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Intro to Archaeology Exam 1
washington university in st louis (wustl / wash u) fall 2012
37
Archaeology
Undergraduate 1
09/30/2012

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Term
Archbishop Ussher
Definition
responsible for sophisticated calculation of actual age of earth based on bible and Mediterranean histories stating that the earth was created in 4004 BC. (ie, earth 6000 years old) Did not realize there was a period of human development w/o writing or iron. Upon finding ancient features of earth, fossilized animals, stone tools, etc, they didn't know what to think- called them "tricks of nature" and believed stone tools were "remnants of thunder and lightning" or "the work of fairies and elves"
Term
Thomsen
Definition
3-age system. In 18th century, people collected objects for the sake of collecting. In thinking about the categorization of their finds, Thomsen tried to arrange them into "stone" "iron" and "bronze" although he had no way to support his belief in this classification system (see Worsaae)
Term
Worsaae
Definition
assistant to Thomsen who found that artifacts made out of bronze were above stone artifacts in the ground and iron were closest to the surface, allowing for proof of chronology of these 3 ages that Thomsen had proposed
Term
Thomas Jefferson
Definition
credited with the first scientific excavation. He devided to dig in a conical mound in Mississippi valley and instead of just looking for things to show off (like antiquarians), he carefully recorded the different layers encountered
Term
Sir William Flinders Petrie
Definition
advocated the recovery of ALL objects, not just pretty things, the total recording of an excavation (EVERYTHING that went on), sequence dating (we had not methods to date things), started archaeological schools, and advocated full publication (ie if you excavate and don't publish your findings you're doing others a disservice)
Term
General Augustus Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers
Definition
advocated the recovery of ALL objects, not just the pretty ones. Was also in favor of recording all of an excavation, use sequence dating (ie building a chronology), starting achaeological schools, and full publication of what was found in digs
Term
Alfred Kidder
Definition
along with Pitt-Rivers and Petrie, advocated recovery of all objects (not just pretty ones), and wanted to record everything that went on in an excavation, use sequence dating, start archaeological schools, and advocate full publication of finds
Term
Michael Mercati
Definition
(Correctly) attributed stone tools found to ancient humans creating things before the discovery of iron. Was not believed.
Term
William Dugdale
Definition
found stone hand-axes and rightly attributed them to humans. He said that they were made by Britons before iron was known. He was not believed.
Term
James Hutton
Definition
one of the scholars that saught enlightenment in the 18th century. Studied layers of earth and suggested that processes responsible for the way the earth looked were the same processes that operated in the past. (ie UNIFORMITARIANISM) This formed the basis of modern archaeology.
Term
Charles Lyell
Definition
In the 19th century, saught enlightenment. Was a subscriber to the belief in unifomitarianism ie the belief that the same processes that made earth look the way it does have been working this way for a long time. Associated with James Hutton as well. Formed the basis of modern archaeology.
Term
Until uniformitarianism, Nanderthal's remains were...
Definition
...unexplainable, and thought to be diseased modern individuals
Term
uniformitarianism
Definition
geologically ancient conditions were in essence the same as our own
Term
John Frere
Definition
realized that depth was correlated with age and was the first to present actual evidence of stone tools within a site with bones etc
Term
Jacques Boucher de Perthes
Definition
found chipstone artifacts and animals bones
Term
Significance of Darwin's Principles of Evolution
Definition
the concept of evolution is the best explanation for the origin of ALL plants and animals and natural selection was the means for this change. He believed that distribution of animals was the result of change over a long period of time. It opened the door for other studies to use the same concept of change
Term
archaeologists study...
Definition
people, not dinosaurs
Term
Jackson Ambani
Definition
witch doctor from Kenya whose belief in magic is not all that different from our own use of a lucky rabbit's foot, etc, to be lucky
Term
4 sub-disciplines of anthro
Definition
Archaeology, Physical Anthro (aka Bio anthro), Cultural Anthro, and Linguistic Anthro
Term
culture concept
Definition
culture is what unifies the 4 subdisciplines, and according to Tylor (?), culture is complex whole that includes language, law, custom, and some other stuff
Term
archaeology is...
Definition
the study of human past through its material remains (left intentionally or otherwise)
Term
we study remains because...
Definition
they're the consequences of human behavior
Term
prehistoric archaeology
Definition
covers enormous span pre-writing (about 5000 years ago writing developed)
Term
classical archaeology
Definition
focus heavily on written record, also on architecture and art (ie Rome)
Term
historical archaeology
Definition
tends to focus on recent stuff (vikings, middle ages) and rely on the written and physical remains
Term
underwater archaeology
Definition
special techniques to recover material from wrecks, etc
Term
goals of archaeology
Definition
creature a culture history (either obtain or create a chronology of the past), reconstruct the many lifeways that no longer exist and find what we're missing, and understand change (ie, cause and effect patterns)
Term
artifact
Definition
object created or modified by humans, such as pottery, ceramics, stone tools, baskets, bone combs, harpoons, nets, and even clothing (if an archaeologist gets lucky)
Term
ecofact
Definition
not a hard and fast category, can be a bit blurred with artifact. It's a remain that has cultural significance but that does not owe its form to human behavior. Examples are animals bones discarded at a site, insect remains, pollen (helpful to look at seasonality), seeds, etc
Term
experimental archaeology
Definition
when modern archaeologists try to discover the steps taken by ancient people in, for example, the stone tool making process.
Term
feature
Definition
non-portable artifacts that have cultural roles but cannot be removed from their habitat. Examples are postholes, a kiln, or a hearth
Term
site
Definition
formally defined as a concentration of artifacts showing where human activity takes place. But for her, it's a location where we have the remains (as little as a single stone tool) or traces of human activity where they've been preserved
Term
matrix
Definition
physical medium that holds or supports archaeological data. Usually soil, sand, clay, sometimes shell. (shell mounds are very difficult to excavate)
Term
Out of the Past (film)
Definition
movie about Cerén (El Salvador), Copan (Honduras), and Teotihuacan (Valley of Mexico)
Term
Cerén (El Salvador)
Definition
Mayan pyramids and statues, building of mud and thatch, huge clay vessels, basket once holding corn, ax blades, squash, chili, beans, seeds in clay pot, mouse bones
Term
Copan (Honduras)
Definition
raised stone platform (sleeping bench), shattered obsidian blades from knives
Term
Teotihuacan (Valley of Mexico)
Definition
alter, pyramids, marine shells, pottery shards (revealing that they used moulds), masks, little statues, skeletons with holes above eye sockets and ridges in mandible that could be used to tell if people might be related. Here, huge groups of 30-100 people would live together. They believe that this was based on lineage, and that each house held an extended family.
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