ASB 222 Exam 1
In an ideal world archeology... - answerreflects the past perfectly
Pompeii - answer-Ash fell up to 6 inches an hour and made buildings collapse; Covered
buildings and people acting as a mold, ultimately preserving the forms of the perished
people.
- Pyroclastic surge: pieces of volcanic debris that rolled down the mountain at extremely
high speeds; what really killed people
○ Erupted August 25th
Archeological Record - answerstudy of past behavior and formation processes (how
archeological records are formed)
Dynamic and Archeological Context - answer- Dynamic: actively being used in time
period
- Archeological: things we are looking at now from the past
Formation Processes - answer- When dynamic context switches to archeological
context
- Transform the material remnants of past behavior
- They can:
- Modify objects
- Move objects around
- Dissociate objects that were used together
- Can create spurious association between unrelated objects
Decrease/increase quantities of objects
Depositional Processes - answerTransforms material remnants from dynamic to
archeological context
Cultural Disturbance processes - answerChange the materials within the archeological
record itself
- EX: looting
Preservation Processes - answerAffect the survival of material remains in archeological
context
Natural Disturbance Processes - answerChange the materials within the archeological
record itself
Archeological Data - answer- Minimal:
, - Artifacts: are cultural, moveable objects
- Ecofacts: plant or animal remains
- Features: are non-portable object modified; in whole or in part; by human activity
- Composite:
- Burial: are features that contain human (or animal) remains. Sometimes associated
with artifacts
- Sites: are places where artifacts, ecofacts, or features have been found
Thomas Jefferson - answer○ brought American archeology into more of a profession
○ Conducted the first archeological expedition
○ Grave Creek Mound, West Virginia = in his backyard; decided to build a trench
across it; found that the mounds were actually burials from NA tribes
Paleontologists - answer○ study dinosaurs not archeologists
○ Is the study of past life, and uses its source info from fossil records
Archeology - answer○ is the study of the human past through the study of material
culture
○ Starts 2.6 million years ago when materials start to appear (archeological record)
○ Both history and science
§ History tends to focus on a particular part of the past
Science tends to focus on the regularities across a class of events
History - answer○ is the study of the human past using written records (books, maps,
etc.)
○ Starts close to present, about 5.4 thousand years ago
○ Prehistory - period of human history "before" the advent of writing
○ History - period of human history "after" the advent of writing
Anthropology: 4 fields discipline - answer○ Franz Boas - father of American
anthropology
○ Studies people from a variety of POV's
○ 4 fields
§ Biological (physical) : study of human biological or physical remains
§ Linguistic : study of language with focus on its interaction with cognition, culture and
society
§ Cultural : study of the non- aspects of human behavior and society
§ Archeology: study of the human past
Goals of Archeology - answer○ Reconstruct the history of the human population (what?
When? Where?)
Examples:
§ What happened here?
§ What were the people doing here?
§ What type of tools were they using?
§ When did they arrive? Leave?
In an ideal world archeology... - answerreflects the past perfectly
Pompeii - answer-Ash fell up to 6 inches an hour and made buildings collapse; Covered
buildings and people acting as a mold, ultimately preserving the forms of the perished
people.
- Pyroclastic surge: pieces of volcanic debris that rolled down the mountain at extremely
high speeds; what really killed people
○ Erupted August 25th
Archeological Record - answerstudy of past behavior and formation processes (how
archeological records are formed)
Dynamic and Archeological Context - answer- Dynamic: actively being used in time
period
- Archeological: things we are looking at now from the past
Formation Processes - answer- When dynamic context switches to archeological
context
- Transform the material remnants of past behavior
- They can:
- Modify objects
- Move objects around
- Dissociate objects that were used together
- Can create spurious association between unrelated objects
Decrease/increase quantities of objects
Depositional Processes - answerTransforms material remnants from dynamic to
archeological context
Cultural Disturbance processes - answerChange the materials within the archeological
record itself
- EX: looting
Preservation Processes - answerAffect the survival of material remains in archeological
context
Natural Disturbance Processes - answerChange the materials within the archeological
record itself
Archeological Data - answer- Minimal:
, - Artifacts: are cultural, moveable objects
- Ecofacts: plant or animal remains
- Features: are non-portable object modified; in whole or in part; by human activity
- Composite:
- Burial: are features that contain human (or animal) remains. Sometimes associated
with artifacts
- Sites: are places where artifacts, ecofacts, or features have been found
Thomas Jefferson - answer○ brought American archeology into more of a profession
○ Conducted the first archeological expedition
○ Grave Creek Mound, West Virginia = in his backyard; decided to build a trench
across it; found that the mounds were actually burials from NA tribes
Paleontologists - answer○ study dinosaurs not archeologists
○ Is the study of past life, and uses its source info from fossil records
Archeology - answer○ is the study of the human past through the study of material
culture
○ Starts 2.6 million years ago when materials start to appear (archeological record)
○ Both history and science
§ History tends to focus on a particular part of the past
Science tends to focus on the regularities across a class of events
History - answer○ is the study of the human past using written records (books, maps,
etc.)
○ Starts close to present, about 5.4 thousand years ago
○ Prehistory - period of human history "before" the advent of writing
○ History - period of human history "after" the advent of writing
Anthropology: 4 fields discipline - answer○ Franz Boas - father of American
anthropology
○ Studies people from a variety of POV's
○ 4 fields
§ Biological (physical) : study of human biological or physical remains
§ Linguistic : study of language with focus on its interaction with cognition, culture and
society
§ Cultural : study of the non- aspects of human behavior and society
§ Archeology: study of the human past
Goals of Archeology - answer○ Reconstruct the history of the human population (what?
When? Where?)
Examples:
§ What happened here?
§ What were the people doing here?
§ What type of tools were they using?
§ When did they arrive? Leave?
