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Exam 1
Intro to Archaeology
108
Archaeology
Undergraduate 2
09/20/2011

Additional Archaeology Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
Agency Theory
Definition
A theory that emphasizes the interaction between the agency of individuals and social structure 
Term
Anthropology
Definition

Linguistics 

Cultural- living people

Biological- physical differences

Archaeology

Term
Archaeological ethics
Definition
That to some people (relatives usually) the ground they are digging up is extremely sacred and it is offensive and extremely saddening to them how scientists treat it so scientifically. So archaeologists need to have respect for it 
Term
Archaeology Resources Protection Act
Definition
prohibits excavation of sites or removal of artifacts from federal lands without a permit; prohibits sale, etc. of artifacts acquired illegally from federal land; provides penalties for violations
Term
Archaeology
Definition
the scientific study of historic or prehistoric peoples andtheir cultures by analysis of their artifacts, inscriptions,monuments, and other such remains, especially those thathave been excavated.
Term
Artifacts
Definition
Objcects that show traces of human manufacture
Term
Charles Darwin
Definition

Evolution man

natural selection

Term
Charles Lyell
Definition
A big scientist in the geology field. He saw an association between tools produced by humans and remains of animals. Proved that humans lived a long time ago
Term
Cultural Resource Management (CRM)
Definition

Public archaeology carried out with the goal of mitigating the effects of development on archaeological resources

1. Determine if will disturb ground

2. Inventory

3. Assessment 

4. Mitigation

Term
Culture
Definition
learned, non-biological mechanism of adaptation/(physical entity) a human group whose members share common behavioral and material traits
Term
Dating methods (absolute and relative)
Definition

Absolute (a chronology stated in terms of calendar years)

Relative (a chronology that places assemblages in a temporal sequence not directly linked to calendar dates)

Term
Eolith
Definition
A chipped flint nodule that were once thought to have been artifacts...but are now thought to be naturally maded
Term
Edward Taylor
Definition
published a study of archaeology that spohe of the discontent with the culture history approach, wished for a scientific method
Term
Ethnoarchaeology
Definition
Studies of living societies to see how behavior is translated into the archaeological record; more difficult to grounf in the Principle of Uniforitarianism than is the case for Taphonomy and experimental archaeology
Term
Excavation methods
Definition

1. Controlling horizontal and vertical space

a. Essential to modern archaeological excavation

b. Horizontal control achieved by using a grid system

c. Vertcal control achieved through use of the datum point

2. Recovery Methods

a. Screening of soil detects smaller artifacts

b. Wet screening detects evem finer pieces

c. Flotation used to recover botanical material

3. Recording Methods

a. Allow archaeologists to reconstruct the context of archaeological objects after excavation

b. Essential because archaeology is destructive

Term
Feminist or gender archaeology
Definition
An approach that focuses on the way archaeologists study and represent gender and brings attention to gender inequities in the practice of archaeology 
Term
Feature
Definition
non-portable evidence of technology; functionally related, conjoined artifacts (e.g., hearths, architectural elements, artifact clusters, pits, burials, sediment stains)
Term
GIS 
Definition

Geographic Information Systems 

 

1. Software applications that enable archaeologists to bring together different types of spatial data and examine them together

2. Software "layers" information allowing users to look at as few or as many types of information as needed at one time

Term
GPS
Definition
Location on the earth via satellite 
Term
Hudson-meng
Definition

Flustered by ostensibly week analogy-based , inferential arguments about: presence of humans, hunting strategy, group size, butchering practices

 

Questioned by middle-range research (answering how and especially why) that showed, in the context of uniformitarianism, how natural taphonic process could possibly account for site

Term
In situ
Definition
Archaeological material is considered to be in situ when it is found in the place where it was originally deposited 
Term
Infrastructure/structure/superstructure
Definition

Infrastructure: basic elements of human needs: food, shelter, reproduction, and health (How solves MAIN problems)

Structure: behavior that supports choices at the infrastructural level, including family, divison of labor, political organization, factions, education, heirarchies, police and warfare (Hoe decides who does what- main study)

Superstructure: society's value, rules, beliefs, symbols, etc., manifested as religion, art, sports, hobbies, or science, etc. (Foundation)

Term
Intrasite vs. intersite comparison
Definition

Intersite (Comparisons between two or more sites - for example, an analysis comparing the number of houses between sites in a region)

Intrasite (Having to do with contexts within a single site - for example, an analysis comparing the sizes and contents of different houses to try to determine the social structure of a society)

Term
James Hutton
Definition
physician, chemist, and naturalist. Known as the father of modern geology. father of uniformitarianism
Term
James Ussher
Definition
Placed creation at 4004 BC based on biblical passeges
Term
John Frere
Definition
reported on the discovery of an elephant with stone tools (weapons of war). He concluded that the situation in which these weapons were found may tempt us to refer to them to a very remote period indeed, even beyond that of the modern world. It was ignored for 50+ years
Term
Lewis Binford
Definition
He was the catalyst in the New archeaology movement. He thought it should be a science. He emphasized the importance of the middle-range research. Fed bones to hyenas to compare marks on bones
Term
Marxism
Definition

the system of economic and political thought developed by Karl Marx along with Friedrich Engels, especially the doctrine that thes

tate throughout history has been a device for the exploitation of

the masses by a dominant class, that class struggle has been themain agency of historical change, and that the capitalist system,containing from the first the seeds of its own decay, willinevitably, after the period of the dictatorship of the proletariat,be superseded by a socialist order and a classless society.

Term
Middle range theory/research
Definition
Research investigating processes that can be observed in the present and that can serve as a point of reference to test hypothesis about the past
Term
Morphology
Definition
The branch of biology tht deals with how something grows and develops as a whole
Term
National Historic Preservation
Definition
established a process to protect significant archaeological and historical sites from "development" and it created the National Register of Historic Places as a  of significant sites
Term
New archaeology/processual archaeology
Definition
An approach to archaeology based firmly on scientific method and supported by a concerted effort aimed at the development of theory
Term
Palimpsest
Definition

An archaeological site produced by a series of distinct brief occupations

 

a. frequent re-occupation of the same space for the same of different purposes lessens the probability that artifacts and ecofacts are "behaviorally" related

Term
Pedoturbation and its variants
Definition

Rates of sediment deposition and post-depositional disturbance ("natural" and "cultural"), including various types of pedoturbation

1. Floralturbation- soil moves around by plants

2. Faunalturbation- animals move stuff around

3. Cryoturbation- soil freezes then infreezes

4. Agrilliturbation- wet/dry cycles with clay that push artifacts up

5. Graviturbation- due to gravity artifacts sink

Term
Pompeii premise
Definition

L. Binford

 

refers to a usually futile tendency by many archaeologists to search for well preserved site and forego studying the more typical sites

Term
Post-processual archaeology
Definition
A movement, led by British archaeologist Ian Hodder, which argues that archaeologists should emulate historians in interpreting the past
Term
Processual-plus archaeology
Definition

Michelle Hegmon

 

1. Plenty of processual approach/scientific method

2. Coupled with a good dose of postprocessual/humanistic approaches

3. Quick to work with a diversity of stakeholders, including descendents of the people being studied

 

(you involve everyone who was involved)

Term
Provenience and lot
Definition
The precise context in which an object is recovered in an excavation
Term
Qualitative vs. quantitative
Definition
Physical appearance vs. numbers
Term
Remote Sensing
Definition
Getting information about an object without making physical contact, usually reffering to an aerial sensor technology through ex. electromagnetic sensation
Term
Research Design
Definition

1. Logistical preperationd geared to the kinds of sites being sought or identified problems to be studied or hypotheses to be examined/assessed (i.e., pre-field planning); including "Gumshoe" work or gathering background information by talking to knowledable locals

2. Finding/Recording the sites and cultural materials therein (i.e. field survey)

3. Generating data from observations (i.e., processing and analysis)

4. Explaining the data (i.e., "interpretation")

Disseminating the results (aka "presentations" and "publications") 

Term
Stratigraphy
Definition

Refers to the accumulation of strata from geological and anthropogenic deposits

 

Archaeological layers, or strata, only emerge through stratigraphic analysis 

 

Strata- discrete layers in a stratigraphic research

 

 

Term
Subsistence patterns
Definition
refers to the patterns of procuring and processing food
Term
Survey
Definition
An archaeological survey maps the physical remains of human activity
Term
Synchronic vs. diachronic
Definition

Synchronic: studies make comparisons within a single period of time; the goal of synchronic studies is to understand the workings of a society at a given point in time

Diachronic: studies make comparisons between different time periods; the goal of diachronic studies is to understand processes that change through time

Term
Taphonomy
Definition
The study of the processes that affect organic remains after death
Term
The Law of Superposition 
Definition
In an undisturbed depositional sequence, each layer is younger than the layer beneath
Term
The Three Age System
Definition

The Stone Age (Neolithic-polished stone tools) and Paleolothic- humans lived with now extinct animals)

Bronze Age

Iron Age

Term
Thomas Jefferson 
Definition
One of the first archaeologists and led the first digs and sites in America
Term
Types of deposition (alluvial, colluvial, etc)
Definition

Alluvial- loose soil or sediments that get eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water in some form and non-marine setting

Colluvial- sediments that are transported and reshaped by gravity

Fluvial- river sediments

Lacustrine- lake sediments

Glacial Till- glacier sediments

 

Term
Typology
Definition
A list used to draw up an inventory of types of artifacts found by archaeologists in a particular archeaological context
Term
Uniformitarianism
Definition

James Hutton

 

The processes now operating to modify the Earth's surface are the same processes that operate long ago in the geologic past

Term
V. Gordon Childe
Definition

had a near photgraphic memory. 

 

Saw that their were 2 main revolutions. The Neolithic revolution (led to emergence of villages practicing agriculture) the second was the urban revolution (appearance of cities and governments)

 

active Marxist

sure that we needed to focus on the changes in society

Term
Systems Theory
Definition
views society as an interconnected network of interacting elements
Term
Gatecliff Shelter
Definition

prehistoric rock shelter in Nevada where people camped for over 7,000 years. Discovered by David Thomas

 

vertical excavation

Term
Richard Beene site
Definition

The site located near San Antonio, Texas

 

10,000 years of human occupation

Term
Ozette
Definition

plank houses that were covered by a massive landslide

 

in the Olympia Peninsula

Term
Coprolites
Definition
Fossilized animal dung
Term
Type
Definition

major categories of artifacts- usually based on material of manufacture

 

Term
Attribute
Definition
particular characteristics of artifacts; statistical analyses of attributes can be used to learn more about a site
Term
Botanical Remains
Definition
seeds, roots, nuts, leaves, microfossils, the purview of archaeobotany and ethnobotany
Term
Saxon Pope
Definition
Last known American Indian to be raised largely separated from Western culture
Term
Alfred Kroeber
Definition
First professor to head the department of anthropolgy of UC Berkley. And served a big role in the Museam of Anthropology where he was a director
Term
R. Kelly
Definition
does ethnoarchaeology in Madascar to learn about some of the kinds of discard behavior represented in arcaeological context and generating data and identifying patterns by scrutinizing these accounts 
Term
Datum point
Definition
The linchpin for the control of excavation. It serves as a reference point for all depth measurements on a site
Term
Structural archaeology
Definition
Theoretical approach to the analysis of archaeological material based on structuralism, stressing the idea that human actions are guided by beliefs and symbolic concepts that are themselves underpinned by ways of thinking about the world. The basis of such studies is therefore to uncover the structures of thought and to see how these influenced the codes and rules that find expression in material culture. Structural codes denote particular meanings to members of a society—meanings that can change according to the context and associations of their visibility.


Term
Classificatory - historical period
Definition
older...based more on pottery
Term
Classificatory descriptive period
Definition
newer based more on the human experience
Term
Hermeneutics
Definition
A theory of interpretation that stresses the interaction between the presuppositions we bring to a problem and the independent emperical reality of our observations and experiences
Term
Heuristic
Definition
efers to experience-based techniques for problem solving, learning, and discovery. Heuristic methods are used to speed up the process of finding a satisfactory solution, where an exhaustive search is impractical. Examples of this method include using a "rule of thumb", an educated guess, an intuitive judgment, orcommon sense.
Term
Archaeological record
Definition
Term
Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM)
Definition
A grid system whereby and east coordinates provide a location anywhere in the world , precise to 1m
Term
Sampling
Definition
Term
Statistical population
Definition
statistical population is a set of entities concerning which statistical inferences are to be drawn, often based on a random sample taken from the population. For example, if we were interested in generalizations about crows, then we would describe the set of crows that is of interest. Notice that if we choose a population like all crows, we will be limited to observing crows that exist now or will exist in the future. Probably, geography will also constitute a limitation in that our resources for studying crows are also limited.
Term
Ideational vs. adadptive views of culture
Definition
Creating a new idea as opposed to adjusting an old one
Term

NISP

Number of Identifiable Specimens

Definition
Determined by making a chart illustrating the relative frequency of different animal bones found in an area
Term

MNI

Minimum number of Individuals

Definition
Calculated by taking the number of examples of a given bone and dividing by the number of bones of that type which occur in an individual skeleton
Term
Seriation
Definition
the method of comparing the relative frequency of artifact types between contexts - used to create regional relative chronologies
Term
Argon dating
Definition
100,000 to 5 billion years baed on the rate at which potassium decays in argon (volcanic eruptions)
Term
Paleomagnetic dating
Definition
Hundreds to millions of years (When a rock is red hot then the iron particles rearrange themselves to point towards the N. Pole)
Term
Luminescence dating
Definition

thousands of years

(Quartz- when sun shines it absorbs light so see how long it has been buried)

Term
Radiocarbon dating
Definition
14C decays at a steady rate
Term
Dendrochronology
Definition
Tree-ring Dating
Term
Obsidian Hydration dating
Definition
obsidian absorbs water forming a bond that can be measured
Term
Site-specific 
Definition
Searching for a particular site (e.g., Gatecliff rockshelter) or type of site (remains of rock/dry-laid masonry houses)
Term
General reconnaissance
Definition

"spot checking" areas and parts thereof as a means of gathering baseline data on site types and distribution thereof

(look for sites that look similar)

Term
Sample Surveys
Definition
random, systemic, etc. to obtain reliable/"representative" samples of areas too large to cover thoroughly
Term
Intensive survey
Definition
thorough coverage of given tracks from a few to thousands of hectares (2.49 acres)
Term
Aerial/satellite photographs and thermal (TIMS)
Definition

as was done a Chaco Canyon, search for large features-roads, canals, walls, house remains

 

(finding large mounds)

Term
Proton-magnetometer
Definition

magnetic anomalies - is useful for finding burned buildings, hearths, ditches and pits with different magnetic signature

 

(good for finding buurial sites and graves)

Term
Soil resistivity 
Definition
sediment's resistance to electrical current - works best where sediements retain different amounts of water due to variation in compaction (e.g., trodden floors and in-filled pits)
Term
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR)
Definition
strength and speed of radar pulses directed
Term
Vertical Excavations
Definition
especially deep ones - in stratified deposits can yield informative, long-term snap-shots - stills of material culture - from which archaeologists infer cultural change passing time at a given place
Term
Horizontal excavations
Definition
especially expansive one - in well preserved deposits can yield informative short-term snap-shots - stills of material culture - from which archaeologists infer basic behavior at a given time in a given place
Term
Humanistic Approach
Definition

1. In doing so, they search for holistic synthesis of past cultural patterns

2. Their focus is on the role of the individual and the feelings and thoughts of the long dead (i.e., and individual's lived experience)

Term
Low-Level Theory
Definition
involves the observations that emerge from archeaological fieldwork; it is how archeaologists get their data/fatcs
Term
High-level (aka general) theory
Definition
Provides "answers" to larger/broader "why" questions 
Term
Paradigm
Definition

Overarching framework for understanding a research problem or guiding a researcher's path, just as out "culture" tells us what is acceptable and what is not

 

guidlines for high-level theory and research questions

 

guidlines for constructing and testing hypotheses

Term
Post-depostional processes 
Definition

1. can be caused by climate and biological agents

 

2. can move material around the site and distort stratigraphy

Term
Archeaological Record
Definition
documentation of artifacts and other remains, along with their contexts recovered from archaeological sites
Term
Invasive Approaches
Definition

Shovel Tests, power augers, and backhoes

 

Term
Mitigation
Definition
if significant, protect it by avoidence, preservation in place, or excavate a representative sample of the site before it is destroyed by construction
Term
Documentation of  provenience
Definition

Unit- location in horizontal space

 

Lot- location in vertical space

 

Item/Sack- 3-point provenience within a given lot

Term
Formal Analogies
Definition
analogies justified by similarities in the formal attributes of archaeological and ethnographic objects and features
Term
Relational Analalogies
Definition
Analogies justified on the basis of close cultural continuity between the archeaological and ethnographic cases or similarity in general cultural form
Term
kivas and sipapus
Definition
religious structure and pit inside kiva
Term
Experimental Archaeology
Definition
Controlled experiments to replicte the past under different conditions to look for links between human behavior and its archaeological consequences
Term
Lithic tool replication
Definition
a la Don Crabtree's and others' Folsom-point fluting based on the uniformitarianism of tool stone's response to force indicated several ways to flute a point
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