedentary villages and towns
4. Changes in social organization
a) Not just kin relations
5. Early development of social inequality
Environmental Changes
- Holocene warming and more
stable - Melting glaciers = more
running water world wide and
CO2 - New climate = new and
widespread habitats for plants - Extinction of Pleistocene
animals - Global populations growing
Domestication of Plants
- Humans take over for other natural
forces in selection - Adapted for human use
- Genetic changes
- More edible grains per stalk
- Larger grains
- Easier to process (husk or hull)
- Needs humans to reproduce (codependence
why did humans shift to plants?
population pressure to develop
CRITICISM: Humans aren’t just
animals reacting to environmental
conditions, humans take more
active role
social uses are overproduction leads to surplus for feasts and ceremonies
CRITICISM: This was used as a
critique of environmental
determinism, but really went too
far, can’t discount the environment
fertile crescent
Abundant wild grasses
* Abundant flowing water,
but source of water far off
* Rivers and floodplains
somewhat circumscribed
domestication of wheat
A Wild wheat
B Easily detached seed
of wild wheat
C Brittle Rachis in wild
wheat, easily detaches
from stalk
D Non-brittle rachis in
domesticated wheat
requires human
intervention to break
from stalk
neolithic A
Initial occupation 10,500-10,000 BC
* Began as hunter-gatherers
* Small round structures, wooden frames
* Using wild wheat and rye
* Thrive disturbed environments (brittle rachis!)
* Makes availability predictable
* Cold snap (younger Dryas) caused aridification and
500-year abandonmen
neolithic B
- Reoccupied ~9,500 BC
- More substantial investment
in housing - Sedentism
- Still wild plant use at first
- Gradually more domesticates
- Sheep
- Emmer
- Rye
- Wheat
- Lentils
- From wild use to
domesticated = ~3000 years
tel in jericho
- A “tel” is a large
mound built
accretionally where
one occupation is
built atop the remains
of a previous one
non residential struct in jericho
City walls (by 8000 BC)
* Defensive?
* Flood protection?
* Original walls abandoned ~7200
BC
ancestor worship
- Burials below house floors
- some headless
- “skull retrieval”
- Lineages (corporate group)
- Collectively own wealth
burials of catalhoyuk
Communal burials
* Skull reburials
* Children with grave goods
* Possibly indicating inherited
status
* Burials within houses not necessarily
biologically related (Larson et al.
2005)
bad year economics
Fear of food shortfall drives human
groups to produce more then they
need
* This results in a surplus of grain
* Storage features or pits in the ground
jihua china
- Medicinal
- More nutritious
than bread! - Feasting
- Recreational
benefits
ritual feasting
Feasting = political
action
* Form social alliances
* Create social debt
* Advertising social
similarities or
differences
* Also social and
economic implications
of preparing alcohol
chicha production
Chicha mass produced for
feasts
* Takes a lot of prep & labor
* Challenge for elite to
coordinate
* Generalized Reciprocity
* Giving a gift
* Or Invitation to a feast
* Vague notions of what should
be given in return
* Delay
* “Competitive generosity”
creates social debt!
* The more debt you are owed,
the more labor and wealth
potential you command
hopewell mounds
Continued focus on burials
* Rapid expansion of trade networks
* Some evidence for intergroup-conflict, but relatively limite
mississippian periods
Mississippian = platforms
for temples, elite
residences
* Difference indicates more
rigid social classes
Institutionalized authority
Divine right to status, wealth,
and rank
costly signaling
Idea that social difference
is established and
maintained by conspicuous
consumption and
ostentatious display
Wasteful from a practical view
dunning krueger
effect occurs when a person’s lack of knowledge and skills in a certain area cause them to overestimate their own competence.
• In all of human history, what percentage of human groups have been agricultural based societies?
95%
