Anthropology: Archaeology

ARCHAEOLOGY

A way to see and learn about past human cultures through the analysis of material remains

Prehistoric archaeology• study of eras and societies for which

there is no written record

Historic archaeology• Studies societies for which written

records exist• Reaches beyond documents to try to

understand and recreate people’s day-to-day lives

Archaeologists study material remains (physical traces of human action in the world)

• Artifacts: things touched by humans

• Features: human modifications in landscape (houses, hearths, pits, fields, roads...)

• “Ecofacts”: objects of non-cultural origin (seeds, pollen, bones, shell…)

Material remains are byproducts of learned, shared, cognitively structured behavior

Patterning in material record reflects cultural behavior in a systematic way

– Archaeology aims to reconstruct these patterns and explain their meaning in telling stories about the past.

PotsherdPotsherds are historic or prehistoric fragments of pottery.

Value:

• diagnostic characteristics

• high resistance to natural destructive processes

To study potsherds is to study technology and resources

The grid systemMost commonly used plan for excavation and site study

• to excavate is to destroy

• grid: a network of uniformly spaced squares used to divide a site into units

• measures and records the position of artifacts and features across a site

Archaeologists do three things:

1. ReconstructHow did people live at some moment of the distant past?

2. ChronologizePut these moments in order: How did history/pre-history change over time?

3. HypothesizeExplain these changes over timeExhaustively test these hypotheses

How do artifacts become buried?

1. Nature buries

Water is the most common burial tool

(especially flooding)

Land slides

Wind moves dirt, sand

Organisms: plants, earthworms, small mammals



2. People bury

a. We bury our dead


2. People bury

b. We bury our garbage


2. People bury

c. We bury votive offerings

Bronze animal statuettesOlympia, Greece c.800 BCE


2. People bury

d. We bury treasure

What do archaeologists generally find?

Not much organic material– wood, cloth, leather,

basketry, paper: all will decay

Durable artifacts– stone construction

– stone or metal tools

– pottery

– patterns on the land


Basketry impressions on potsherds


Ethnobotanical remains


Zooarchaeological remains

Preservation

Obviously, some environments are more conducive to archaeological preservation.

Preservation

Extremely dry environments inhibit growth of mold, bacteria

e.g. Egypt, Peruvian highlands

Preservation

Certain wet environments preserve organic material

e.g. peat bogs, underwater sites

Preservation

Frozen environments

e.g. mountaintops, Alaska, Siberia

Preservation

Odd circumstances

e.g. caves, climate change

How are sites found?

90% are discovered

accidentally.

How are sites found?

Other methods:

Ancient writings

– Mt. Ararat, Eden?

Satellite images

– Egyptian cities; Road to Ubar

Oral traditions

Walls/foundations

Maps/documents

90% are discovered

accidentally.

How are sites destroyed?

1. DecompositionOrganic vs. inorganic


2. Vandalism


3. Looting


4. “Progress” (Human development)Ten ancient tombs from the Six Dynasties (220-589) were destroyed to make way for this Nanjing IKEA in 2007


5. Bad archaeologyDiscovering Troy: Dynamite!


6. Environmental disastersNatural or man-made


7. War and upheavalThe Buddhas of Bamiyan: Carved in the 6th Century C.E., they couldn’t survive the Taliban in 2001


8. Time

How do we best preserve artifacts?

1. Use care and caution

2. Wear gloves

3. Limit exposure to deteriorating factors

- light, air, moisture, airborne pollutants, pests

4. Use suitable containers

5. Limit access

On a micro level:

How do we best preserve artifacts?

On a macro level:

Institutional protection

Antiquities Act (1906)

Theodore Roosevelt and forward-looking legislators wrote federal legislation protecting archaeological sites

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person who shall appropriate, excavate, injure, or destroy any historic or prehistoric ruin or monument, or any object of antiquity, situated on lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States…

National Historic Preservation Act (1966)

The Act establishes preservation as a national policy and directs the Federal government to provide leadership in preserving, restoring and maintaining the historic and cultural environment of the Nation.

Preservation is defined as the protection, rehabilitation, restoration, and reconstruction of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects significant in American history, architecture, archeology, or engineering.

Archaeological sites are non-renewable

Once destroyed, these sites and objects can never be recreated.

Archaeology is incomplete

WEAKNESSES:

The most interesting and informative components ofare not material culture.

– Politics, myth/religion,social structure can onlybe studied indirectly

– Overreliance on individuals’ interpretation

Archaeology is incomplete

STRENGTHS:

Material culture does not lie.

What we leave behind showshow we actually lived, notmerely how we want to be remembered.

Examining a living society often focuses too closely on ideal culture.

3.

2.1.

4.

7.

6.5.

8.

6.9.

10.

What can we learn from pottery?

Pottery is common

1. Dates to 6000 BCE

2. It broke easily

3. It wasn’t reused

4. It wasn’t looted

Pottery was common

1. Used in all parts of life

2. Technique/resources

Pottery’s style changed often

The grid systemMost commonly used plan for excavation and site study

• to excavate is to destroy

• grid: a network of uniformly spaced squares used to divide a site into units

• measures and records the position of artifacts and features across a site

3-D grids also allow digital recreation of excavation sites.

Digital photogrammetic recreation

Relative dating

Relative dating allows us to put things in chronological order.

Relative dating relies on context, and doesn’t give you an artifact or site’s exact age.

Also known as seriation.

Relative dating: Patination

Patina is the outermost surface of an artifact

Patina is the result of chemical, physical, and/or biological change in response to soil and environmental conditions

Patination is the measurement and analysis of this outer layer.

(It kind of pins down erosion.)

Using patination: the moai of Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

Relative dating: Law of superposition

Usually it means that what’s on top is youngest. Assists usin analyzing stratigraphy.

Relative dating: Rate of accumulation

Best described as a product of erosion. What we can learn from the gathering of sediment in layers of rock and soil.

Relative dating: Biostratigraphy

the use of fossils to relatively date the strata of rock in which they are found

Relative dating: Fluorine absorption

Fluorine exists in most groundwater.

Fluorine is absorbed into bones over time.

More fluorine = older bones.

This is a chemical test, but it’s still relative.

Relative dating: Pollen dating analysis

AKA archaeologicalpalynology

Pollen is remarkable in its resistance to decay

Scientists examine pollen concentrations across the strata to draw other assumptions about each layer

Absolute dating

Absolute dating allows us to get to (or near) an artifact or site’s specific age.

Also known as chronometric dating

Most common method: radioactivity

Absolute dating: Dendrochronology

Dendroarchaeology is the use of tree rings to date when timber has been transported, processed, felled or used in construction.

Absolute dating: Radiocarbon datingMeasures organic material like wood, charcoal, marine and fresh-water shell, bone, and antler.

Radiocarbon is absorbed by plants through the air

Animals eat plants and take C14 into their bodies.

When a living organism dies it quits absorbing C14 and starts to disintegrate.

Scientists measure the C14 that is left.

Absolute dating: ArchaeomagnetismRelies on measuring Geomagnetic polarity

Magnetic north changes slowly (but consistently)over time.

Any time ferromagnetic materials are melted and cool, they “point” to magnetic north.

Mainly applies to clay ovens and fire pits

Absolute dating: Potassium-Argon

Potassium-argon (K-Ar) dating is the measurement of the accumulation of argon in a mineral.

As potassium decays, argon is accumulated.

What to do with excavated data?

1. Collect

One hour in the field vs. appx. four hours in the lab

Identify and isolate artifacts


2. Integrate

How and where does this fit in with what we already know?


2. Integrate

How and where does this fit in with what we already know?


3. Data-driven inference

What new patterns of ancient behavior canwe distill?

Integrated data serves as an explanation of patterns in cultural terms

Processing and classification

Sorting into broad categories (tools, pottery, metal objects)

Typology: grouping artifacts with similar attributes

Example: point typology of arrowheads

Processing and classification

Surface attributes include decoration, pattern, and color

Shape attributes include size, dimension, and shape (duh)

Technological attributes address the transformation of raw material

Education

Anthropology: Archaeology