World Archaeology Exam 3 Flashcards
Why are the Poverty Point site and similar Archaic sites indicative of cultural change?
-Increased reliance on Gourds and their seeds over time.
-A shift from hunter/gatherer to one of the first appearances of domesticated crops, pottery, mounds, and social rankings.
Describe Poverty Point
- Set of six concentric earthen ridges that form a large semicircle.
-A ceremonial site where people would come there impermanently to camp around the ridges of the site.
-Located on the flood banks of the Mississippi River.
-Lots of decorated, fist-sized clay balls
What are Poverty Point objects, and how were they used?
-Balls of clay that were painted, shaped, and dried. Most likely used for “stone boiling” which involves placing heated rocks into a water-filled container to heat the liquid to the point where it can be used to cook.
What are the general characteristics of the Woodland and Mississippian traditions?
-Woodland (ca. 1000 BC - 900 AD): Small societies growing local crops. Extensive trade networks and mortuary behavior often centering mound building, demonstrating land ownership.
-Mississippian (ca. 900 AD - Historic period): Large complex societies growing Mesoamerican crops. Common warfare. Hierarchical settlement pattern.
What crops were domesticated in the American Midwest during the Woodland tradition?
-Squash, March Elder, Goosefoot, Sunflower, and Little Barley.
What is the Hopewell culture, and why is it so well known?
-Most known for large extensive burial mound building along the Ohio River valley.
-Larger mounds held grave goods known as Gorgets (circular ornaments usually worn around the neck.)
-Native cultigens became very important. Subsistence included wild plants, seeds, nuts, deer, turkey, and fish.
What is redistribution?
-The accumulation and dispersal of goods through a centralized agency, individual, or institution.
What evidence of trade is there for Hopewell and related cultures?
-Materials and goods like obsidian, sea shells, and other cultural items were found in sites/burials that weren’t native to the area.
How were crops and settlement patterns different between Woodland and Mississippian societies?
-Woodland: Small societies that grew local crops such as squash and a focus on harvesting seeds.
-Mississippian: Hierarchical settlement pattern. Small villages with mound centers that focused on growing Mesoamerican crops like corn.
Know Cahokia, and its major structures.
-Largest single Mississippian center.
-Population around 10,000-50,000.
-Series of mounds represent different Kinship groups. Some competed for prestige, labor, and other resources.
-Monks Mound: The largest platform in the center of the site. Consisted of four platforms with a large public structure and some related smaller structures.
-Mound 72.
Why is Mound 72 important?
-Excavated a series of burials dated between 1050 AD and the early 1100s. There were six burial episodes, each containing at least 261 individuals. Each episode resulted in the expansion of the mound as prior burials were covered over.
Draper
-1450 AD-1500
-Southern Ontario.
-Three spatially discrete areas of occupation: The main palisaded village, a small group of seven houses, and a lone structure.
-Sweat bath: A hut or other space heated by steam that is created by pouring water over hot stones. (the first sauna, basically.)
Moundville
-1100 AD-1300 AD.
-Abundance of non-local materials.
-Southeastern Ceremonial Complex: A network of interaction, exchange, and shared information present over much of the southeastern United States from 1200 AD-1500s. AKA “Southern Cult.”
-Charnel house: A vault or a building where human remains are stored. Usually found in elite residential areas.
What were the prehistoric environments like in the Southwest?
-Low levels of precipitation. Lack of trees and dramatic temperature changes.
-Dry desert climate with numerous mountain ranges.
-Innovations to manage water: irrigation, rainwater-collection pools, check dams, and seepage gardens.
The characteristics and dates for the Anasazi, Mogollon, and Hohokam traditions
-Hohkoam: Lower Sonoran desert of southern Arizona. Occupied Snaketown from 1 AD- 1150 AD. Small communities of ditches, common plazas, and storerooms.
-Mogollon: East-central Arizona and the mountains leading into northwestern New Mexico.
-Anasazi: Four corners region around north Arizona, southwest Colorado, and southeastern Utah. Known for Pueblos and Kivas. Occupied Chacos Canyon from AD 100- AD 1300
What crops were grown in the Southwest?
-Maize, squash, beans, tobacco, cotton.
What are pueblos and kivas, and when do they first appear?
-Pueblo: A stone-masonry complex of adjoining rooms found in the American Southwest. 850 AD.
-Kiva: A semisubterranean ceremonial room found throughout the American Southwest. AD 550- AD 750.
Snaketown
-Occputaon by the Hohokam from 1 AD- 1150 AD. Lower Sonoran desert of southern Arizona.
- Ball pits, platform mounds, and red-on-buff pottery.
-Largest prehistoric irrigation system north of Mexico.
-Craftmanship of ceramic and shell objects.
Chaco Canyon
-Four corners region around north Arizona, southwest Colorado, and southeastern Utah.
-Anasazi occupied Chacos Canyon from AD 100- AD 1300.
-Floodwater Farming: a method of farming that recovers floodwater and diverts it to selected fields to supplement the water supply.
-Supported at least Nine Great Houses, including Pueblo Bonito, of several hundred rooms each, plus hundreds of smaller villages each.
Pueblo Bonito
-Largest and most impressive house in Chaco Canyon.
-Huge D-shaped complex.
-500-1000 people living there during its peak.
-Dated using Dendrochronology.
What different environments lie within Mesoamerica?
-Dry highlands (more desert-like) and coastal, wetter lowlands (jungles.)
What crops were grown within Mesoamerica, and what farming methods were developed?
- They grew corn, beans, squash, chili, avocadoes, and tobacco.
- Slash and Burn Horticulture, irrigation, artificial fields built onto lakes/swamps (chinampas), and terraces in uplands were developed.
Why are such sites as Tierra Largas and San Jose Mogote important?
-Tierra Largas: First evidence of a possible farming town in Mesoamerica.
-San Jose: Depicts propaganda of people getting mutilated. Possible warfare.
Where in Mexico did the Olmec live, and with what sort of environment did they deal with?
-The Olmec lived in the coastal lowlands, where they dealt with a lot of rainfall and hotter conditions
Describe some important Olmec artifact types (such as stone heads)
- The Olmec Lords (Giant stone heads weighing up to 20 tons)
- Jade Mask
- A large arch with a statue in the middle (A gate to the UnderWorld)
