Reading...
Play button
Play button
Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
113 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
Archaeology defined
|
the study of human past from material remains
|
|
|
Subfields of anthropology
|
cultural, biological, linguistic, archaelogy
|
|
|
Stratigraphy
|
the successive deposition of superimposed layers, either of natural or cultural material; laid the basis for chronological sequences
|
|
|
Chronology
|
chronicle or arrangement of events in their order of occurrence in time; It is also "the determination of the actual temporal sequence of past events
|
|
|
Three Age System
|
stone, bronze, and iron; stone tools came before bronze and bronze came before iron. stone divided into paleolithic and neolithic, bronze and iron into early middle late
|
|
|
Chipped Stone Tools
|
one of the Three 19th Century Advances; demo in 1830s that early human chipped stone toosl could be found in the gravel terraces of european rivers (mammoth, rhino); indicated both the great age of the human tools and gave a first insight into the dramatically different climate that early humans experienced
|
|
|
discovery of Pre-Modern Skeleton
|
one of the Three 19th Century Advances; discovered in limestone cave in the neander valley in western germany 1856. first fossil hominin, gave evidence of the development of modern humans from earlier archaic human forms
|
|
|
Origin of Species – Natural Selection
|
one of the Three 19th Century Advances; suggested that the diversity of life was not the result of divine creation, but of natural processes that could still be observed in the present day; it also applied to humans
|
|
|
Gregor Mendel
|
austrian botanist who's plant breeding experiments in the 1860s which showed how particular characteristics are passed from parent to offspring
|
|
|
[Human] Evolutionary Ecology
|
(study of how species are adapted to their environment); includes the study of culture as an adaptive mechanism
|
|
|
Bands
|
characters by small groups of 25-60 individuals who are related to each other through family and marriage ties - such societies are typical of mobile hunter-gatherers
|
|
|
Tribes
|
generally settled farmers or pastoralist herders, numbering from few hundred to few thousand individuals whose identity is based on a concept of descent from a common ancestor; they are loosely organized without central control or strongly developed social hierarchy
|
|
|
Chiefdoms
|
may number over 10k individuals, in which institutionalized differences of rank and status are embedded in a hierarchy of lineages ruled over by a chief; key economic feature of chiefdom societies is redistribution, in which subordinate sectors of society pay tribute to the chief, who then redistributes it to his followers
|
|
|
States
|
societies or civilization, in which populations reach much greater levels of size and complexity, with a centralized and institutionalized control that overrides kinship ties, and in which differences of rank and wealth are fostered and protected
|
|
|
Radiocarbon Dating
|
first radiometric (absolute) dating technique invented by Willard Libby in the late 1940s; aka carbon-14 or C14 dating. widely applicable to organic materials such as charcoal, bone, and shell, not good for objects over 40,000 years old
|
|
|
Cultural Ecology
|
mechanism of change; one of the main causes of change in human culture and society has been the response of those societies to the challenges and opportunities of their environments
|
|
|
Agency Theory
|
considers individuals in the past as knowledgeable actors; although constrained by traditions/norms/beliefs they are still able to effect change and achieve specific objectives; highlights impact of individuals
|
|
|
Molecular Genetics - DNA from living populations
|
demonstrated that modern human populations are much more genetically diverse in Africa than elsewhere in the world, a finding which supports teh case that modern human populations outside africa are descended from a subset of the original african population
|
|
|
Molecular Genetics - Ancient DNA
|
has the potential to document the genetic interrelationships of all hominins living and dead, but is compromised by the decay to which organic materials are subject; has uncovered the differences between modern humans and neanderthals
|
|
|
Stratigraphic Analysis - Principle of Superposition
|
states that if a sedimentary deposit is unmixed and undisturbed, the oldest layers will be at the bottom of the deposit; key in positioning sedimentary layers to help build fossil chronologies
|
|
|
Stratigraphic Analysis - Principle of Association
|
states that materials found close together tend to date to roughly the same period
|
|
|
Stratigraphic Analysis - Principle of Strata Identified by Fossils/Artifacts
|
allows geological deposits from different areas to be compared and related to one another
|
|
|
Innovation
|
when a new artifact or technique is developed
|
|
|
Diffusion
|
spread of innovations and materials from one area to adjacent regions
|
|
|
Emulation
|
when societies adopt features from their neighbors in a context of rivalry or competition
|
|
|
Migration
|
movement of a people and their skills/technologies from one area to another
|
|
|
Processual Archaeology - Ethnoarchaeology
|
living among traditional societies and observing how their activities would be represented in the archaeological record
|
|
|
Processual Archaeology - Experimental Archaeology
|
tasks or objects from the past are replicated and then compared with the archaeological remains
|
|
|
Post-Processual Archaeology
|
rejects the idea that we can ever attain objective knowledge of the past, and questions the reliance of processual archaeology on specific rigid methodologies, such as the hypothetico-deductive approach (ex/ feminist archaelogy)
|
|
|
ice ages
|
advancing ice sheets in teh northern hemisphere and pronounced aridity in teh tropics; cycle of 1 every 100,000 years
|
|
|
interglacials
|
short warm spells that are about 10,000 years long that occur in between ice ages
|
|
|
Symbolic Behavior
|
Humans use material symbols alongside language to help them represent and conceptualize ideas and relationships, to understand and interpret the social and physical world around them
|
|
|
Three traits unique to humans
|
bipedal locomotion, making of stone tools, and significant increase in brain size
|
|
|
Physical characteristics of primates
|
hands/feet that are manipulative, dexterous and able to grasp; replacement of claws with nails; reduced emphasis on olfaction, focus of locomotion on hind limbs
|
|
|
What living primates are in the tribe Hominini?
|
humans
|
|
|
Climate changes correlated with hominin evolutionary change
|
10-5 million years ago: major cooling and drying and spread of grasslands; 3-2 million years ago: another cooling and drying trend, increased Arctic and Antarctic ice, increased aridity in Africa; Around 1.7 million years ago: major shift to drier, more open habitats in East Africa,
|
|
|
Ardipithecus ramidus
|
4.4 Million years ago (mya)
Teeth more similar to apes Forest dweller Possibly bipedal |
|
|
Australopithecus afarensis
|
3.9 to 3.0 mya
Cranial capacity 375-500 cc Teeth intermediate between humans and modern apes Bipedal, skeletal evidence and footprints at Laetoli Lucy and the First Family |
|
|
Finds from Hadar and Laetoli
|
hadar - lucy
laetoli - footprints dated to 3.5mya |
|
|
Homo habilis
|
2.4 to 1.5 mya
Cranial capacity 500 to 800 cc First habitation sites? Olduwan pebble tools (Lower Paleolithic) |
|
|
Homo rudolfensis
|
2 and 1.8-1.7 million years ago
retains large austrolopithecine-like premolars and molars Larger brains, smaller jaws and teeth and a decrease in sexual dimorphism |
|
|
Olduwan industry
|
The earliest archaeological materials and sites, dated to 2.5 million years ago, Cores, flakes, hammerstones, and sometimes retouched pieces
|
|
|
Manuports
|
unmodified stones out of their geological context, which were presumably transported to sites by hominins
|
|
|
Bone tools from Sterkfontein and Swartkrans in South Africa
|
polished and striated bone and horn fragments associated with Oldowan artifacts have been interpreted as digging implements
|
|
|
Australopithecus garhi
|
2.5-2.2mya
brain 450cc prognathic face, large anterior and cheek teeth, thick enamel, long arms/legs |
|
|
Olduvai Gorge
|
located in tanzania, leakey find,
Dates 1.75 mya Crude semicircle of unmodified stones Numerous tools Bones of crocodiles, bovids, suids, and tortoise Hundreds of crocodile teeth |
|
|
What are Olduwan sites?
|
Home bases (much like modern camping areas), carnivore leftovers (sucked marrow out), stone caches for tool-making, processing sites for food, favored places (stones and bones were carried to an area with shade, protection, water, and animal carcasses)
|
|
|
Paleomagnetism
|
method of dating baked clay structures (ovens, kilns, hearths) based on correlating the magnetic direction of the enclosed iron particles to known variations in the earth's magnetic direction; also known as archaeomagnetic dating
|
|
|
Potassium Argon Dating
|
most important radiometric dating method used in paleoanthropology; employs principle of radioactive decay of isotope potassium 40 into argon 40.
|
|
|
Kinds of scavenging
|
finding already-dead meat and taking small scraps and marrow, or other option driving off carnivores from fresh kills and taking the kill for themselves
|
|
|
The Expensive Tissue Hypothesis
|
animals with low-nutrient plant diets and complex digestive tracts devote more metabolic energy to digestion, while carnivores and omnivores with high-protein diets have simpler digestion, allowing energy expenditure on evolving larger brains. Therefore, among hominins, meat/marrow consumption, brain expansion, and tool use may all have evolved together.
|
|
|
cut-mark analysis
|
analysis of marks made on bones in determination of tool type
|
|
|
Olduwan Hominin social organization, diet, and technology
|
males competed for females, lived in multi-male, multi-female groups of perhaps 30 individuals; diet of hard, gritty foods. ate at least some marrow and meat; probably used more tools than the stone forms preserved:
|
|
|
chaînes opératoires
|
aka patterns of stone reduction; careful analysis of materials, refitting studies, and experimentation
|
|
|
Site formation processes
|
Geological forces can bury and alter sites. Experiments can help determine if sites are primary (little disturbed) or secondary (drastically changed).
|
|
|
Isotopic studies
|
Diet and paleoenvironment are reflected in fossil bone/tooth chemistry. Stable carbon isotopes can indicate relative amounts of tropical grass versus shrub and tree foods in the diet. The ratio of strontium to calcium in bones and teeth can indicate the balance of plants and animals in the diet and the extent to which hominins were herbivorous, omnivorous, or carnivorous.
|
|
|
Landscape Archaeology
|
encompasses the study of the whole landscape, as opposed to single sites. A specific stratigraphic horizon along an erosional outcrop is examined over several kilometers for artifacts, bones, and other materials to gain insight on their nature and density, their relationship to nearby waterways, environmental niches, and stone sources.
|
|
|
Homo ergaster
|
1.8 to 0.6 mya
Cranial capacity 750 to 1225 cc Olduwan core tools, Acheulean Tools (Lower Paleolithic) aka homo erectus |
|
|
Turkana Boy (KNM WT 15000) anatomy
|
a West Turkana skull and skeleton dated 1.56 mya, body almost modern, but brain only 880cc, with long, low, thick braincase, receding forehead, bony browridge, prognathic chinless jaw, and large molars. His nose, however, was human-like.
|
|
|
Sexual dimorphism in H. ergaster – what might it mean?
|
similar to living people, suggesting social organization approximating the modern.
|
|
|
Acheulean Handaxe Tradition
|
H. ergaster meticulously shaped cores into the characteristic hand axe: completely bifacially flaked, teardrop-shaped with a broad base and rounded point. Ovals, triangles, and sometimes cleavers were common. span over a million years and three continents.
|
|
|
Levallois technique
|
method of stone flaking associated with Mousterian in which the core pebble was shaped in advance so that it would provide a flake of predetermined size and shape
|
|
|
Homo erectus – Java
|
low-domed, angular, thick-walled human skullcap with a large shelflike browridge near Trinil, Java (Indonesia)
1.65-1mya |
|
|
Movius Line
|
rough line through northern India separating the expansive Acheulean tradition of Africa, Europe, and western Asia from teh non-Acheulean tradition in eastern and southeastern Asia
|
|
|
'Ubeidiya
|
located in jordan rift valley where ancient lake and river deposits have provided nearly 8000 flaked stones. include handaxes and others dated between 1.4-1mya
|
|
|
Homo erectus – China
|
1921, at Zhoukoudian cave
more than 40 individuals of both sexes and various ages. "Peking Chinese man" differ from the Indonesian, showing a separate evolutionary trajectory. dated to between 800,000-400,000 years ago |
|
|
Dmanisi
|
located in republic of georgia; suggest the possibility of an earlier date for the expansion of humans outside of africa. site is a medieval structure, found more than 1000 artifacts and 3000 bones, include 5 partial human skulls, four mandibles, and many teeth
|
|
|
Homo heidelbergensis
|
expanding Africans who brought the late Acheulean tradition to Europe c. 500,000 years ago. large, prognathic faces, massive, chinless jaws with big teeth, large browridges, low, flat foreheads, and thick skulls. brain 1200 cc. plausible common ancestor for Neanderthals and modern humans.
|
|
|
Gran Dolina
|
Atapuerca, Spain, Layer TD6, dated to between 857,000-780,000ya, yielded fossils from at least six individuals between 3-18 years of age. 200 artifacts were found, consisting of hammerstones and flakes but no hand axes,
|
|
|
What is the evidence of cannibalism at Gran Dolina?
|
25% of bones in TD6 show chop and cut marks where large muscles were severed or stripped away; evidence of peeling, percussion marks made when a bone was splintered for marrow extraction
|
|
|
Sima de los Huesos
|
located in spain,
500,000-400,000 years old, interval between Homo heidelbergensis and Neanderthals at 130,000ya. Two Sima skulls are 1125 and 1220 cc, but the third is 1390 cc, within Neanderthal range, the largest older than 150,000y. Sima skulls combine distinctively non-Neanderthal and Neanderthal features. |
|
|
Le Lazaret Cave
|
located in southern france; 186-127000yr, example of site modification in that there is a concentration in between large rocks and cave wall, hearths, bedding, possible tents
|
|
|
Schöningen
|
400,000ya, produced 3 complete, indisputable wooden spears, each over 2m long, oldest and most compelling evidence for human hunting, probably thrust, not thrown
|
|
|
Gesher Benot Ya'aqov (GBY)
|
oldest widely accepted evidence for early human use of use; lakeside site in israel, 780,000ya, discrete clusters of burned flint chips
|
|
|
Luminescence Dating
|
cousin of electron spin resonance, applicable at sites that lack suitable material for radiocarbon dating. employs heat or light to release electrons that are trapped in crystal flaws within substances like flint or sand
|
|
|
Dental microwear evidence of H. ergaster diet
|
consumed relatively large quantities of tough fibrous foods that could have included tubers, meat, or both; support from flaked stone technology allowed them to exploit diverse environments
|
|
|
Qesem Cave
|
Israel, 380,000 – 200,000 years ago
Evidence of fire Fallow deer – 75% of bones, also tortoise, other deer, horse, goat, aurochs, pigs and a few rhinoceros Prey mortality shows prime animals taken Carcass parts with greatest meat yield brought to site (sharing) |
|
|
Acheulean Big Game Hunters?
|
no. very little evidence for big game hunting
|
|
|
What happens about 600,000 years ago?
|
sapiens and neanderthals shared common ancestor as recently as 600,000ya,
|
|
|
Hybridization and Replacement
hypotheses |
hypothesizes that regional continuity combined with slow expansions out of Africa of emerging modern humans, and varying degrees of genetic mixing.
|
|
|
Out of Africa hypotheses
|
hypothesis assumes that modern humans dispersed from a single center of origin, but also that they completely replaced older, indigenous forms of Homo, with some possibile interbreeding. predicts that the earliest transitional and then modern human fossils will be found only in Africa. It also suggests that modern-day humans outside of Africa will not share heritage with earlier populations in the same region. Only in Africa will great genetic diversity be found, reflecting a longer period of random mutation.
|
|
|
Multi-Regional Evolution hypotheses
|
In this model, modern "racial" differences have deep evolutionary roots, although gene flow maintains reproductive and anatomical similarity. predicts that modern human fossils should appear at broadly the same time throughout the Old World; that transitional fossils between Homo ergaster or H. heidelbergensis and modern humans should be found; and that continuity should also occur. Genetically, modern human genes should have a deep ancestry, and genetic variability should be similar across the Old World, reflecting similar rates of change.
|
|
|
Cranial features of anatomically modern humans
|
cranial capacity >1350 cc; vertical frontal bone; a high and parallel-walled cranial vault; a rounded occipital region lacking a prominent occipital torus and with a relatively flat angle of the cranial base; a non-continuous brow ridge expressed more clearly in males; a flat, non-projecting face below the expanded frontal braincase region; and a distinct chin.
|
|
|
African fossils classified as modern humans (Homo sapiens) occur after what date?
|
after 125,000 years ago
|
|
|
Misconceptions regarding “mitochondrial Eve”
|
The mitochondrial ancestor was not the only female living, or the only one who passed on mtDNA, but part of a population.
|
|
|
Bottlenecks and Mount Toba
|
a decline in variability will result in the bottle-neck effect; stan ambrose suggested that the eruption of Mount Toba volcano may have caused a die-out, which led to the bottle-necking
|
|
|
What does neanderthal DNA indicate about the relationship between modern humans
and neanderthals? |
genetic dissimilarity between Neanderthals and modern humans, although whether they could interbreed and produce fertile offspring or not is unknown. Neanderthals did not contribute mtDNA to the contemporary human gene pool.
|
|
|
Modern Behavior
|
African Middle Stone Age people displayed modern behavior by 150,000 years ago: personal ornamentation, use of pigments, and possible mortuary rituals.
|
|
|
Broad spectrum economy
|
Modern broad-spectrum diet based on many varied rather than few large species, more plants, and a new incorporation of marine resources appears in Africa by c. 130,000-115,000.
|
|
|
Many distinct neanderthal physical characteristics seem to be adaptations to what?
|
to the cold, dry environments that they encountered and their physically demanding lifestyle
|
|
|
Neanderthal post cranial injuries resemble those found in modern humans involved in
what kind of activity? |
rodeo riding
|
|
|
What do stable isotope analyses indicate about Neanderthal diet?
|
stable isotope analyses of bone suggest a diet of up to 90 percent meat.
|
|
|
Middle Paleolithic faunal assemblages suggest what about neanderthal hunting practices?
|
they employed opportunistic hunting methods, in which animals were hunted as they were encounterd in the landscape
|
|
|
Mousterian Lithic Industry
|
neanderthals used the Levallois flaking technique to produce predictably sized flakes and blades, and the discoidal method, yielding as many variously sized flakes as possible. Some were unmodified, others retouched into scrapers, denticulates, notches, points, and bifacial hand axes.
|
|
|
Neanderthal behavior
|
Neanderthals worked wood, antler, and bone; they commonly constructed simple hearths for warmth, light, and cooking using wood or coal, and sometimes paved wet floors with stones. used certain areas for trash disposal, toolmaking, eating, resting. Some groups buried their dead; no convincing art.
|
|
|
Lieberman and Shea's analysis of neanderthal and modern human differences in settlement and mobility in the Levant
|
N - radiating mobility strategy, large multi-purpose sites.
MH - residential circulating mobility, strongly organized around seasonal change, seasonal camps |
|
|
Sundaland and Sahul Land (relevance to the peopling of Australia/New Guinea
|
separation of the new areas by water indicate island-hopping water crossings were necessary
|
|
|
Approximate age of colonization of Australia
|
40000ya
|
|
|
Homo floresiensis
|
38,000-12000ya
brain 380cc pygmy population? |
|
|
Aurignacian
|
earliest truly Upper Paleolithic industry in europe, indicates that H. sapiens had reached at least the southern edges of europe by aorund 45kya and may have expanded to iberia by 40kya
|
|
|
Gravettian
|
The Aurignacian ended around 28,000 years ago, and in central Europe, out of it developed the Gravettian technocomplex: Behavioral innovations include semi-sedentism, burial, and projectile technology
|
|
|
Kostenki
|
Site on the River Don in Russia, yielded semi-subterranean dwellings, roofed with mammoth ribs and furs, organized in an oval around nine hearths.
|
|
|
Sungir'
|
burial site of two infants buried head to head around 24kya, wore thousands of fox teeth and mammoth ivory pendants, colored with red ocher
|
|
|
Mobiliary art
|
portable art produced during the Upper Paleolithic (particularly carving on mammoth ivory)
|
|
|
Magdalenian
|
Late Upper Paleolithic culture, First seen in Iberia and southern France, the culture spread to Russia and southern Europe, reaching Britain by 14,000 years ago,
|
|
|
Chauvet Cave
|
located by the Pont d'Arc, complex system of large galleries of cave art
|
|
|
Solutrean
|
french and iberian culture in which Upper Paleolithic flintworking reached its zenith
|
|
|
Mezhirich
|
eastern european site where semi-permanent dwellings of impressive size were constructed out of mammoth bones
|
|
|
Three routes to the New World
|
1. "Beringia" 2. Bering Strait by boat, or along Pacific Rim coasts. 3. Solutreans made a trans-Atlantic crossing.
|
|
|
Meadowcroft Rockshelter
|
a rich site with a deep stratigraphy, and forms one of the most frequently cited examples of pre-clovis occupation of the americas
|
|
|
Monte Verde
|
located in chile 14.5kya
|
|
|
Clovis
|
Well-made fluted points made from non-local stone which have no asian counterpart
widespread distribution of clovis has lead to numerous hypotheses: First occupation in New World? Big-game hunting? Megafaunal extinctions? |
|
|
The Overkill Hypothesis
|
blitzkrieg-style extinction of the megafauna, in particular mammoth and mastodon
|
