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Artifacts, Ecofacts, Fossils, and Features

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Archaeologists rely on four kinds of evidence to learn about the past. What are they?

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Artifact

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Anything made or modified by a human

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Lithics

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Stone tools that are the only kind of artifact available for 99 percent of human history.

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Ecofacts

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Natural objects that humans have used or affected. An example is bone from animals that people have eaten.

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Fossils

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the preserved trace, imprint, or remains of a plant or animal.

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Features

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Artifacts that can not be easily removed from an archaeological site. Example is Laetoli footprints in Africa

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Sites

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Known or expected locations of human activity in the past that contain a record of that activity.

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Stratified

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Sites in which the burial process worked quickly enough that each community of the site was clearly preserved from the previous one.

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Pedestrian survey

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Walking around looking for sites.

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Remote Sensing

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Use of systematic and sampling methods to find archaeological deposits from a remote location

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Anomalies

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Subtle changes in magnetic filed, gravitational field, or electrical current that can be used to locate remote archaeological deposits

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Excavation

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Complex Process involving: (1) Finding every scrap of evidence about the past from a site and (2) to record the horizontal and vertical location of that evidence with precision.

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Features; Artifacts

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Archaeologists are more concerned with discovering intact ____, whereas paleoanthropologists are more concerned with recovering intact _____.

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Context

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How and why artifacts and other materials are related.

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Relative Dating

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Used to determine the age of a specimen or deposit relative to another specimen.

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Absolute (chronometric) dating

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Used to measure how old a specimen or deposit is in years.

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Stratigraphy

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The study of how different rock or soil formations are laid down in successive layers or strata.

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Indicator artifacts

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Items of human manufacture that spread widely over short periods of time, or that have disappeared or changed fairly rapidly.

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Radiocarbon dating

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An absolute dating method based on measuring the decay rate of Carbon 14, the radioactive isotope of carbon, to stable nitrogen--dates up to 40,000 years.

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Half-life

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The rate at which a molecule decays

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Potassium-argon dating

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A method used to date rocks up to thousands of millions of years old, though it is restricted to volcanic material no more recent than c.100,000 yrs old. One of the most widely used methods in dating of early hominin sites in Africa.

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Civilization

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Characteristics include: inscriptions or writings, cities, craft specialists, architecture, social hierarchy, and a political system

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State

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A centralized government with a stratified social system, a ruling family, a bureaucracy of officials, an army, and economic specialists

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Egalitarian

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Type of society in which people do not differ much in wealth, prestige, or power. common among earliest Neolithic societies.

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Formative Era

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The period between about 7000 and 5000 bc which noted the beginnings of the development of states and urbanization in southern Asia. Small scale irrigation and social classes.

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Cuneiform

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Wedge-shaped writing formed by pressing a stylus against a damp clay tablet. (Early Sumerians)

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Hieroglyphics

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Egyptian writing that was written on rolls woven from papyrus reeds.

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Circumscription

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Robert Carniero's explanation for the development of political centralization--that villagers may be forced to surrender their autonomy if they are unable to move away from authorities. due to geographic barriers or neighboring societies. Ex. Nile valley

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Interaction sphere

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Kwang - chin Chang suggested that Neolithic societies in the Yellow River Valley developed a long - distance trade network which he called an ____

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Archaeology

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A scientific investigation of the cultural remains of people in the past. Looks to answer questions such as What was life like in the past, What does it tell us about the present, what does it mean to be human.

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Prehistory

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A period of time that refers to events or objects that date before the written record existed.

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Hollywood's Archaeology

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Overly dramatized. Mostly known for great discoveries and lost worlds. Ex. Indiana Jones

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Historical Archaeology

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the study of archaeological sites associated with written records, frequently the study of post-european contact sites in the west

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Ethnohistory

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Consists of studies based on descriptive materials about a single society at more than one point in time

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Material Culture

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Includes Artifacts, Features, Ecofacts, and Sites.

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Otzi

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Oldest naturally preserved man (3300 bc) Said to live during copper age (due to copper in axe and examination of food in stomach to determine diet.)

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Tuscon Garbage Project

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Started by William Rathje. Studied fresh kill landfill in New York. Study of culture through garbage

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Landfill Composition

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Most landfills comprised of all types of papers, as well as construction debris. The most over-estimated include diapers, plastic bottles, and large appliances

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Core vs Flake

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Core is a big rock for which the flakes are removed. Core and flakes could both be used as tools.

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Direct Percussion

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Knocking of two stones together without an intermediate instrument.

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Indirect Percussion

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Percussion with the use of an intermediate tool. The core is not actually struck.

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Pressure Flaking

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No striking involved, only applied pressure

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Paleolithic

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(Old Stone Age) Includes the basal (2.6 mya), lower (1.6), middle (300k), and upper (40k)

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Neolithic

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(New Stone Age) 10000-5000.

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Oldowan (Basal)

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Some of the earliest tools used by Homo habilis during the basal paleolithic. Versatile tools (mostly unifacial) made from percussion flaking. Used once and discarded. Found in Africa, modern day Tanzenia (Olduvai Gorge)

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Acheulian (Lower)

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Mostly bifacial tools used by h. erectus. Handaxes and such made from direct percussion. Found in Africa and Asia

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Mousterian (Middle)

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Flake tools that were made using the Levallois technique. Variety of tools comprising composite tools and blades. These were mostly retouched.

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Blombos Cave

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Located in South Africa. Site of upper Paleolithic tools made from pressure flaking.

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Atlatls

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Upper Paleo tool that consisted of a grooved board that propels a spear with increased force (not very accurate). Earliest come from French cave sites.

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Woomera

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Similar to the Atlatis tool. Concave, upper Paleolithic tool.

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Harpoons

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Upper Paleolithic tool used for marine hunting.

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Use-Wear Analysis

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Microscopic analysis of a tool's edge for characteristic wear patterns. Experimental design with real life testing by hunting or other activity.

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Megafuana

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Included megalanis, diprotodon, meiolania, demon duck of doom, and carniverous kangeroo. Large animals hunted using upper paleo tools. Large extinction including: Wooly rhinos, Cave lions, and wooly mammoths

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Cave art

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Mostly animals on bare cave walls (western Europe). Wandjina -- 40kya, Austrialian cave painting representing symbolic mythology.

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Portable Art

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Found often in Eastern Europe, includes things such as half human/half animal figures, Venus figures, and other animal like figures.

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Venus Figures

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Portable art representing women with large assets and often no head. Mostly made with limestone.

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Horizontal Excavation

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Excavation of a broad area in order to expose the remains of a single point in time. Reveals spatial excavation between artifacts and features.

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Vertical Excavation

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Excavation to expose strata. Reveals site formation and chronology.

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Screening

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Passing soil through mesh to retain artifacts.

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Flotation

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Technique used for the recovery of botanical, organic remains

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Seriation

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Relative dating technique. Involves creating a sequence of artifact types and variability over time.

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Dendrochronology

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The process of counting tree rings to determine the age of a tree

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Paleoindians

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New world hunters found in US, Canada, and Mexico. Used clovis tools.

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Clovis

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Large, leaf-shaped spear flaked on both sides.

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First Americans

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H. sapiens that walked to the New World on land bridge (somewhere between 18k and 13k ya.)

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Blades

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A stone tool, made from a flake, that is at least twice as long as it is wide. Blades dominate the tool traditions of the Upper Paleolithic. Mode 4: H. sapiens, H. florisensis.

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Burins

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Small, chisel-like tools with a pointed end; thought to have been used to engrave bone, antler, ivory, or wood.

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Microliths

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Tiny stone tools of the upper Paleolitic

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Ethnographic analogy

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Archaeologists employ information about living groups to help construct models of past societies

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Experimental Archaeology

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The study of past behavioral processes through experimental reconstruction under carefully controlled scientific conditions.

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Archaeoastronomy

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the study of the astronomy of ancient cultures. Including ancient structures, early calendars, navigation, and mathematics EX: stone henge at the summer solstice

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Cycles

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Days, Lunar phases

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Reference points

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Rule of important individual, creation of the world or time.

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Types of Calenders

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Solar (Gregorian, rotation around the sun), Lunar (Islamic, Moon Cycles), and Lunisolar (Chinese, Egyptian, and Hebrew)

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Solstice

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Occurs when the sun is at it's highest point in the sky, two occur each year, marking the beginnings of summer and winter.

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Equinox

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Occurs when the sun falls most directly on the equator and the total time of daylight and night are equal all over the world.

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Stonehenge

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(3000-1500 bc) Argued that it is an intricate solar system calendar because sun shines directly between two heel stones to a main stone during the summer solstice

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Intercalation

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Days added to keep human-made calendar systems on track with solar/lunar events.

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Mesoamerican calenders

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...

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Sun Dagger Sit

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Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

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Food Collection vs. Production

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Collectors: Foragers that hunted, gathered, fished. Producers: Horticulturalists, Pastoralists, and agriculturalists

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Zooarchaeology

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The study of animal remains recovered from archaeological sites.

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Archaeobotany

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The study of plant remains from archaeological sites.

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Phytolith

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A rigid, mineralized microstructure in plant cells (usually silica)

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Coprolite

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Fossilized shit. Ex. Paisley Caves, Oregon (14kya)

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Domestication

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Process: Notice a desirable trait in a species, separate members of the species from nature, selectively breed, exaggerate desirable trait, change on biological level

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Ground Stone Tools

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Emerged with the start of settled, village life; Often used to process grain; Neolithic (New Stone); created by pecking and grinding

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Early Civilizations

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Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus River Valley, and China among other Old World civilizations from 6000-4500 ya. Grew from neolithic villages. Peru and Mesoamerica were the first civilizations of the New world at 2200 and 100 ad respectively

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Transition to States

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Agricultural innovation, diversification of labor, emergence of centralized government, and social stratification all accompanied a rise of state level societies.

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Cahokia

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an ancient settlement of southern Indians, located near present day St. Louis, it served as a trading center for 40,000 at its peak in A.D. 1200.

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Raised Fields

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Created by piling soil into a long mound, which becomes surrounded by a ditch that fills with water and aquatic plants that will later be harvested. The water keeps the mound soil moist and controls soil temperature.

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Terraced Fields

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a leveled section of a hilly cultivated area, designed as a method of soil conservation to slow or prevent the rapid surface runoff of irrigation water.

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Irrigation

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Way to supply water to dry agricultural lands and depends on a centralized government to raise funds to build canals, seen in Mesopotamia and other South American civilizations.

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Hydraulic theory

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Cities that controlled irrigated farmlands over surrounding areas could hold power over others -- they used food and hunger as a weapon.

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Long-Distance Trade Theory

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Long distance trade seen in Mesopotamia, Mesoamerica, and later kingdoms of Africa. Organizational requirements of producing items, redistributing items imported, and defending trade parties would foster state formation.Neither a sufficient nor a necessary condition for the development of a state.

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Ways archaeologists recognize stratification

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the size of the dwelling and burial status

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Three theories of State development

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Irrigation, Long distance trade, and circumscription

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State formation depends on what factors?

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Number of interacting individuals, what they are building on, and their goals.

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Three forms of writing

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Pictographic (semantic), Logosyllabic (semantic and phonetic), and Alphabetic (phonetic)

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Semantic vs Phonetic

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Semantic is a meaning, phonetic is a sound in codified writing. Think picture vs letter

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Pictographic languages

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First writing in evolution to logosyllabic and alphabetic.

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Logosyllabic language

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Used by Chinese and ancient Egyptians (Cunieform)

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Alphabetic language

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Symbols reflect pronunciation of words, arrangement makes different words

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Mesopotamian writing

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Mostly economic (trade) writing done by cuneiform. Did not influence mesoamerican or Chinese writing.

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Egyptian writing

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Mostly political writing (The Narmar Palette example). Ancient Egyptians used Hieroglyphic, Hieratic, and Demotic writing

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Hieratic

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a cursive form of ancient Egyptian writing which lost the pictorial aspect of hieroglyphs. Usually priestly. ex. Edwin Smith Papyrus

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Demotic

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Replaced Hieratic writing from 600bc to 450 ad.

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Piltdown Fraud

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1912, claimed to have found missing link, human skull and orangutan jaw

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Oracle Bones

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Used by the Shang dynasty in China. Mostly religious writing.

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Cascajal Block

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Thought to be the earliest Mesoamerican writing used for counting. Mostly used for record keeping (Political

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Rosetta Stone

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Written in Hieroglyphic, Demotic, and Greek. Found by Napoleon's troops and helpful in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphic writing.

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Behistun Inscription

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Contains three versions of the same text (Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian). Helped decipher cuneiform writings

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Jared Diamond

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Author of article that argues that agricultural farming was the worst mistake of the human race

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Hierophany

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Use of architectural or sacred place to create a manifestation of a sacred place at a particular space/time EX. feathered serpent and Sun Dagger

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Analemma

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Sun ray that changes elevation through a hole against a backdrop, could be used to develop earliest account of a calendar.

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