Details Title: Near Eastern Archaeology Description: Midterm!! Total Flash Cards: 80 Created: 03/02/2009 10:27:08		New Users: To study from this flashcard set, or to create your own your own study flash cards, REGISTER HERE. Existing Users: CLICK HERE. Additional Archaeology Flashcards
Cards in this set: Term Culture history Definition standard interpretations and conventional wisdom Term Paleolithic Definition -relationships between Neanderthals and modern humans -chipped stone tools -in NE, during last glaciation, Levant occupied by hunters and foragers                 -mobile, lived in camps                 -diet based on “broad spectrum” of plants and animals                 -preadaptations to agriculture (storage facilities like pits, ground stone tools) -type site: Ohalo II Term Mesolithic Definition later addition into Three Age System for Middle East -Holocene foragers -includes Natufian culture Term Neolithic Definition -Middle East is one of first places where people began to select and care for plants and animals, leading to domestication -neolithization -sedentism -sites bigger than Natufian -use of mud-brick, absent from Natufian culture -first blades (specialized product, length 2x width) -abundant fire-cracked rocks -silos -specification of gender in human depiction for first time                 -emerging role of women                 -predecessor to mother-goddess -continued to gather/hunt                 -broad-spectrum subsistence like Natufians -long-distance exchange (obsidian) Term Neolithization Definition domestication, occurs at different rates in different places Term Architecture Definition -traditional indicator of sedentism -earliest constructed dwellings: semi-subterranean, single-room, round abodes, walls of poles and reed -PPNA: houses are freestanding structures, round or oval, often semi-subterranean, mostly single rooms, but one 2-roomed structure at Netiv Hagdud, long axes 4-6 m                 -generally stone foundations, superstructure of mud-bricks, stone slabs, and small stones in mud -internal hearths, mud plaster floors, reed mats on floors, some exterior hearths                 -internal partitioning at Jericho, Mureybit, Netiv Hagdud -PPNB: mudbrick houses, multi-room, rectangular, for extended families -Ubaid: tripartite houses with long central hall and smaller rooms to sides -can be used in cross-dating (not too common) Term PPNA Definition 9500-8500 BC, from Jordan to Euphrates -crop cultivation (earliest evidence for plant domestication), gathering, hunting, no animal domestication                 -ate barley, wheat, lentils, legumes, wild plants inc. fruits                 -gazelle, wild ass, capra-ovines, deer, boar (in Jordan) -first clay figurines, both female and male but few anthropomorphic figurines, no zoomorphic figurines -focus on female monotheism -small and large stone sculptures to north, associated with special purpose buildings with human and animal images—regional centers for ritual? (ex: Jericho tower) -all settlements at low elevations, close to perennial water source                 -in Mediterranean zone, close to source of wood                 -often on or near renewed alluvial soil -houses are freestanding structures, round or oval, often semi-subterranean, mostly single rooms, but one 2-roomed structure at Netiv Hagdud, long axes 4-6 m                 -generally stone foundations, superstructure of mud-bricks, stone slabs, and small stones in mud -internal hearths, mud plaster floors, reed mats on floors, some exterior hearths                 -internal partitioning at Jericho, Mureybit, Netiv Hagdud                 -square houses at Jerf el Ahmar, square and round houses at Mureybit—evidence that square architecture developed in north during PPNA, adopted by south during PPNB Term PPNB Definition 8500-6000 BC -expansion in varieties of cereals cultivated, addition of critical new crops -hunting of herd animals still important, esp. gazelle -development of herding sheep and goats -architecture: mudbrick houses, multi-room, rectangular, for extended families                 -sometimes have hearths, ovens, benches, basins, and storage containers or bins                 -extremely fine, hard plaster on floors and walls (decorated in south)                 -similarities of houses across long distances -revolution of symbols -differences in rituals between Levant & SE Anatolia -social function of PPNB rituals = group cohesion -4 structuring principles underlying PPNB rituals and ideology:                 -communality (public display): integrate communities, conflict resolution -BUT only a few people could fit into ritual buildings—were they in use simultaneously? Used by certain people for specific purposes? -dominant symbolism: use of highly visual, powerful, and evocative symbols (coming to terms with socioeconomic changes?) -vitality: focus on head (artificial deformation of heads, auroch horns) -human-animal linkage (counteraction to domestication?) -skull separation, plastering, and display characterizes Levant                 -cranial deformation -3 burial styles in MPPNB:                 -subfloor and courtyard, decapitated                 -courtyard, skull intact (lower status than decapitated?)                 -infant -rectangular houses in large settlements sometimes referred to as “megavillages” -non-domestic buildings and stone stelae at Nevalı Çori, Çayönü, and Göbekli Tepe -burgeoning of anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, and geometric figurines in middle PPNB                 -animal and human figurines recovered from almost all PPNB sites -religious shift to bull/masculine god -chipped stone                 -blades from bipolar cores, stemmed projectile points, sickle blades, burins, borers -ground stone in profusion (slabs, mortars, pestles, beads, pendants) Term Samarran Definition 6400-5800 BC -irrigation agriculture -to south of Hassuna culture -chocolate-brown painted pottery, patterns maybe inspired by basketry Term Hassuna Definition during 7th millennium BC in Northern Mesopotamian plain, areas with rainfall farming -new styles of pottery: more elaborate, incised -copper tools and jewelry Term Ubaid Definition early occupation of Southern Mesopotamian plains, 6000-4000 BC -tripartite houses with long central hall and smaller rooms to sides -pottery -seals -widespread communication and interactions (supported by far-reaching similarities in material culture) -some large settlements with temples, storehouses, & cemeteries… social hierarchy? -copper-based metallurgy in some areas, 5th millennium BC Term Uruk Definition 4th millennium BC = urbanized societies -clay tokens, cylinder seals -weaving of woolen textiles became major Mesopotamian industry for local consumption and export -domesticated donkeys in Mesopotamia (transport for goods or people over long distances) -Uruk tradition reached way far by late Uruk—termed “Uruk expansion” Term