SUBSISTENCE is: 

-how people get food for themselves

the 3 FOOD PROCESSING activities are: 

1.  aquiring food

2.  preparing food

3.  distributing food 

TOOLS for AQUIRING food are: 

1.  STONE SICKLE BLADES

-highly visible in record

-distinctive polish from cutting vegetation

-discarded at habitiation sites 

2.  STONE ARROW HEADS

 -less visible in recrod

-break during use

-often deposited away from habitation sites

 TOOLS for PREPARING food are:

-variably visible in record

--depends on the nature of the material used to make the tool and where preparation took place

-METATE=grinding stone, used at camp site

a METATE is: 

-a tool for PREPARATION

-a grinding stone

-used at habitation site

-especially visible because of large (word illegible) of stone

a STONE SICKLE BLADE is: 

-a tool used in aquiring food

-highly visible in the record

-polished due to repeated use cutting grain

-discarded at habitation site 

an ARROW HEAD is: 

-a tool used for aquiring food  

-not very highly visible in record

-often break

-often deposited away from habitation site 

tools for DISTRIBUTING and STORING food are: 

-especially highly visible in arch record

-used, broken, and discarded at habitation sites

-pots and such, often ceramic

CERAMIC FUNCTIONS ANALYSIS is: 

 -analyzing functions of ceramics based on their shape 

 storage jars= smaller openings, less access to what's inside

 cooking bowls=  big opening, easy access to whats inside

serving plate= shallow, plate-like

 ceremonial vessel= more highly decorated than other stuff

ANCIENT STORAGE JARS are: 

-for liquids:  small openings, big bodies

-for solids:  large openings with a solid lid 

MODERN STORAGE VESSELS have ______ openings: 

narrow 

ANCIENT COOKING VESSELS have: 

-deep bodies

-wide openings

-thermal damage from heating and cooking 

ANCEINT vs MODERN ceramic vessels: 

ancient=animal motifs, elaborate designs

modern= elaborate decoration, inmpractical designs 

ZOOARCHAEOLOGY is: 

 -study and analysis of animal remains from arch sites

-identify species, body parts, and damage pattern on bones

-reconstruct what kinds of animals humans ate and how they acquired them

- 

PALEOETHNOGRAPHY is: 

the study of ancient cultures 

the most kinds of food REMAINS are: 

-animal bones

-uneaten plant macrofossils 

MARY STIRES(?) argued: 

-that because rabbits are difficult to catch so high quantities of their remains in sites indicates greater use of traps and large and high density human population 

BODY PART ANALYSIS is: 

-informative about transport and butchery

-HIGH UTILITY:

--lots of meat as opposed to bone

--found at base camp

--pelvis, femur, humurous, scapula

-LOW UTILITY:

--little meat, lots of bone

--usually left at kill site

--head and lower limbs 

the 2 FRACTURE PATTERNS are: 

-part of breakage analysis 

-break was premortem

-indicates that humans may have killed it

2.  LATERAL FRACTURE

-dry bone/postmortem

-indicates damage not due to humans 

SPIRAL FRACTURES are: 

-part of breakage analysis of bones

-fresh bone/premortem

-implicates humans in animal's death 

LATERAL FRACTURES are: 

-part of breakage analysis of bones

-dry bone/postmortem

-does not implicate humans 

TAPHONOMY is: 

-the study of how fossil assembelages form

CUT-MARK ANALYSIS is: 

the study of cut marks on bone or other material

what shape cut do stone tools make? 

V or W in cross section

*legability issue, see page bottom of pg 12 of notes 

what shape do carnivores teeth leave? 

U shape in cross section 

 FOOD SHARING began:

-in africa

-about 1.5-2 mya 

OLDUVAI GORGE is: 

-an early site

-contains the remains of many animals together with many stone tools 

HENRY BANN is: 

-a zooarchaeologist

-discovered cut marks on bones from early human sites (Olduvai and others) dating back 1.5-1.8 mya

did early humans scavenge meat and how do we know? 

PALEOETHNOBOTANY is: 

-the analysis of plant macrofossils from arch sites

-most plant remains are carbonized (burnt)

-water logging and extreme aridity may also preserve plants 

what are two ways to preserve plants? 

waterlogging

extreme aridity 

when did the domestication of plants begin? 

10,000 ya 

a RACHIS is: 

-the part of the cereal plant that the seed attaches too 

-used as temper in ceramic 

wild cereal plants have ____ rachises because...: 

-thin

-this allows the seeds to break off and disperse more easily which protects them from predators 

domestic cereal plants have ____ rachises because..: 

-thicker

-the seeds do not break off as easily which means they are easier to harvest 

COLLAGEN is: 

-the organic component of bone

-contains a mineral record of lifetime diet

-the isotope of nitrogen (15n) is found in the highest concentration in carnivores 

15N is: 

an isotope of nitrogen found in the highest concentration in the bones of carnivores 

CARBON 13 is: 

-a radioactive isotope of carbon

-when present in bones, indicates the greater or lesser consumption of grasses and grass eating animals

 --therefore, predators of terrestial food have high 13c whereas ppl who eat lots of marine animals have low 13c

-more ambiguous record of diet than 15 N 

HERVE-BOCHERENS et al showed that: 

-neanderthals were carnivorous by showing that their bones were high in 15N and 13C 

will counting the bones at a site give you a representation of diet?

no 

TOOLS are: 

-static

-manmade

-change and vary but don't evolve 

-a material object that is put to use 

TECHNOLOGICAL STRATEGIES are: 

-a set of desicions humans make about how to make and use tools

-dynamic, change and vary according to costs and benefits

-the sequence of gestures involved in tech strategies give us clues to the tech knowledge of the ppl who made the tools

are humans the only animals that use tools? 

no, but we use them far more often and for far more different purposes than any other animal 

ABORIGINAL TASMANIANS had the _______ human tool inventory with about ______ types. 

simplest

30 

the 4 components of any TCHNLGCL STRATEGY are: 

1.  materials

2.  tools (supporting tech)

3.  action

4.  technical knowledge 

although dif groups of ppl make similar tools it is _________ that they would make them using the same OPERATIONAL SEQUENCE. 

unlikely 

OPERATIONAL SEQUENCE is: 

-the method we use for making tools 

-similar operational sequences suggest either imitation (shared culture) or adoption (cultural convergence) 

-the study of OS tries to track variability in tech knowledge as seen through choice of materials, tools, and technique 

STONE TOOLS are: 

-highly visible in record

-probably not the first artifacts, but wood doesnt preserve

-the most durable and common human technology

-the sole artifacts for 90% of the time humans existed 

4 main sources of info about STONE TOOLS is: 

1.  mechanics

2.  ethnoarchaeology/ethnography

3.   experimentation

4.  wear pattern analysis 

most stone tools are made by controlled ______ fractures. 

conchoidal 

4 conditions necessary for CONCHOIDAL fracture: 

1.  brittle

2.  isotropy- material responds equally from every direction

3.  cryptocrystalline

4.  sillicate 

rocks that fracture CONCHOIDALLY are: 

flint, chert, basalt, quartz, quartzite, obsidian, jasper, shale 

the sharpest cutting edges come from:

obsidian 

AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES...: 

-made and used stone tools until very recently

-tools made by men, used by women 

in KENYA, who makes stone tools? 

both men and women 

much of what we know of N.A. stone tool making comes from: 

Ishi, the sole survivor of the California Yahi tribe. 

problems with ethnology of stone tools are: 

-INADAQUATE DESCRIPTIONS; few cultural anthropologists know enough about stone tool tech

-SMALL SAMPLE SIZES;  few groups remain who make stone tools and they typically do so for only a limited range of tasks

-MEMORY CULTURE; stone tool makers/users are often elderly and their memories are not that great 

-BAD INFORMATION;  information may be fabricated or culturally biased 

PERCUSSION means: 

to strike 

CORE is: 

HAMMERSTONE is: 

-tool used to shape rocks

-2 types:

 --HARD HAMMER= matal/stone

 --SOFT HAMMER= antler/bone/wood/anything else

PRESSURE FLAKING is: 

-the technique of making stone tools by pressing a flake off the core w/ the hammer 

a HARD HAMMER is: 

-used to shape a core rock

-made of metal/stone 

 a SOFT HAMMER is: 

-a tool used to shape a core rock

-made of antler/bone/wood/anything else other than metal/stone 

a FLAKE is: 

-a piece of waste stone 

a FLAKE SCAR is: 

-mark/indenture where a flake has come off 

the DORSAL SURFACE is: 

-the outside surface of the core/fracture, the part has been exposed to weather/ing 

a STRIKING PLATFORM is: 

-site on the core where the hammer strikes 

-can be identified by an indent

--creates a flake with a bulge one it 

a BULGE is: 

-a literal bulge on a flake

-corresponds to the striking platform 

-small bulge=soft hammer

large bulge=hard hammer 

"FLINT" JACK was: 

-a 19th century forger of stone tools 

a BLADE is: 

-a long narrow piece of rock 

FRANCOIS BORDES and stone tools: 

-replicated stone tools

-these experiments improved his typology

the stone tool making techniques from oldest to newest are: 

-hard hammer percussion

-soft hammer perc

-pressure

-abrasion 

SYMBOLS are: 

-a kind of technology

-highly variable thru time, culture, inside cultre

-found in all human culture

-a uniquely human tech strategy 

how do archs interpret symbols? 

by linking them to known symbols in past cultures 

H. MARTIN WOBST? asserts: 

symbols are used to communicate with people who share the same culture but are not intimate aquaintances 

COSTLY SIGNALING THEORY is: 

-using costly/dangerous symbols to identify self w/ certain group, status, etc.

*legability issue, see page 50 of notes