Anthropology
The study of humans
Archaeology
The study of past humans through material remains
Material Remains
Anything humans interacted with, used, created or shaped
Artifacts
Objects manipulated, made, or used by past peoples (anything over 50 years old)
Lithics
Stone tools
Site
Place where physical evidence of a past human presence can be discovered (where people lived, worked)
Bioarchaeology
Study of skeletal remains of human beings or human ancestors
Ecofacts
Environmental elements that exhibit traces of human use or activity (ex: bones of butchered animals, pollen and phytoliths)
Features
Non-portable artifacts
Archaeological Research Design
Research questions frame how, where and why archaeologists investigate the past
Taphonomy
How items become part of the archaeological record (information processes)
Good Preservation Contexts
Extremely dry (desert), extremely wet (underwater), anaerobic (not a lot of oxygen)
Poor Preservation Contexts
Hot, humid (tropical)
Surveying
Maps physical remains of human activity
Methods of excavation
Shovel test, test pit, trench
Methods of surveying
Pedestrian (ground based), aerial photography, remote sensing
Electrical Resistivity Survey
Sends a current through the ground, and the current is affected by what it passes through
Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)
Electromagnetic pulse is aimed at the ground and the signal bounces back differently when sub surface changes are encountered
Remote Sensing
Aerial/drone photography, satellite imagery, google maps, LiDAR
LiDAR
Light detecting and ranging, laser scanning
Horizontal Excavation
Excavate a broad area in order to expose the remains of a single point in time
Vertical Excavation
Excavate a significant depth of deposits in order to expose the record of a sequence of occupation
Context
The location in which an object was found, and objects associated with it
Provenience
The precise context in which an object is recovered in an excavation
Datum Point
The linchpin for the control of excavation, serves as a reference point for all depth measurements on the site
In Situ
Material that is in the place where it was originally deposited
Faunal Remains
Animal bones
Paleobots
Plant remains
Human remains
Human skeletal materials
Skeletal remains tell us
Sex, age, geographic origin (strontium isotope analysis), paleopatholgy
Chronology
A dated sequence of events in the past
Relative dating
Can determine whether an object or layer is older or younger than another
Absolute dating
Provides a range of dates in calendar years
Stratigraphy
Relative dating technique
Stratum/strata
Layer of earth or human generated debris
Law of Superposition
Any layer above the dated layer will be younger and any layer below will be older
Association
Material remains located in the same layer may be "associated" and be of a similar date (contemporaneous)
Seriation
Relative dating technique; Comparing the relative frequency of artifact types between contexts (assumption that frequency of an artifact form will increase gradually over time, then decline gradually after reaching a peak)
Dendrochronology
Absolute dating technique; accumulation of annual layers
Radiocarbon dating
Absolute dating technique; tracks rate of decay (half-life); possible to determine how much time has passed since the material began to decay; compares stable isotope (12C) to unstable isotope (14C) to see the difference in levels (14C decays at a predict
Paleomagnetic dating
Based on changes in the earth's magnetic pole
Half-life
Time it takes for the entire quantity to decay to half its original size
Archaeologist Specialist Areas
Ceramics, lithics; zooarchaeologists, bioarchaeologists
Specialists from related disciplines
Paleobotanists, geologists, ecologists
Experimental archaeology
Attempting to replicate archaeological features or objects
Cultural Resource Management
Public archaeology carried out with the goal of mitigating the effects of development on archaeological resources