Test 2 Keywords Flashcards
Absolute Dating
Absolute dating provides a computed numerical age in contrast with relative dating which provides only an order of events
Relative Dating
is the science determining the relative order of past events, without necessarily determining their absolute age
Absoute Dating Types
Potassium / Argon Argon / Argon OSL - Optical Radiocarbon Dating Dendrochronology -tree rings
Relative Dating types
Seriation
Cross Dating
Stratigraphy
OSL dating
Optical dating is a method of determining how long ago minerals were last exposed to daylight.
Potassium / Argon dating
is a radiometric dating method used in geochronology and archaeology. It is based on measurement of the product of the radioactive decay of an isotope of potassium (K) into argon (Ar).
Argon / Argon
a radiometric dating method invented to supersede potassium-argon (K/Ar) dating in accuracy. The older method required two samples for dating while the newer method requires only one.
Radiocarbon Dating
a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 (14C) to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years
Dendrochronology
the scientific method of dating based on the analysis of patterns of tree rings, also known as growth rings
Seriation
a relative dating method in which assemblages or artifacts from numerous sites, in the same culture, are placed in chronological order.
Cross Dating
a technique that ensures each individual tree ring is assigned its exact year of formation.
Stratigraphy
a branch of geology which studies rock layers and layering (stratification)
Archeology
the study of human activity in the past, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes
Material Culture
refers to the relationship between artifacts and social relations
Garbology
the study of (mostly modern) refuse and trash
Law of Uniformitarianism
the assumption that the same natural laws and processes that operate in the universe now, have always operated in the universe in the past and apply everywhere in the universe.
Law of Superposition
Sedimentary layers are deposited in a time sequence, with the oldest on the bottom and the youngest on the top.
Artifact
something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest
Ecofact
Strictly, natural materials that have been used by humans, for example the remains of plants and animals that were eaten by a given community.
Feature
some human non-portable activity that generally has a vertical characteristic to it in relation to site stratigraphy. Examples of features are pits, walls, and ditches
Excavation
the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains.
Survey
the method by which archaeologists (often landscape archaeologists) search for archaeological sites and collect information about the location, distribution and organization of past human cultures across a large area
Remote Sensing
he acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object.
Flotation
involves using water to process soil or feature fill to recover tiny artifacts.
Typology
the result of the classification of things according to their physical characteristics
Core
the basic raw material building block for a stone tool.
Flake
A stone fragment removed from a core or from another flake by percussion or pressure, serving as a preform or as a tool or blade itself
Brian Haydens Feasting Model
this theory states that agriculture was the necessary result of ostentatious displays of power. By habitually throwing feasts as a means of exerting dominance, large quantities of food had to be assembled.
Pat McGoverns Beer model
Alcohol driven, As early as 9000 BP finds evidence of brewing on pottery remnants
Fertile Crescent
a crescent-shaped region containing the comparatively moist and fertile land of otherwise arid and semi-arid Western Asia, and the Nile Valley and Nile Delta of northeast Africa.
PPNA
Larger sites
Communal Structures
New Burial Practices—Ancestor worship?
PPNB
Pre-Pottery Neolithic B
Childe’s 10 Trait list
1) Large and dense populations
2) Full-scale specialization of labor/craft specialization
3) Class structured society with ruling elite
4) Cultural solidarity
5) A state-level organization with a bureaucracy and military apparatus and a defined political domain with territorial boundaries
6) Monumental public works (Temples, irrigation systems)
7) Standardized monumental artwork reflecting a shared cultural system
8) Long-distance trade
9) Writing
10) Predictive scientific knowledge
Corporate State
A council of rulers
Network
A king or supreme leader
Wittfogel Irrigation Hypothesis
Wittfogel believed that the development of irrigation works in such areas as Mesopotamia and Egypt led to the use of mass labour, to an organizational hierarchy for coordinating and directing its activities, and to government control for ensuring proper distribution of the water
Carneiro’s Warfare Hypothesis
the constraints of the environment interact with population pressures and warfare to form states
Bryan Hayden’s Aggrandizer Hypothesis
According to Brian Hayden, the game changing factor is surplus. While there must have been “aggrandizer” personalities in egalitarian groups, conditions of scarcity kept their greedier inclinations in check.
Definition of a State
A society characterized by a strong centralized government, socio-economic class divisions, a market economy and large populations. Settlements are substantial and may be classified as cities with formal planning and monumental architecture. States represent the most complicated form of social and political organization so far recognized.
