What Is Archaeology? Flashcards
Archaeology
Study of cultures of the past through material remains (artifacts, ecofacts, and features). The goal is the preserve the artifacts, conserve the site, and explain cultural changes
Culture
The social structure created and learned by humans. It consists of burial customs, languages, gender roles, social stratification, oral traditions, human behavior and outcomes, etc.
Diffusion
Transfer of ideas, ideologies, and practices by word of our of example
Invention
Creation of something new or improvement upon an older technology
Migration
Movement of people as a peaceful choice or as the result of a stimuli.
Artifacts
Man made material goods (ex. stone tools, cups, jewelry, pottery, cave paintings)
Ecofacts
Objects from nature that are not modified but are placed in a particular manner (ex. seeds, animal bones)
Features
Man made, nonportable artifacts (ex. burial sites, homes)
Prehistory
History before civilizations became literate. The focus of the study of the past is on human origins
World history
Prehistory with a global perspective (ex. how agriculture was developed independently in many regions of the world)
Grotte de Chauvet
One of the earliest painted caves from the ice age that was painted repeatedly over the years. Images of animals and lifestyle from during the ice age.
Tollund Man
Found preserved in a bog so a lot of information about him could be learned
Otzi
Found preserved by ice in the mountains. He was a hunter (carried bags made of hide and hunting tools), had ritualistic tattoos, had the spearhead that caused his death lodged in his shoulder, and had the blood of 4 different people on him.
Context
Position of an object in time and space. Gives relationship to other artifacts, use of object, and site formation process. Factors to consider are the matrix, provenience, and association
Excavations
Digging to expose what is underground, recording and analyzing artifacts
Scientific Method
Excavations are destructive so a precise plan is necessary before digging. Need hypothesis, initial survey, data collection, and conclusions/publishing results
Hypothesis
Preparing questions about goals based on initial research. How did the people live? Why did their lifestyles change? How did societies develop or collapse?
Data Collection
Looking through previous documents, history and excavation data
Conclusions
Support hypothesis with results and ask further questions. Public results to create a permanent record of data
Dating Methods
Relative and absolute ways to place recovered artifacts in a time frame
Carbon 14
Getting half life from organic objects. Though on a large scale, good for determination of time period, there is a significant margin of error on the smaller time scale
Thermal Luminescence
Used for objects that were exposed to fire. Crystals accumulate electrons at known rate. Heating liberates electrons and creates light. Measuring the light can determine when the crystal was last exposed to heat
Writing
Analyzing written documents
Dendrochronology
Counting tree rings and comparing ring patterns because the ring states vary based on environmental conditions
Potassium Argon Dating
Used to date volcanic ash. Doesn’t use the actual artifacts so their dating is done using the law of association
Stratigraphy
Layers of soil and rocks
Survey
Looking at the site to see if it is possible to dig there. Researching the history to determine how far to dig. Initial look at land before digging
Walk over
Looking for things on the surface visually
Aerial Photography
Taking pictures from the sky of the landscape to observe topography and crop growth patterns
Oblique
Photograph at an angle
Vertical
Photograph from directly above
LIDAR
Satellite imagery that can cut through forestry and recreate structures that are above the surface
Positive Crop Marks
Trench below that may be hard to see but vegetation is raised as a result
Negative Crop Marks
Something prevents the growth of crops
Soil Marks
Underlying deposit shows on the surface
Remote Sensing
Nondestructive way of examining below the surface to determine whether or not to dig
Electric Resistivity
Measures resistivity of the soil. If there is no resistivity, the area is entirely natural. If there is resistivity, no definite conclusions can be made because there may or may not be something unnatural
Ground Penetrating
Finding underground features based on density of deposits
Random Sampling
Placing excavation sites randomly
Systematic Sampling
Evenly spreading out excavation sites to get equal coverage of the location
Targeted Sampling
Sites placed to maximize artifact recovery. Sites determined based on research and prior knowledge
Vertical Excavation
Digging down over a small region in order to exam the stratigraphy. Not about finding artifacts as much. Intended to penetrate to the lowest layer
Horizontal Excavation
Large scale excavation to expose house plans and settlement layouts
Lascaux Caves
Cave paintings found by accident by boys when their dog got trapped in an underground chamber.
Plan View
Aerial view of layout of features
Topographic Mapping
Image of the geography of the land and locations of features. Topography
Profiles
Side view of a site that can describe the stratigraphy and the location of artifacts in the layers
Photodocumenting
Photographs of how the archaeology was done (the weather at the time, the way the site looked)
Provenience Sheets
Records of each layer that preserve the context and track the artifacts that were found. Provides a permanent record for future interpretations of the site
Natural Formation
Unmodified landscape, naturally occurring
Cultural Formation
Environment has been modified with features (burial sites, house formations)
Matrix
Natural material surroundings of the object (soil, gravel, sand)
Provenience
Vertical and horizontal position of the artifact within the matrix
Association
Relationship of artifact to other artifacts
Neolithic
Transformation from nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle to agriculture
Subsistence
How people made a living and survived
Middens
Unfiltered, accumulated discard of cultural materials (garbage)
Single Deposits
Small, shallow deposit, one time discard
Long Term Deposits
Over an indeterminate period of time, law of superposition important. Profiles allow for the layers to be viewed
Disturbances
Something that intrudes upon cultural formation and causes reverse stratigraphy
Deflations
Natural moving of soil that results in reverse stratigraphy
Reverse Stratigraphy
Oldest artifacts end up on top and the newer ones end up on the bottom
Typology
The systematic classification of objects by stylistic and technological attributes. Reflect a culture through design. Can help relate different objects
Law of Superposition
Layers that are higher up are newer than layers that are lower down
Law of Association
Artifacts in the same layer are from the same time period
Seriation
Ordering artifact groups in a relative dating sequence by typologies
Three Age System
Weapons were always made from the most durable materials of the time. Therefore based on weapons, the time periods could be divided into stone, bronze, and iron ages
