Term
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Definition
Study of form and development of landscape.
Incorporates specializations such as sedimentology. Combine to produce detailed analysis of composition and texture of sediments. |
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Term
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Definition
Use of microscopic techniques to study nature and organization of components of soils.
Assist in environmental reconstruction of ancient human landscapes
Can be used in contextual archaeology.
(Primary, Secondary, Tertiary cultural deposits) |
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Term
| Primary Cultural Deposits |
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Definition
| accumulate on surface of human activity, for instance, many ash layers on or living floors. |
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Term
| Secondary Cultural Deposits |
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Definition
| Primary deposits that have undergone modification, either by physical displacement or because of a change of use in te activity area |
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Term
| Tertiary Cultural Deposits |
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Definition
| Completely removed from their original context and may have been reused |
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Term
| Mutual Climactic Range Method |
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Definition
Assumes present-day climactic tolerance of each species is the same as in the past. When several species are found together, the ancient climate must lie within the area of overlap of their tolerance ranges.
The more species, the more precise this area can be determined. |
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Definition
| Survived in many dry caves, can contain info about fauna and flora. Also showed what they ate. |
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Definition
| Evidence to indicate woodland clearance |
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Term
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Definition
[image]
We add Environment at the bottom. |
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Term
| Environmental Determinism |
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Definition
| Physical environment, rather than social conditions, determines the form of culture and the direction of culture change. |
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Term
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Definition
-Past: Human system < Environmental system
-Present: Human system = Environmental system
-Future: Human system > Environmental system |
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Term
| Environmental Archaeology |
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Definition
Views humans as part of the natural world, interacting with other species and abiotic realm in an ecological system
-Cannot understand human behavior without understanding the environment (and ecology)
-Prior to environmental archaeology "ecofacts" largely ignored, or only considered relevant within a context of a site
-Chronology; abiotic (climate and geomorphology), biotic (flora and fauna) |
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Term
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Definition
| Explanation of the interactions of people int he wider typically regional social and natural environment they inhabited using physical remains |
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Term
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Definition
Goal: to provide the most detailed reconstruction possible of the regional area in which humans lived
Larger umbrella for archaeo- zooarchaeo- logical record |
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Term
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Definition
Reconstructing animal environment
Goal: reconstruct the animal communities that people may have encountered at a particular place and time
-Methods: taphonomy: study of incorporation of biotic materials (like bone) into the geological record; transformational processes
-Pretty similar to site-formation processes
Micro/Macrofaunal remains
Analysis of diversity: how many types and relative counts of each.
Food vs. Non-food
-Skeletal representation
-Age and sex profiles of animals killed. |
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Term
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Definition
Total area from which a site's contents have been derived
-Your household's catchment is effectively global (e.g. underwear)
-Small hunter gatherer camp may have a catchment with a radius of 10-20km
-Reconstruction of catchment areas based on sourcing of materials
-Identify the geological sources where stone or clay raw materials have come from. (Bichumen example)
-Distance of transport
-Chemical fingerprint |
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