Archaeology Midterm
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33 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Dating Revolution | Occurred when Willard Libbey invented radiocarbon dating in 1949, can give an actual calendar date for an artifact...caused worry about chronology to disappear |
| Ethnoarchaeology | Recently developed branch of archaeology in which archaeologists live among contemprorary communities with the specific purpose of understanding how such societies use material culture, produce material remains, and to observe and better understand behaviors. Example: Louis Binford lived with Native Americans, studied physical environment and landscape usage |
| Formation Processes | All the forces that effect preservation from the end of an artifacts use to its recovery |
| Processual Archaeology | Stresses dynamic relationship between social and economic aspects of culture, and the environment as the basis for understanding the processes of culture change. Archaeology becomes independent from anthropology -- explanation over description |
| History | The written and other recorded events of people; conventionally begins with introduction of written records around 3000 BC in western Asia, and much later in other parts of the world |
| Law of Superposition | The geologic principle that states that in horizontal layers of sedimentary rock, each layer is older than the layer above it and younger than the layer below it. |
| Assemblage | Grouping of artifacts which are thought to occur together in a socially meaningful way, representing the sum of human activities |
| Anthropology | At its broadest, a study of humanity -- physical characteristics as animals and nonbiological characteristics we call culture. Usually broken down into 3 disciplines: physical anthropology, cultural anthropology, and archaeology |
| Typological Sequencing | Uses change of styles and ty pes over time to create chronological idea...things rise and fall in popularity, all things change. |
| Archaeology | Study of human past using material remains. An inquiry into ourselves and our beginnings: how we became what we are now, how our world view developed. Heavy use of both science and anthropology. |
| Hypothesis | Proposition to account for collected data; is tested against more data, then a model is devised. Helps develop a picture of the past, define a specific research question, refine premise of research...general to specific |
| Bioarchaeology | Specialization combining physical anthropological methods in order to analyze archeological remains...used to have a better understanding of people in the past through their bones. The archaeological study of human remains emphasizing the preservation of cultural and social processes in the skeleton. Example: Osteology, physical characteristics, bones, etc |
| Natural Formation Processes | Natural events and phenomena which govern burial and survival of the archeological record -- natural disasters, climate, temerate, hot/cold, dry, waterlogged, etc. |
| Terminus Post Quem | "Time after which" -- used to give approximate date for a text; a datable object provides only the date on or after which the layer of soil that contains it was deposited |
| Terminus Ante Quem | "Time before which" -- refers to the date before which an artifact or feature must have been deposited. |
| Reconnaissance | Finding sites in areas with cultural relevance, either on the ground, through searching, or through historical data. Ground recon -- first and most general search for sites/facts; sets groundwork. Goals: define area of excavation, identify background info, look for geological processes to think about |
| Feature | Non portable thing with evidence of human use, feature, or modification -- hearth, road, etc. Some are deliberate, but not all. Simple feature = 1 major component; Composite feature: many components |
| Secondary Context | An artifacts context if it has changed from original context, by human or natural methods. Material removed from where it was usually used, most common form of evidence (i.e. a midden - trash deposits at edge of living areas) |
| Paleodemographic Studies | Primarily concerned with study of skeletal remains to estimate population parameters such as fertility/mortality rates, population structure, life expectancy, etc |
| Context | Defines a place and its surroundings, consisting of a physical location and information about environment |
| Socio-Cultural Anthropology | Analyzes human culture and societies through ethnography and ethnology |
| Ethnography | Study at first hand of individual living cultures |
| Ethnology | Compares cultures using ethnographic evidence to derive general principles about human society |
| Artifact | Portable object used, modified, or made by people...sometimes used to describe ideas. Example: stone tools, pottery, metal weapons, etc |
| Stratigraphy | Dating method that studies an excavated vertical profile showing a series of layers that constitute a sequence that has accumulated through time. Often used as a relative dating technique to assess the temporal sequence of artifact deposition. Analyzes vertical time dimenson of a series of layers in horizontal space dimension |
| Cultural Formation Processes | Deliberate or accidental forces of humanity that impact the archaeological record |
| Association | Artifacts close contextual relationship with specific artifacts or types of artifacts |
| Absolute Dating | Age given on absolute time system, usually given in our time scale -- correlation of event to actual date on a calendar. |
| Primary Context | An artifact's original context after its modification. Use related -- where artifacts are made, discarded, or used; Transposed -- waste or things no longer needed when they are moved away...deliberate |
| Ground Penetrating Radar | A method of subsurface detection in which short radio pulses are sent through the soil, such that the echoes reflect back significant changes in soil conditions. Records soil layers, artifacts, etc |
| Relative Dating | Can only give relationship of object to other time period. |
| Survey | Systematic recording of sites and archaeological features across a defined area |
| Provenience | the context or location within a grid system used to detail where artifacts were located in a given excavation |
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