Anthropology 2
Terms
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- historical archaeology
- reconstruction of cultural systems of societies that have written records
- ethnographic analogy
- interpreting archaeological data through the observation of analogous activities in existing societies
- forensic anthropology
- a subfield of anthropology applied to legal matters: usually involved in the identification of skeletal remains and the assessment of time and cause of death.
- experimental archaeology
- The process of understanding ancient skills and technologies by reproducing them
- methods of locating a site
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-obvious sites
-accidental (farmer plowing turns up artifact)
-just by looking (especially where erosion exposes fossil beds) - test pit
- an explanatory, usually small excavation made to establish the presence or absence of an archaeological site.
- excavation
- detailed extensive records must be kept on the location of every fossil
- relative dating
- dating that indicates the age of one item in comparison to another
- absolute dating
- dating that gives a specific age, year, or range of years for an object or site
- radiometric
- referring to the decay rate of a radioactive substance
- carbon dating
- a radiometric dating technique using the decay rate of a radioactive form of carbon found in organic remains
- half-life
- the time needed for one-half of a given amount of a radioactive substance to decay
- potassium/argon dating
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a radiometric dating technique using the rate at which radioactive potassium found in volcanic rock decays into stable argon gas
-half-life is 1.3 billion years - bulb of percussion
- a convex surface on a flake caused by the force used to split the flake off. Rarely found in a natural break
- pressure flake
- Taking a flake off a core by pushing a wood, bone, or antler tool against the stone
- Acheulian
- a toolmaking tradition associated with HomoErectus in Africa and Europe. Includes hand axes, cleavers, and flake tools.
- Levallois
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a tool technology in which uniform flakes are struck from a prepared core
Archaic Homosapiens - Mousterian
- a toolmaking technology, associated with the European Neandertals, in which flakes were carefully retouched to produce diverse tool types
- microliths
- small stone flakes, usually used as a part of a larger tool such as a sickle
- Upper Paleolithic (Late Stone Age)
- modern Homo sapians had spread all over the Old World and even as far as Australia
- subfields of archaeology
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-historical archaeology
-prehistorical archaeology - prehistorical archaeology
- reconstruction of cultural systems that have no written records
- artifacts
- objects modified by human activities. These can be removed from the archaeological site without damaging them
- features
- defined as non-portable object made by human activities. These cannot be removed from the archaeological site without causing damage either to the site as a whole or to them.
- site
- the spatial distribution of the artifacts and features
- Stages of Archaeological research
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-Discovery
-Recovery
-Analysis and Curation of the recovered materials - Discovery
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-some already unearthed
-some of the earthed items are discovered by accident
-surveys to discover archaeological site - pedestrian survey
- a group of archaeologists walk on the surface of the ground after dividing the site into specific areas
- aerial survey
- satellite images are utilized in order to identify the archaeological sites and some of their features
- vertical dimensions
- represents the accumulations of sediments through time.
- law of superposition
- sequence of layers that represent age of artifacts
- horizontal dimension
- represents the placement of artifacts in time
- recovery
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-a crew of archaeologists dig the site and remove the materials
-grid system-used to locate every single artifact and/or feature in the site horizontally and vertically - analysis and curation of recovered materials
- archaeologists analyze the materials and try to understand various cultural elements
- relative techniques
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-superposition
-seration
-association - absolute techniques
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-carbon 14
-potassium-argon
-dendrochronology - exceptional cultural characteristics of Neandertals
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-buried dead
-cared for sick, elderly and injured - venus figurines
- women with exaggerated sexual characteristics, possible symbol of fertility
- purposes of cave paintings
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-fertility magic
-hunting magic
-hunting education
-storytelling about hunting - All cultures have...
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-a material economy and technology
-a system of social organization
-a system of beliefs and values - dendrochronology
- Tree ring dating, the most accurate dating technique. Developed in the South West of the United States. Master chronology for more than 8000 years in the South West
- approaches of interpreting archaeological data
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-What are the kinds of artifacts found in the site?
-What are the features found in the site?
-What is the spatial distribution (horizontal and vertical) of the materials found in the site? - What kinds of questions are addressed by looking at the archaeologiccal materials?
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-Socioeconomic status
-Nutrition - Socioeconomic status
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-body ornamentation
-materials buried with individuals
-medical treatment - nutrition
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-skeletal remains
-tool use - 4 theories
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-Mid-continental route
-Northwest route
-Pacific route
-Atlantic route - Mid-Continental route
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-clovis, first model
-people from Asia come in through Canada during last ice age (13,000 BP-12,000 BP)
-they passed through the Bering Land Bridge
-provide an avenue for asians to pursue megafauna from Berinigia to Southern parts of continent - megafauna
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-10,900 BP became extinct in North and South America
-large and lived in large populations
-wooly mammoth, mastadon, giant ground sloth, giant beaver, camels - hypotheses for megafauna extinction
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-Paul Martin's "overkill" hypothesis
-climate change hypothesis - Clovis tools
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-After New Mexico town site of the first discovery in 1932 close to a town named Clovis
-Fluted projectile points hafted to spears
-12,000-11,000 BP - clovis sites
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Monte Verde, Chile
Meadowcroft Rockshelter, PA - Problems with Mid-Continental route
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-glaciers didn't recede until 12,000-13,000 BP
-sites dated older than clovis
-used by later migrants
-no archaeological remains from Bering Strait - Northwest route
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-Deglaciation along Northwest coast 14000 BP
-Migrants used watercraft, colonized coastal areas - Pacific route
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-Polynesians/Melanesians
-explains sites in South America
-explains Australian/Melanasian morphology of earliest South Americans - Cultural history
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-domestication of plants and animals
-development of state societies characterized by urban centers and social stratification - Hypotheses that explain the origin of Agriculture
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-culture progress
-environmental change
-population pressure
-coevolution - culture progress
- It states that agriculture is superior to foraging
- environmental change
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-agriculture arose by the end of Pleistocene
-rapid environmental change
-elevated sea level
-extinction of big game
-rapid climate warming - population pressure
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-very famous in recent years
-wild resources became depleted and agriculture became worth doing - coevolution
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-most recent hypothesis
-mutual evolutionary effects of humans and plants or animals
-new ways to exploit wild resources
-plants and animals are opportunistic, have genetic plasticity - cultivation
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-performed by humans
-planting
-weeding
-caring of crops - domestication
- as a result of genetic plasticity, there are many genetic changes that take place in response to cultivation
- Humans select plants based on the following traits
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-grains with tougher stems
-plants with larger fruits and seeds
-plants with brittle husks
-plants that retain seeds longer - humans select animals based on the following traits
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-smaller size
-milk production
-wool production - Times stages of agriculture
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Hunting and gathering-Mesolithic
-Paleoindian
•clovis
•folsum
-Archaic
•end of archaic is the beginning of horticulture
Neolithic
-Formative
•agriculture - Plants and animals domesticated in the new world
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-maize (corn)
-beans
-tomatoes
-potatoes
-dogs
-chilies
-turkeys
-llamas - Omecs
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-earliest civilization in Central America
-Arose between 1200 and 1000 BC
-originated in the Gulf Coast region of Southern Mexico and expanded into Guatamala
-Ceremonial cities
-pyramids and temples builts from mud and earth
-the largest monuments are collosal heads with thick lips and helmets
-elite group-lived in urban area
-common people group-lived in rural area - Teotinuacan
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-around the time of Christ 2000 BP
-monumental construction
-the city expanded to approxiametely 20 square km, 60,000 to 80,000 inhabitants
-state level
•capital city
•smaller urban centers
•rural villages - Maya
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-state-level
-Peak 1600 BP
-collapsed 1100 BP
-occupied the eastern third of Mesoamerica
-religiously and artistically united
-politically-compromised many sovereign states
-As many as 20 states existed in Yucatan peninsula - Aztec
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-aztecs came from the remote north around the early 13th century
-became sedentary by AD 1325, before that they were wandering around the Mexican valley
-state-level civilization
-collapsed with the arrival of the Spaniards - Advantages of agriculture
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-surplus of food led to specialization
-increased food production led to increased fertility by lowering the weaning age - Disadvantages of Agriculture
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-narrow spectrum dietary profile in contrast to hunter-gatherers
-less varied diet
-low protein diet
-more contact with animals led to diseases from domesticated animals to humans
-microorganisms increased with agriculture
-human societies became more vulnerable to infections, especially those requiring high population size and density
-stratified society
•warfare
•crime
•slavery - subsistence pattern
- how a society acquires its food
- hunter-gatherer
- a subsistence pattern that relies on naturally occuring sources of food
- foraging
- another name for hunter-gathering
- the two subsistence patterns
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-food collecting
-food producing - polytheism
- refers to religious system that recognizes multiple supernatural beings
- social stratification
- the presence of awknowledged differences in social status, political influence, and wealth among the people within a society
- Forager traits
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-egalitarianistic
-polytheistic
-post-partum sex taboo or infanticide
-division of labor (men hunt, women gather)
-not territorial
-nomadic
-most monogamous (5% polygynous) - egalitarianism
- the practice of not recognizing, and even eliminating, differences in social status and wealth
- postpartum sex taboo
- the practice of prohibiting sex for a certain period of time after a woman gives birth for purposes of limiting the birth rate
- infanticide
- the killing of infants
- bands
- small autonomous groups, usually associated with foraging societies
- nomadic
- referring to societies that move from place to place in search of resources or in response to seasonal fluctuations
- division of labor
- when certain individuals within a society perform certain jobs, usually refers to the different jobs of men and women
- labor specialization
- when certain jobs are performed by particular persons
- monogamy
- a marriage unit made up of only one husband and one wife
- polygyny
- a marriage unit made up of one husband and multiple wives
- evidence for food producing societies
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-artifacts
-biological differences between wild and domestic plants and animals - intensive foraging
- hunting and gathering in an environment that provides a very wide range of food resources
- Why food producing?
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-retreat of Pleistocene ice sheets and attendant climatic alterations
-population increase - Types of food producing
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-horticulture
-pastoralism
-agriculture - horticulture
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-focus on farming, use only human labor
-indigenous groups of Amazon rainforest, the forests of Central Africa and Southeast Asia, and the highlands of New Guinea
-live in larger groups
-populations sedentary
-polygynous
-egalitarian
•specialized role when needed
-beginning of ownership
-concept of territory
-polytheistic
•gods in hierarchy - Pastoralism
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-subsistence based on herding of animals
-dry savannas of East Africa, Indian subcontinent, Southwest Asia, TIbetan Plateau
-nomadic
-egalitarian within group, territorial with other groups
-men-herd animals women-household, child rearing
-ancestor worship - agriculture
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-use animal or mechanical labor
-big, stable, sedentary population
-specializations
-social stratification
-polytheistic
-a civilization - civilization
- cultures with an agricultural surplus, social stratification, a formal government, rule by power, monumental construction projects, and a system of record keeping
- industrialism
- sometimes recognized as a subsistence pattern. characterized by a focus on mechanical sources of energy and food production by a small percentage of the population.
- money
- a symbolic representation of wealth. used for exchange in place of actual products or services
- general reciprocity
- giving with no expectation of equivalent return
- balanced reciprocity
- giving with expectation of reciprocal return
- market system
- where money is used for exchange in place of goods and services
- redistribution
- where surplus goods are collected centrally and then given out to those persons in need of them
- 3 aspects of social stratification
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-rank
-class
-caste - rank
- refers to a society that strives for equal distribution of goods and services but that achieves this through the use of recognized, often temporary status differences
- class
- a system of socioeconomic stratification in which the strata are often open and a person may move to a different stratum
- caste
- a system of socioeconomic stratification in which strata are closed and a person's membership is determined at birth
- magnetometry
- a method of surveying cessium detectors
- Archaeological anthropology
- study material culture of past societies by digging the artifacts up.
- material culture
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-artifacts
-features
-sites - Atlantic route
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-suggested by Dennis Stanford and Bruce Bradly
-Solutrean mantime hunters/fishers came along south margin of Atlantic sea ice to the New World during late Wisconsin
-showed similarities between Clovis tools and Solutrean tradition in Europe - What is the most plausible route?
- Northwest route
- Folsom culture
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-known by material culture
-took name after excavation near Folsom east of Ralzon, NM
-artifacts: chipped flint points, variety of stone tools-some fluted/hafted
-projectile points are smaller than clovis, and thinner blades
-found in association with big mammal remain (bison)
-"surround kill" method - clovis v. folsom
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-clovis evolved to folsom
-both modified point
-Folsom fluted more than 2/3, clovis less than 2/3
-folsom points are smaller and thinner
-mammoth-clovis bison-folsom - archaic culture-new technology
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copper tools and woodworking
implements (axes and gouges) - seasonal migration
- small bands moved based on availability of food and raw materials
- neolithic
- new stone age
- mesolithic
- middle stone age