Chapter 2 Terminology

Question 1

Antrhopology

Answer 1

The study of all aspects of humankind - biological, cultural, and linguistic; extant and extinct - employing an all-encompassing holistic approach

Question 2

Adaptive perspective

Answer 2

A research perspective that emphasizes technology, ecology, demography, and economics as key factors in defining human behavior.

Question 3

Achaeology

Answer 3

The study of the past through the systematic recovery and analysis of material remains

Question 4

Biological Anthropology

Answer 4

A subdiscipline of anthropology that views humans as biological organisms; also known as physical antropology

Question 5

Cultural Antropology

Answer 5

A subdiscipline of anthropology that emphasizes nonbiological aspects; the learned social, linguistic, technological and familiar behaviors of humans.

Question 6

Culture

Answer 6

An integrated system of beliefs, traditions and customs that govern or influence a person’s behavior. Culture is learned, shared by members of a group and based on the ability to think in terms of symbols

Question 7

Data

Answer 7

Relevant observations made on objects that they serve as the basis for study and discussion

Question 8

Deconstruction

Answer 8

Efforts to expose the assumptions behind the alleged objective and systematic search for knowledge. A primary tool for postmodernism

Question 9

Deductive reasoning

Answer 9

Reasoning from theory to predict specific observational or experimental results.

Question 10

Ecofact

Answer 10

Plant or animal remains found in archaeological site.

Question 11

Enlightment

Answer 11

A shift in Western philosophy that advocated ideas of linear progress, absolute truth, science, rational planning of ideal social orders, and the standardization of knowledge. It held that rational thought was the key to progress; that science and technology would free people from the oppression of historical traditions of myth, religion, and superstition; and that the control of nature through technology would permit the development of moral and spiritual virtues.

Question 12

Features

Answer 12

The non portable evidence such as fire hearts, architectural elements, artifact clusters, garbage pits, soil stains and so on.

Question 13

General systems theory

Answer 13

An effort to describe the properties by which all systems, including human societies, allegedly operated. Popular in processual archaeology in late 1960s and 1970s.

Question 14

High level theory

Answer 14

Theory that seeks to answer large “why” questions

Question 15

Hypothesis

Answer 15

A proposition proposed as an explanation of some phenomena

Question 16

Ideational perspective

Answer 16

The research perspective that defines ideas, symbols and mental structures as driving forces in shaping human behavior.

Question 17

Inductive reasoning

Answer 17

Working from specific observations to more general hypotheses

Question 18

Linguistic anthropology

Answer 18

A subdiscipline of anthropology that focuses on human language; its diversity in grammar, syntax and lexicon; its historical development; and its relation to a culture’s perception of the world.

Question 19

Low-level theory

Answer 19

The observations and interpretations that emerge from hands-on archaeological field and lab work

Question 20

Paradigm

Answer 20

The overarching(πρωταρχικό) framework, often ustated, for understanding a research problem. It is a researcher’s “culture”.

Question 21

Participant observatioin

Answer 21

The primary strategy of cultural anthropology in which data are gathered by questioning and observing people while the observer lives in their society.

Question 22

Postmodernism

Answer 22

A paradigm that rejects grand historical schemes in favor of humanistic approaches that appreciate the multiple voices of history. It seeks to see how colonialism created our vision of the world we occupy today; it eschews science and argues against the existence of objective truth

Question 23

Postprocessual paradigm

Answer 23

A paradigm that focuses on humanistic approaches and rejects scientific objectivity. It sees archaeology as inherently political and is more concerned with interpreting the past than with testing hypotheses. It sees change as arising largely from interactions between individuals operating within a symbolic and/or competitive system

Question 24

Potlatch

Answer 24

Among nineteenth century Northwest Coast Native Americans, a ceremony involving the giving away or destruction of property in order to acquire prestige

Question 25

Processual paradigm

Answer 25

The paradigm that explains social, economic and cultural change as primarily the result of adaptation to material conditions; external conditions (for example, the environment) are assumed to take causal priority over ideational factors in explaining change.

Question 26

Rockshelter

Answer 26

A common type of archaeological site, consisting of a rock overhang that is deep enough to provide shelter but not deep enough to be called a cave (technically speaking, a cave must have an area of perpetual darkness).

Question 27

Science

Answer 27

The search for answers through a process that is objective, systematic, logical and predictive, self-critical, and public.

Question 28

Scientific method

Answer 28

Accepted principles and procedures for the systematic pursuit of secure knowledge. Established scientific procedures involve the following steps: define a relevant problem; establish one or more hypotheses; determine the empirical implications of the hypotheses; collect appropriate data through observation and/or experimentation; compare these data with the expected implications; and revise and/or retest hypotheses as necessary.

Question 29

Stelae

Answer 29

Stone monuments erected by Maya rulers to record their history in rich images and hieroglyphic symbols. These symbols can be read and dated.

Question 30

Testability

Answer 30

The degree to which one’s observations and experiments can be reproduced.

Question 31

Theory

Answer 31

An explanation for observed, empirical phenomena. It is empirical and seeks to explain the relationships between variables; it is an answer to a “why” question.

Question 32

Trade language

Answer 32

A language that develops among speakers of different languages to permit economic exchanges.