Midterm 1 Important Archaeological Principles
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Created by:
fubar110111 on October 10, 2011
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40 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Prehistoric Archaeology | Archaeological study of the past before written records begin |
| Classical archaeology | Archaeological study of Ancient Greece and Rome |
| Egyptology | Archaeological study of Ancient Egypt |
| Near East Studies | Archaeological study of the Middle East, generally the maximum area encompassed by the Ottoman Empire |
| Historic/Post-Medieval Archaeology | Archaeological study of the material past over the last 500 years |
| Ethno Archaeology | Ethnographic study of peoples for archaeological purposes |
| Nautical Archaeology | Discipline of archaeology that specifically studies human interaction with the sea |
| Stylistic attributes | Usually involve the most obvious descriptive characteristics of an artifact believed to reflect choices of its maker |
| Stylistic attributes | -Color -Texture -Decoration -Alterations |
| Form attributes | Includes overall 3-dimensional shape of the artifact and aspects of that shape |
| Form attributes | -Measurable dimensions/metric attributes •Length •Width •Thickness •Weight |
| Technological attributes | -Include the characteristics of the raw materials used to make artifacts (constituent attributes) -Any other traits that reflect the manufacturing process |
| Constituent attributes | Characteristics of the raw materials used to make the artifact |
| Formulation, Implementation, Data Gathering & Processing, Analysis, Interpretation, Publication | Research Process |
| Formulation | Hypothesizing |
| Data Gathering and Processing | -Surface collection -Excavation •Penetrating •Clearing -Mapping -Survey, Excavation, and Lab |
| Publication | -Publication of all primary data -Publication of results of data analysis -Publication of their interpretation of said data |
| Stratigraphy | Study of rock/sediment layers |
| Law of Superposition | Sedimentary layers are deposited in a time sequence, with the oldest on the bottom and the youngest on the top |
| Uniformitarianism | The assumption that the same natural laws and processes that operate in the universe now have always operated in the universe in the past and apply everywhere in the universe |
| Harris Matrix | Each stratigraphic layer (stratification) is assigned a letter. The layers are arranged in a vertical tree, with the bottom-most (oldest) layers appearing on the bottom of the tree, and subsequently higher (newer) layers moving vertically upwards. Concurrent layers are arranged horizontally to each other. |
| To reveal the form of the past; to discover function; to understand culture processes; to understand the process by which similar political, social, and behavioral changes occur through time and space; to preserve, manage, and administer global heritage resources | Goals of archaeological research |
| Seriation (indirect) | Dating technique in which artifacts or other data are ordered chronologically according to stylistic similarities or frequency of appearance |
| Radiometric dating (direct) | Dating of an object based on observed abundance of naturally occurring isotopes and its decay products using known decay rates |
| Radiometric dating (direct) | Includes radiocarbon and K-Ar dating |
| Fluorine Dating (direct, relative) | -Dating the period an artifact has been underground by the amount of fluoride ions that has been absorbed -Relatively impractical method of dating |
| Dendrochronology (indirect) | Method of dating based on the analysis of patterns of tree-rings |
| Archaeomagnetism (direct) | Dating using the study and interpretation of the signatures of Earth's magnetic fields at past times recorded in archaeological materials |
| Thermoluminescence (direct) | Dating technique in which levels of accumulated radiation since the archaeological material was last heated or exposed to sunlight |
| Vertical Excavation | Strengths: -Understand the total occupational sequence of a site (Diachronic) -Recover representative cultural materials for different periods of occupation -Understand preservation conditions for all periods of occupations |
| Vertical Excavation | Weaknesses: -Not able to understand detailed temporal relationship between structures -Not able to understand temporal relationships for the entire site |
| Horizontal (Clearing) Excavation | Strengths: -Understand the relationships of features, structures, and houses from a single occupation (Synchronic) -Recover representative cultural materials from a single period -Understand the social, economic, and political relationships within communities |
| Horizontal (Clearing) Excavation | Weaknesses: -Not able to understand total occupational history of site -In general, excavation limited to the last major occupation of a site -Excavations are much slower compared to vertical excavations |
| Artifact | Any portable object made, used, or modified by humans |
| Ecofact | An object found at an archaeological site that has been previously unhanded by humans Ex.: Seed |
| Feature | A collection of one or more contexts representing some human, non-portable activity that generally has a vertical characteristic relative to site stratigraphy |
| Assemblage | A group of different artifacts found in association with one another (within the same context) |
| Subassemblage | Association of artifacts denoting a particular form of prehistoric activity practiced by a group of people |
| Activity area | A patterning of artifacts in a site, indicating that a specific set of tasks or operations took place there |
| Looting, Warfare/Colonialism, Construction | Causes of archaeological site destruction |
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