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Environmental Archaeology
Exam #1
40
Archaeology
Undergraduate 2
02/15/2007

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Term
artifact
Definition
a piece of the natural environment that has been modified/made intentionally and is portable.
Term
features
Definition
"big artifacts"; represent the environmental changes and modifications but are not portable.

parts of structure - hearths
Term
activity area
Definition
involves specific areas that show activity occurred there

made inadvertently
Term
ecofacts
Definition
nonartificial material remaines that have a cultural relevance; not directly created or modified
Term
settlement site
Definition
not necessarily lived there year-round; highly mobile-seasonal occupation; sedentary settlement- yr. round settlement
Term
Quarry site
Definition
stone/raw materials removed from bedrock; found as piles of broken up stone
Term
ceremonial sites
Definition
dont know what were used for; massive buildings with no apparent use
Term
cemeteries
Definition
multiple human burials
Term
settlement pattern
Definition
cluster of settlement sites that had some relation to each other
Term
matrix
Definition
the physical medium that surrounds, holds, and supports the archeological material
Term
association
Definition
two or more archaeological items occuring together usually within the same matrix
Term
provenience
Definition
a 3 dimensional location at which the archaeologist finds data
Term
context
Definition
interpretation of the significantce of an artifact's deposition in terms of its matrix, provenience, and association

the location of something in the ground and the web of relationships between the object and everything around it
Term
primary context
Definition
original place in human behavior
Term
sampling techniques
Definition
-simple random
-stratified random
-systematic
-stratified systematic
Term
scale of dating
Definition
how to integrate dates into how cultures calendars change
Term
resolution
Definition
how precise we can get to dating
Term
accuracy
Definition
do we get the same date for something as we determine dates from different substances?
Term
range
Definition
what time periods can we use a method for
Term
availability
Definition
need physical and different types of material for dating methods
Term
cross dating
Definition
use some common indicator to link objects of known age to similiar objects of unknown age
Term
typological dating
Definition
change in styles of artifacts; styles change over time
Term
seriation
Definition
noting the abundance of an artifact through time
Term
dendrochronology
Definition
take cores from living tree then from samples at a site to makes ring patterns and widths
Term
radiocardon dating
Definition
radiocarbon is activated by cosmic rays hitting the atmosphere; plants take up the carbon and through the food chain, the carbon is distributed in living things. radiocarbon changes to a stable carbon at a half life; measure the amoun of radiocarbon left
Term
obsidian hydration analysis
Definition
only used for volcanic glass; when glass if fractured, water permeated the structure and occurs at a regular rate; date by measuring the height of the hydration zone of the fractured stone
Term
potassium-argon dating
Definition
can only be used for very old dating; 400,000 years ago; used for dating something brief, dating volcanic rock
Term
thermoluminescence
Definition
material undergoes a physical state change and starts a "clock"; this clock will only stop with another physical state change.
Term
optically spin luminescence
Definition
when silica is excluded from light, natural radioactivity starts to build up; when no light can hit the sand, it starts the breakdown of radioactivity and produces now 2 ranges
Term
archeomagnetism
Definition
when a object that contains iron particles is heated, the position of the iron particles line up with the direction of the north pole. if we reheat the object, it will measuring the poisition of the north pole at the last major heating of the object
Term
climate
Definition
the averages of variability over time; the global trends over time
Term
clastic sediment
Definition
basica breakdown products of bedrock on wat to becoming soil; clay, sand, stone
Term
bioclastic debris
Definition
stone that started out as an organism that borke up and moved
Term
composition
Definition
what the sediment is made out of
Term
texture
Definition
how rough it feels; grain size
Term
sorting
Definition
proportions of grains of different sizes
Term
shape
Definition
product of the parent material; form: general outline

roundness- jaggedness of edges: experience the particles have had in the transport phase

surface texture:microscopic features of the grain
Term
facies
Definition
laterally equivalent stratigraphic units that accummulate at the same time but are different compositions
Term
Harris Matrix
Definition
looks at contents of layers and correlates to the time period they were cut - contacts between the stratigraphic units that reflect human actions
Term
paleosol
Definition
an ancient soil; buried
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