anthro week 5 quiz
Define Archaeological record
Physical remains of human activites recorded by archeoloogists
Can have different meanings
Define Archaeological site
Any location with physical evidence of past human activity
Most sites are recorded by archaeologists dating from before 20,000 years ago are BASE CAMPS, HABITATION SITES, PICTOGRAPHS AND RESOURCE PROCESSING SITES
Define Base Camps
Artifacts and ecofacts are often in spesific patterns that can be identifed as a feature
Define Habitation site:
Inferring that people are living at the site, at least on a temporary basis
Define Reasource Processing Sites:
Physical remains indicate that people were harvesting resources and/or processing them
Define Pictographs
Paintings on immovable rock surfaces (approx 45,000 years ago)
Define Petroglyphs
engravings made on rock surfaces (approx 30,000-12,000 years ago)
Define Artifact
Any portable object that was manufactured, modified by or used by people
Define Feature
Non portabl entity that was created by humans
Define Ecofact
Plant, animal or mineral remains associated with human occuptaion
Define plant remains
seeds, pollen, charcoal
Define Faunal remains
Animal bone, teeth,hairs, hooves, horns
Biases to keep in mind:
-Archaelogical record is incomplete
-Many aspects of past human cultures are not visable through material remains
-Sites are hard to find
-Fewer humans=less physical evidence
-Fewer kinds of material evidence of culture
-More mobile=less trash accumulation
-Many sites are destroyed by cultural (ex, war, construction) and natural processes(floods, erosion)
-Sea levels have changed
-Organic remains do not preserve as well as non-organic ones
-Sites/artifacts are often deliberetly abandoned
-Male bias=focus on specific types of remains/ activites
-Launguage used to talk about the past can be very damaging
Africa:
1- Stone tools dating back to 2.6-3.3 million years ago
2-Marks on animal bones between 2.5-3.4 million years ago
In human culture BEFORE 2 million years ago, reasonable to assume that
-Variety of cultures existed
-Dozen difffernt huam species
-Most were living in open -woods savannah grasslands
-No pernment camps
-Mostly eating plant foods
-Scavenging/hunting
-Groups of approx 20 to 30 witj fluid membership
-No real division of labour between the sexes
-Transmission of knowledge plus culture through laungage
Lower Palaeolithic
3 million-500,000 years ago
Homohabilis +homo erectus
Middle Palaeolithic
500,000-40,000 years ago
Archaic homosapiens, homo heiddbergenisis + homo neanderlaensis
upper Palaeolithic
40,000-12,000 years ago
Homo-sapiens
Diet+Subsistence
Plant and animal remains, human skeletal remains, coprolites, human soft tissue and residue on artifacts can be used to study diet
Meat eating becomes more important approx- 2.5 million years ago
Social systems
Analogies suggest groups of approx 25 to 30 was commom
Flusid membership =, exogamous
Lack of social stratification until upper palaeolithic
-Likely division of labour based on sex
Scavenging
Significance of meat and adoption of hunting stredigies increaced with homo erectus
Hunting big game would have required group cooperation and peristence hunting
Fire
Ability to control fire was very important
Unsure when it first started
Hard to tell if evidence of fire is natural or cultural
More kinds of foods could be eaten and fire increaced the nutritional value of others
Provided light/heat
Allowed advances in technology
Evidence of widespread control of fire by approx 40,000 years old
Evolution in technology
Lots of changes in technology during the Palaeolithic
Define Oldowan
tools are usually associated with homo habilis and flakes are struck off one site/end to create an unifacial tool
Define ACHEULEAN
TOOLS are associated with homo erectus and were typically bifacial (flakes taken off both sides)
Acheulean handaxes are still not well understood
Lomekwian tools
Dscovered in 2015 and may be associated with Australopithecus, Kenyanthropus or early homo?
approx. 3.3 million years ago
Spears have been used since at least 400,000 years ago
Bow/arrow= uncertain but likely during Upper Palaeolithic
Define Ethnoarchaeology
Archaeologists do ethnographic reserch to better understand archaeogogicl record
Experimental Archaeology
archaeologits themselves will recreate ancient activites to better understand how they were done
Arts/Ideology
Earilest undisutted evidence of art dates to at least 65,000 years ago
Became widespread and common starting 40,000 years ago
Cave art often associated with religion/ritual (Venus figurines)
-May be other hypotheses other then fertiity and sexuality