Archaeology Midterm 2
Terms
undefined, object
copy deck
- 5 steps of processing artifacts and ecofacts
- cleaning, conservation, labeling, inventory, cataloging
- what 2 kinds of finds are usually processed in 5 steps?
- artifacts, ecofacts
- why is cleaning done?
- to remove obscuring traces of the matrix of the remains.
- why is conservation done?
- to ensure the preservation of recovered materials
- what is conservation dependant on?
- the type of material
- why is labeling done?
- to track a removed find
- what is a label?
- a designation that links an artifact of ecofact back to the excavation
- how does one inventory?
- document the numbers and types of remains recovered from a site.
- when one inventories, finds can be sorted into general types by _____ or _____.
- material, industry
- what are the 5 ways to sort in an inventory?
- lithic, ceramic, metal, floral, faunal
- what is cataloguing?
- a complete qualitative and quantitative documentation of artifacts and ecofacts
- what is cataloging done prior to?
- formal analysis
- what is cataloguing usually done with?
- coding sheets designed for the particular materials
- qualitative uses...
- ...descriptive attributes
- quantitative uses...
- ...measurable attributes
- where are features documented?
- on site
- documentation of a feature usually results in...
- ...destruction of that feature
- feature "fill" is
- a form of matrix that is within the confines of a feature
- feature fill is removed from a feature to (2 reasons)
- show size/shape of feature, reveal materials inside feature
- classification is the...
- ...placing of material into categories of types that can be used for identification and comparison
- 2 types of classification
- primary, secondary
- primary classification is based on...
- ...directly observed attributes
- secondary classification is based on...
- ...inferred or analytic attributes
- 5 ways to primary classify
- decoration, shape/form, texture, method of manufacture, raw material
- 3 ways to secondary classify
- function, meaning, chemical make-up
- which of the 3 ways to secondary classify are not attributes?
- function, meaning
- what are the 4 objectives of classification?
- impose order, analyze objects based on shared attributes, define differences, suggest relationships
- 3 attribute categories
- stylistic, form, technological
- attributes are...
- observable (qualitative) or measurable (quantitative) characteristics of physical remains.
- stylistic attributes include...
- surface characteristics such as color, texture, decoration, etc.
- form attributes include...
- physical characteristics such as overall shape, shape of parts, and measurable dimensions
- technological attributes include...
- raw material characteristics and method of manufacture
- 2 methods of classification
- taxonomic, paradigmatic
- taxonomic classification
- takes your initial artifact class (i.e. pottery) and breaks it down into smaller and smaller groups based on the presence/absence of selected attributes
- paradigmatic classification
- all attributes have equal weight and are presented in a table to avoid the implications of the hierarchy.
- The culmination of classification is the generation of ____
- typologies
- a typology is...
- the recognition and definition of shared similarities among artifacts
- types can be based on...
- stylistic, form, and/or technological attributes
- 3 kinds of types
- morphological, temporal, functional
- in morphological typing, artifacts are grouped based on...
- ...overall similarity
- in temporal typing, artifacts are grouped based on...
- ...time period
- in functional typing, artifacts are grouped based on...
- ...activity
- morphological types are generally independent of...
- ...function or chronological significance
- temporal typing can be used to tell you...
- ...the general time period a site was occupied
- functional types can...
- exist in association with a particular site/time period or independent of it
- Archaeologists used projectile point typology at Gatecliff because they wanted to...
- classify projectile points to make temporal types (time-markers) to test against radiocarbon dates
- temporal types can extimate ages where...
- radiocarbon dates can't
- An individual characteristic that distinguishes one artifact from another on the basis of its size, surface texture, form, material, method of manufacture, and design pattern (measurable or observable qualities of an object)
- attribute
- 3 attributes of projectile points
- size, notch position, notch angle
- point types are named by...
- the archaeologists who create them
- first name of a projectile point refers to...
- site or region they were first discovered
- last name of a projectile point refers to...
- morphological characteristic
- 2 characteristics of a typology
- minimize differences within, maximize differences between; must be objective/explicit
- what is the best way to minimize differences within and maximize differences between types?
- statistical analyses
- temporal types provide us with...
- ...index fossils
- assigning time ranges to projectile point types turns ______types into _____types
- morphological, temporal
- Who integrated chronological information into a regional framework?
- Willey and Phillips
- Large regions defined primarily in terms of what people ate (early 20th century)
- culture areas
- Regions within a cultural area whose material culture (e.g., house styles, settlement patterns, ceramics, or subsistence) differed from one another
- Sub-culture areas/traditions/archaeological cultures
- archaeological cultures divide...
- ...space
- periods divide...
- ...time
- A length of time distinguished by particular items of material culture
- period
- Major cultural transitions, such as the appearance of ceramics, settled life, or agriculture
- horizons
- phases combine...
- ...space and time
- An archaeological construct possessing traits sufficiently characteristic to distinguish it from other units similarly conceived; spatially limited to roughly a locality or region and chronologically limited to the briefest interval of time possible
- phase
- A block of time that is characterized by one or more distinctive artifact types
- phase
- phases are defined by...
- ...temporal types
- items of material culture that show patterned changes over time
- temporal types
- derive temporal types by...
- ...grouping individual artifacts into morphological types and then testing them against independent data
- Types of artifacts that change systematically and observably through time
- time markers
- A collection of artifacts of one or several classes of materials (e.g., stone tools, ceramics, bones) that comes from a defined context, such as a site, feature, or stratum
- assemblages
- An archaeological construct consisting of a stratum or set of strata that are presumed to be culturally homogeneous; a set of components from various sites in a region will make up a phase
- component
- you can cluster assemblages into...
- ...components
- A culturally homologous unit within a single site
- component
- components are ____ specific
- site
- _____ are the basic units of space-time systematics
- phases
- ____ are ways to track spatial and temporal change in human cultural behavior
- phases
- _____ are a first step toward developing ideas about regional patterns and trends
- phases
- length of a phase depends on...
- ...kind of archaeological remains and our contemporary knowledge of those remains
- ____ phases tend to be shorter than ____ phases
- young, old
- chronological control is better for ____ material
- younger
- phases always defined _____
- provisionally
- When divisions in a phase are recognized, initial phase is divided into ____
- subphases
- patterning falls along 3 dimensions:
- space, time, form
- A culture from the Middle Paleolithic period that appeared throughout Europe after 250,000 and before 30,000 years ago.
- mousterian
- ____ artifacts are frequently associated with Neanderthal human remains.
- mousterian
- The use of annual growth rings in trees to assign calendar ages to ancient wood samples
- Tree-ring dating (dendochronology)
- Tree-ring dating (dendochronology) developed by
- Douglass
- Douglass worked in...
- SW/Arizona
- trees are ____ in winter and ____ in spring
- dormant, active
- Dendochronology helped to date ____
- Betatakin
- ____ collected more samples in Betatakin from building materials in various rooms
- Dean
- Age of the final ring
- cutting date
- Tree-ring width is a function of ______and _____
- precipitation, temperature
- Radiocarbon dating discovered by...
- ...Libby
- What carbon isotope is used in radiocarbon dating?
- 1
- What do you measure in radiocarbon dating?
- Beta emissions
- The time required for half of the carbon-14 available in an organic sample to decay
- libby half-life
- what is the standard libby half-life
- 5568
- When is the present?
- AD 1950
- what 2 things are hard to date?
- bones, plants
- The specific chemical process through which plants metabolize carbon; the three major pathways discriminate against carbon-13 in different ways, therefore similarly aged plants that use different pathways can produce different radiocarbon ages
- photosynthetic pathways
- When organisms take in carbon from a source that is depleted of or enriched in carbon-14 relative to the atmosphere; such samples may return ages that are considerably older or younger than they actually are
- reservoir effect
- ____ was first to find fault in atmospheric assumption
- De Vries
- - Fluctuations in the calibration curve produced by variations in the atmosphere’s carbon-14 content; these can cause radiocarbon dates to calibrate more than one calendar age
- De Vries effects
- why is only the part of the site needed to answer the research question excavated?
- digging destroys data that we don’t know yet to collect
- A method of radiocarbon dating that counts the proportion of carbon isotopes directly (rather than using the indirect Geiger counter method), thereby dramatically reducing the quantity of datable material required
- Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS)
- ____ found four grains of domesticated barley and one grain of wheat in southern Egypt
- Wendorf
- Forms of dating that rely upon the fact that electrons become trapped in minerals’ crystal lattices as a function of background radiation; the age of the specimen is the total radiation received divided by the annual dose of radiation.
- trapped charge dating
- trapped charge dating identifies...
- ... the last time a specimen had its electron traps emptied
- A trapped charge dating technique used on ceramics and burnt stone artifacts- anything mineral that has been heated to more than 500 degrees C.
- thermoluminescence
- thermoluminescence doesn't work if...
- ...artifact was accidentally burned years after manufacture
- An early form of humans who lived in Europe and the Near East about 300,000 to 30,000 years ago
- Neanderthals
- 3 ways to determing total radiation dose
- thermoluminescence, optically stimulated luminescence, electron spin resonance
- A trapped charge dating technique used to date sediments (dirt); the age is the time elapsed between the last time a few moments exposure to sunlight reset the clock to zero and the present.
- optically stimulated luminescence
- optically stimulated luminescence works best with...
- ...eolian sands
- A trapped charge technique used to date tooth enamel and buried stone tools; it can date teeth that are beyond the range of radiocarbon dating.
- electron spin resonance
- ___ changed understanding of human evolution
- electron spin resonance
- A device to measure the amount of gamma radiation emitted by sediments (annual dose). It is normally buried in a stratum for a year to record the annual dose of radiation
- dosimeter
- what 2 methods are used to date the age of formation of a particular layer of rock?
- potassium-argon and argon-argon
- An absolute dating technique that monitors the decay of potassium into argon gas
- potassium-argon dating
- ____ was used to estimate age of homo erectus
- potassium-argon dating
- a hominid who lived in Africa, Asia, and Europe between 2 million and 500,000 years ago. These hominids walked upright, made simple stone tools, and may have used fire
- homo erectus
- for potassium-argon dating to work,
- there must have been no argon trapped at the time of formation
- A high-precision method for estimating the relative quantities of argon-39 to argo-40 gas; used to date volcanic ashes that are between 500,000 and several million years old
- argon-argon dating
- A potential problem with radiocarbon (or tree-ring) dating in which old wood has been scavenged and reused in a later archaeological site; the resulting date is not a true age of the associated human activity.
- old wood problem
- ____ and ____ dated the pyramids through radiocarbon dating on the mortar
- Nakhla, Hawass
- Nakhla and Hawass dated the pyramids through _____ on the mortar
- radiocarbon dating
- 2 ways to date material remains
- direct, indirect
- Analysis of the artifact, ecofact, or feature itself to arrive at a chronological evaluation
- direct dating
- Analysis of material associated with the data under study to derive a chronological evaluation
- indirect dating
- Determining age or chronological sequence without reference to a fixed time scale
- relative dating
- Relies on comparisons with other forms of data to determine “older than†or “younger thanâ€
- relative dating
- Determination of age on a specific time scale, as in years before present, or according to a fixed calendrical system
- absolute dating
- Example: A series of artifacts found in an excavation that stylistically represent different time periods (dates unspecified) are dated relative to one another
- Direct Relative Dating
- Example: An artifact is dated using a method like radiocarbon dating to specific year, or spread of years
- Direct Absolute Dating
- Example: A series of artifacts are extracted from different strata/levels (dates unspecified) of an excavation and are dated relative to one another
- Indirect Relative Dating
- Example: A series of artifacts are extracted from a strata/level/feature in an excavation that has been dated to a specific time period
- Indirect Absolute dating
- The date after which an artifact or feature must have been deposited
- Terminus post quem
- The date before which an artifact or feature must have been deposited
- Terminus ante quem
- Based on physical comparisons such as stratigraphic placement in relation to other remains
- relative dating
- Able to date individual items with or without comparisons to other remains
- absolute dating
- Useful in clearing up questions of duration of time periods in a chronology
- absolute dating
- Able to place archaeological sites in chronological context if they lack diagnostic information
- absolute dating
- 5 relative dating methods
- stratigraphic analysis/geochronology, biostratigraphy, temporal types, seriation, FUN dating
- Stratigraphic analysis/geochronology governed by...
- ...law of superposition
- stratigraphic analysis/geochronology
- Materials found within soil or bedrock layers, can be dated relative to materials in others
- Under what condition can geochronology be absolute?
- if the layer of bedrock containing remains has been dated
- Why is geochronology considered relative?
- the range of dates can be extremely large
- Archaeological association of cultural material with extinct animal or plant species
- Index fossils (biostratigraphy)
- What is comparable to geochronology for obtaining date ranges?
- biostratigraphy
- What is a problem with biostratigraphy?
- Exact date ranges may not be known for the species
- The association of particular remains with remains of a known type
- Temporal typing
- Techniques used to order materials in a sequence, in such a way that adjacent items in the series are more similar to each other than to items further apart in the series
- seriation
- how is seriation done most often?
- by an examination of stylistic attributes
- what are the three things that can be looked at for seriation?
- stylistic, form, technological
- what is seriation usually done in combination with? (2 things)
- stratigraphic and frequency analysis
- A relative measure that examines the ratio of nitrogen to fluorine and uranium in bone
- Flouride/Uranium/Nitrogen (FUN) dating
- WHat means a younger date in FUN dating?
- More nitrogen
- What is FUN dating affected by?
- climate
- The study of tree ring patterns among trees both living and dead and linking them to develop a continuous chronology
- dendochronology
- ii. The iron particles in certain materials that are heated to 700 degrees Celsius will reorient to the position of MNP at that time
- archaeomagnitism
- Requires that materials have been left in place since heating
- archaeomagnitism
- Measures the amount and rate of the absorption of water on the surface of a piece of obsidian
- obsidian hydration
- 2 factors affecting absorption rate in obsidian hydration
- source of obsidian, environmental conditions
- 4 types of organic artifacts
- bone, shell, wood, plant
- 4 types of inorganic artifacts
- stone, ceramic, metal, glass
- 3 types of ecofacts
- faunal, floral, coprolites
- 2 types of features
- simple, architecture
- 4 types of remains
- artifacts, ecofacts, features, human remains
- 3 questions in describing ancient artifact technologies
- how was it made, what form did it take, what time period/culture does it belong to?
- 2 types of describing
- cataloguing, classification
- The cumulative resources of human society that provide the means for nongenetic adaptation to the environment by regulating behavior in three areas
- culture
- 3 areas in which environment regulates behavior
- technology, social systems, ideological systems
- What is a culture IDed by?
- Multiple lines of evidence (not just artifacts)
- Artifacts that exhibit certain combination of diagnostic attributes are used to ____ the presence of a culture in the absence of other forms of evidence
- suggest
- Combinations of attributes that have a restricted spatial and temporal (not cultural) range
- diagnostic attributes
- diagnostic artifacts may also represent: (3 things)
- adaptiation to environment, shared aesthetic, ideological symbol
- Human behaviors related to certain artifact types are typically ____ from the form an artifact takes
- inferred
- How are human behaviors inferred from artifact form?
- Analogical reasoning (i.e., it looks like a sword, so it must be a sword)
- 2 sub-classes of lithics
- chipped stone tools, ground stone tools
- how are lithics defined?
- by methods of manufacture
- Lithics produced by the fracturing or flaking of stone to produce usable tools/artifacts
- chipped stone tools
- chipped stone tools are referred to as a ____technology
- subtractive
- 2 methods of making chipped stone tools
- direct, indirect
- 2 ways to directly make a chipped stone tool
- hard, soft
- hard direct chipped stone tool production
- rock on rock
- soft direct chipped stone tool production
- wood/antler on rock (use pressure)
- Usage of some tool in between the primary tool and what is being made
- indirect chipped stone tool manufacture
- what is used to determine whether a chipped stone tool is manmade?
- bulb of percussion
- typically fine grained stone types (4)
- chert, flint, obsidion, quartz/quartzite
- Tools produced by pecking, grinding, and polishing of stone to produce a tool/artifact
- ground stone tools
- Fine to medium grained volcanics and sedimentary stones (3)
- granites, basalts, slate
- What kind of stone is usually used in making chipped stone tools?
- Fine grained
- What kind of stone is usually used in making ground stone tools?
- soft stone or fine to medium grained volcanics and sedimentary types
- 3 types of soft stones
- pipestone, argillite, soapstone
- Multi-part tools
- composite tools
- 2 types of chipped stone tools
- unifacial, bifacial
- Chipped stone tools that were worked on one side
- unifacial
- Chipped stone tools that were worked on both sides
- bifacial
- 2 types of unifacial chipped stone items
- tools, decorative objects
- 3 types of unifacial chipped stone tools
- scrapers, utilized flakes, gouges/gravers
- 2 types of scrapers
- side, end
- 2 types of bifacial stone items
- tool, decorative objects
- 4 types of bifacial chipped stone tools
- projectile points, blades, axes/adzes, drills
- 2 types of ground stone items
- tools, decorative objects
- 4 types of ground stone tools
- axes/adzes, hammerstones, projectile points, mortar/pestle
- 3 methods of analyzing stone tool manufacture
- lithic reconstruction, experimental archaeology, ethnoarchaeology
- A method of analyzing the reduction pattern of flaking on chipped stone tools by attempting to backtrack how the flakes were removed
- lithic reconstruction
- To attempt to reproduce a known form using hypothetical techniques
- experimental archaeology
- Observe how stone tool using societies today manufacture stone tools
- ethnoarchaeology
- 4 methods of analyzing function of stone tools
- use-wear (microwear)analysis, residue analysis, experimental archaeology, ethnoarchaeology
- Microscopic examination of the polish found on the used edge of a stone tool
- use-wear (microwear) analysis
- Chemical analysis of organic or other material
- residue analysis
- 3 general categories of ceramics
- pottery, tablets, figurines
- what is the finest-grain clay used in ceramics?
- kaolin
- any fine-grained earth that develops plasticity when mixed in water
- clay
- Materials added to clay in order to provide for more even heating during firing
- temper
- 3 types of temper
- plant fiber, shell, ground igneous rock/limestone (grit)
- clay and temper and anything else that is added are referred to as the ____ or ____
- fabric, paste
- 6 methods of pottery manufacture
- wheel, coil, slab, paddle/anvil, mold, pinch
- Take slabs of clay and pinch them together to shape the pot
- slab method of pottery manufacture
- Press and shape your pot with a flattened tool into the shape you want
- paddle/anvil method of pottery manufacture
- Use a previous pottery vessel as a mold on which your clay is shaped
- mold method of pottery manufacture
- 5 methods of decorating ceramics
- incising, punctate/embossing, cording, dentate stamping, paint/slips
- Plant fibers woven into nets, impressed on pottery
- cording
- Push stick out from inside to create raised bumps
- embossing
- Push stick in from outside to make series of punctures
- punctate
- 3 major methods of firing
- reducing, oxidizing, open
- Less oxygen, which leads to blackening effect (e.g., burying)
- reducing
- More oxygen, which leads to reddening effect
- oxidizing
- Uncontrolled oxygen, leads to uneven red and black coloring called “fire cloudsâ€
- open
- reducing color is...
- ...black
- oxidizing color is...
- ...red
- open color is...
- ...red and black
- 3 methods of ceramic lab analysis
- x-ray, ceramic thin section, residue analysis
- Can identify gross method of manufacture of ceramics
- x-ray
- Microscopic analysis of a thin cross-section of pottery
- ceramic thin section
- Analysis of material remains that adhere to or absorb into the interior surface of a pot
- residue analysis
- ceramic-thin section used to examine these 3 things
- temper, clay, manufacture method
- 7 most common materials in organic artifacts
- bone, sinew, antler, hide, shell, wood, plant fiber
- 4 methods of organic artifact manufacture
- broken, split, fractured, but
- 2 parts of hide processing
- scraping, tanning
- traditional methods of tanning use ___ or ____
- animal brains, urine
- wood, bone, and antler ate often used as ___ or ____ tools
- processing, hunting
- shell is often used for ____ or _____
- decoration, tool for decoration
- 4 processing tools
- flesher, antler tine pressure flaker, bison scapula hoe, awls
- sinew is used almost exclusively as ____and _____
- glue, binding
- do not owe form to human behaviors unless they are a byproduct
- ecofact
- what 2 methods are helpful in determining whether a bone is an artifact or ecofact?
- residue, use/wear analysis