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Flashcards in Early Development of Archaeology Deck (28)
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0
Q

History

A

Unique events; no change in culture or technology, only decay

1
Q

What are notions of time?

A

Night and day (i.e. humans and animals can distinguish between day and night)
-Past, present, and future (concepts of time)

2
Q

Thunderstones

A

Prehistoric hand axes found in plowed fields

  • Sold to goldsmiths during Middle Ages
  • Burials were looted disregarding past, no understanding
3
Q

James Ussher

A

Published Annles of Old Testiment (1650)

-Creation happened 4004 B.C. on the nightfall before Sunday, October 23rd (earth is only 6,013 years old)

4
Q

What does the expansion of scales of time and space (1600-1700s) mean?

A

The realization of astronomical distances

  • Earth is a very small place in a very large universe
  • Vast scales of spaced allowed acceptance of vast scales of time
5
Q

James Hutton

A

Published the Theory of Earth (1795)

  • Discovered formation of sedimentary rock, suggests ancient earth
  • The Principle of “Uniformitarianism”
6
Q

Uniformtarianism

A

Laws of nature are constant

  • Gravity and speed of light doesn’t change with time
  • Sediment in the Ocean changes at a very slow rate (few kilometers per 100 years)
7
Q

Christopher Lyell

A

“Father of modern day geology” (influenced ideas of Darwin)

-Published Principles of Geology (1737); advanced study of stratigraphy

8
Q

What are stratigraphy and fossils?

A

Provides chronological framework for the earth; “superposition”

9
Q

What are the principles of Superposition?

A

In any undisturbed sequence of layers, the bottom layer is the oldest and the upper layer is the youngest

10
Q

Charles Darwin

A

Published the Origin of Species (1859)

  • Gradual evolutionary change in plants and animals (*humans)
  • The theory of Natural Selection or “survival of the fittest”
11
Q

Jacques Boucfier

A

Human antiquity

  • Recovered stone tools with extinct animals in France (1847)
  • Deep (ancient) stratigraphy estimated to be >5,000,000 years old
12
Q

John Lubbock

A

Human antiquity

  • Coined the terms “Paleolithic” and “Neolithic”
  • Applied Darwin’s concept to archaeological records
  • Moral and technological progress (inevitable and unilinear)
13
Q

Paleolithic

A

Old Stone Age

14
Q

Neolithic

A

New Stone Age

15
Q

19th century Paleolithic archaeology

A

The first scientific discipline of the study of human antiquity
-Assumed all ancient human societies went through same process; primitive -> sophisticated humans

16
Q

19th century view of Social Evolution

A

Change = simple -> complex

  • Savages, barbarians, and civilized
  • Progress = increased intelligence, beauty, and goodness
  • Western civilization’s role was to “lead” less advanced humans
17
Q

Savages

A

Starving, ignorant, supersticious, and violent

18
Q

Barbarians

A

Less starving, ignorant, superstitious, and violent

19
Q

Civilized

A

Not starving, moral, wealthy, sophisticated, and reasonable

20
Q

Rethinking progress

A

The end of European Imperialism

-Increased understanding of evolutionary process

21
Q

“Processual” archaeology

A

Evolutionary and scientific perspective

  • Universal laws of social change
  • Societies as systems with environment and technologies as significant variables
22
Q

Post-“Processual” archaeology

A

Post-Modernism

  • More particular and less universal in scope
  • Explicit recognition of political context of archaeology
  • Focused on roles of individuals instead of systems of past
23
Q

Archaeology today

A

Expansion of multiple perspectives

-Darwinian and evolutionary theories continue to develop

24
Q

Post-“Processual” archaeology

A

Dating methods using “pre-history”

-Establishes sequences of change; pace of change is NOT linear

25
Q

Absolute Dating

A

Provides a secure date in which an event or fossil was discovered

  • Can be very expensive (not used as much)
  • Documented through historical text
26
Q

Relative Dating

A

Provides an approximate time period in which and event or fossil was discovered
-Doesn’t show pace of change

27
Q

Christian Jurgensen

A

“Three Age system”; Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age

-Doesn’t apply to the America’s