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Unit 1 - 5
Intro, Who Owns the Past, Placing Objects, Recovering & Interpreting Evidence
48
Anthropology
Undergraduate 1
12/10/2014

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Cards

Term
Archaeology
Definition
a particular way of seeing and learning about past human cultures through the analysis of material remains in their temporal or spatial contexts
Term
material remains
Definition
the by-product of learned, shared, and cognitively structured human behavior/culture
Term
Renaissance & Enlightenment movement
Definition
the Western-based movements that largely developed archaeology's approach
Term
Concept of Natural Law
Definition
Humans were a part of the natural world and subject to the world's laws & principles
Term
Antiquaries
Definition
"gentleman scholars," began systematic study and collection of artifacts in the the 17th and 18th centuries
Term
Antiquarianism
Definition
a belief in collecting and studying artifacts from around the world; had no set methods for ordering things in time
Term
Stratigraphy
Definition
study of the layers of zones; used to place artifacts in time ranges; only way to read time directly from a site's spatial context
Term
Kinders & Nelson
Definition
Main founders of systematic excavation and record-keeping for the US
Term
Post-processual Critique
Definition
archaeologists are guilty of using artifacts to support the status quo of contemporary society's histories
Term
Chronological
Definition
Ordering system based on time
Term
Chronological & Spatial
Definition
Two types of info essential to understanding the material record
Term
Spatial
Definition
the context and association of the material record with the objects/other material record around it
Term
Causation
Definition
the how and why of an occurance
Term
Christian Thomsen
Definition
created the Three Age Ordering System (Stone, Copper, Iron)
Term
Three Age Ordering System
Definition
implemented in 1820, included stratigraphic ranges, first attempt of creating a temporal framework for prehistoric relics
Term
Law of Superposition
Definition
that the newest relics are always closest to the surface
Term
cultural chronologies
Definition
regular time sequences and other cultural remains for local areas & based on stratigraphic excavation
Term
chronometric
Definition
absolute dating; gives an exact or estimated date for an object; includes radiocarbon dating or dendrochronology
Term
Dendrochronology
Definition
tree ring dating
Term
Relative Dating
Definition
based on stratigraphy & placing objects in relative order
Term
seriation
Definition
change of an artifact style over time; method of relative dating
Term
habitus
Definition
repeated patterns of action within a culturally defined framework
Term
survey
Definition
locating and documenting sites in a landscape
Term
Geographic Information System (GIS)
Definition
a computer system designed to utilize all types of spatial or geographical data
Term
transect sampling
Definition
sampling in straight lines and sample at certain intervals
Term
augering
Definition
often used in random sampling, small pit excavation
Term
ethnoarchaeology
Definition
studies how human behavior is translated into archaeological record
Term
Landscapes
Definition
spatial manifestation of the relations between humans and the environment
Term
judgemental
Definition
researchers choose a sample location based on prior knowledge
Term
Matrix Sorting
Definition
Bulk samples taken to lab, small things sorted on site
Term
Middle Level Theory
Definition
links the static connection of "objects in context" to past human behavior; "a particularly rigorous analogy"
Term
actualism
Definition
studies the dynamics that produced the static remains in the present
Term
Uniformitarian Perspective
Definition
perspective of the past having the same cause-and-effect relationships observable in the present
Term
Site formation processes
Definition
the processes, natural and cultural, that create archaeological sites
Term
archaeological context
Definition
static, 3D context in the present
Term
systematic context
Definition
dynamic, active context of use in the past
Term
cultural ecology
Definition
developed in the 1930s and 40s by anthropologist Julian Steward
Term
cultural evolution
Definition
developed in the 1930s through 1950s by Leslie White
Term
evolutionary ecology
Definition
a field of biological theory
Term
food
Definition
energy that fuels human societies; enables social and biological reproduction
Term
cultural materialism
Definition
subsistence strongly determines political & economical structure & the dominant influence in social, political & economic change over time
Term
behavioral ecology
Definition
study of the evolutionary basis for animal behavior based on ecological pressures
Term
environmental history
Definition
uses archaeological data to compare different levels of human impact on ecosystems and to explore the causes of those processes
Term
paleoenvironmental reconstruction
Definition
methods of reconstructing past environments and human subsistence strategies
Term
palynology
Definition
pollen analysis
Term
Zooarchaeology
Definition
deals with animal remains & archaeology
Term
Paleoethnobotany or archaeobotany
Definition
deals with plant remains & archaeology & humans
Term
Taphonomy
Definition
assesses biasing factors in post-discard natural processes; asks what effect does differential destructive processes have on the species and elements present
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