Things to Know for the final exam

Hannah Sfreddo
1. Absolute Dating
-eg: RC dating, dendrochronology, Thermoluminescence,
2. Acheulean
-bifaced; light; arrows and hand axes; homo erectus; precision; repairable; 1.7 mya,
coexist with Oldowan; not found in East Asia
-more complex than Oldowan; variety of materials and tool types depending on function
3. Achieved Status
-earned by merit; hunter-gatherer context
4. Aerial vs. Terrestrial Remote Sensing Methods
-remote = from afar/not at site
eg: satellite; LiDAR (light detecting and ranging)
vs: Ground Penetrating Resonance (active); magnetometry (passive)
5. Antiquarian
-not systematic; collecting artifacts as hobby
6. Archaeology
-systematic study of human lives
7. Arkaim
-russian Stonehenge, massive settlement, bronze age
8. Artifacts
-portable objects created or modified by humans
9. Ascribed Status
-status given at birth or later in life; sungir burials showed children w/ status
10. Australopithecus afarensis
Lucy, Ethiopia; Leitoli footprints in ash; Awash valley; fully bipedal; stone tools; was
hunted (no tooth adaptations for eating meat; small size, many large predators)
11. Australopithecus africanus
Taung child; South Africa; dead end in lineage
12. Aztec
13. Bamiyan Buddha
14. Bipedalism
Short pelvis, long legs (shorter arms); angled femurs; foramen magnum directly under
skull, non-opposable big toe; grinding teeth (instead of sheering); larger brains
-carrying; energy efficiency over long distance; better heat loss; seeing in field
15. Cahokia
-largest urban center of Native Americans at time period, planned city with 4 plazas and
grand plaza, constructing to be level; large mounds (monk mound = largest in North
America); complex civ.
16. Calibration of radiocarbon dates
-important bc ratio of C14/C12 changes over time; converts RC to years
17. Caral
-largest settlement in Andes; in Peru; urban, ceremonial plazas, pyramids; mounds,
irrigation
18. atalhyk

-Turkey, crowded Neolithic city; houses very close, ladders to roof for public life;
evidence of trade (obsidian) and religion, no evidence of hierarchy (except food surplus)
or labor division; agricultural
19. Chavin de Hunatar
-South American Civ/ Peru; elites were priests (religious) and kings/chiefs (political)
-underground tunnels for elite
-elite controlled trade
-Puna zone: high up, herders lived here, slaughter here, ate limbs and skull
-llama meat (better parts) brought down to elites
-agriculture (maize/potatoes)
20. Civilization
-characteristics: large population density; food surplus; formal government; labor
specialization; record keeping; monumental works; social stratification
21. Clovis first
-believes Clovis people were first to inhabit North America; crossed Beringia landbridge
from Asia
-clovis points = technology for big game hunting
-earliest artifacts would be in Alaska; found in Clovis, NMexico
22. Collapse
-eg: the Maya
23. Context
-most important archeological concept = provenience (3D location) + matrix (medium
around artifact) + association (what artifact is found with)
-primary context = in situ; where it was originally deposited into record
-secondary context = moved from original position
24. Cultural-historical archaeology
-19th century present day thought; dividing societies into distinct cultural/ethnic groups
by material culture
-chronologies and distributions; descriptive
25. Direct dating
-dating the artifact itself, not associated materials
26. Djenn-Djeno
-Mali; earliest urban center in Sub-Saharan Africa
-started with trade between hunters/fishermen agriculture (rice)
-egalitarian (no evidence of temples, palaces)
-Islam religion
27. E. Services Bands, Tribes, Chiefdom, State Model
-unilinear progression from simple to complex socity
-Band: small; egalitarian; division of labor and pooled resources; achieved status
-Tribe: small/medium, social differentiation by religious roles and kinship; leadership is
achieved, or assumed by kinship
-genealogical organization > warfare, marriage
-Cheifdom: larger; hierarchy via religious roles/kinship/divined leadership
-social roles; acquisition of prestige tools, sacrifices enforced roles.
-State: large territorial control; urban centers; center/periphery relationships (trade)
-hierarchy; specialization of labor; institutionalized leadership

-hegemony
-agricultural/material surplus trade
28. Flotation
-separating seeds (less dense) from dirt and rocks thru water
-Dorian Fuller and Patty Jo Watson
29. Four methods to shape the pot
-pinch (limited size); slab (4 walls); coil (natural fragments); wheel (most
efficient/symmetrical)
-type and dcor reflcting group identity
-open air kiln = least effective (no temp control)
30. Gbekli Tepe
-worlds oldest megaliths built by hunter gatherers
-ritual site
-complex societies existed before agriculture
31. Ground Stone Tools
-formed from courser grain rocks
-grind other plants/rocks
-neolithic
32. Ground-Penetrating Radar
-radar pulses sent out to image subsurface
-shows depth
-expensive, not usable in heavy vegetation/wet soil
33. Harappan
-site in Pakistan; ruins of Indus Valley Civ
-organized/complex society
34. Heterarchy
-unranked organization; horizontal postion of power
35. Hierarchy
ranked social org.
-eg: Uruk seals on clay tablets show administrative presence
-eg: Egypt divine kingship; laborers (treated better than slaves)
36. Hominin
-including modern humans, Homo, Australopithecus; Paranthropus, Ardi
-bipedal, short pelvis, angled knees, longer legs, bigger brains, foramen magnum under
skull, non-opposable big toe, grinding not shearing teeth
-Hominid = all modern and extinct great apes/ includes humans, chimps, gorillas
organgutans
37. Homo erectus
-direct ancestor of homo sapiens
-Acheulean tools (1.7 mya)
-pleistocene, 1.8 mya 300 kya
-Java man, Peking man
-used fire (better nutrition; meat eating)
-migrated from Africa to East Asia then South Asia, and Europe
38. Homo habilis

-discovered by Leakys at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

-Oldowan tools
-first of genus Homo
-no brow ridge, but smaller brains than modern; smaller bodies than modern
39. Hydraulic Civilization: Karl Wittfogel
-agriculture population growth new technologies increase productivity (irrigation
systems) planning needed beaurocracy
eg: Mesopotamians built elaborate irrigation systems; people provided labor during dry
season (built ziggurats) in exchange for water management during farming season)
-increased wealth of elites intensification of cities
40. Indirect dating
-dating something associated with the sample
-figures out relative date on timeline
41. Indus Valley Civilization
-urban expansion; Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro = major cities
-Kot Diji: brick walls and bastions protect from monsoon rains
-carefully planned residential complexes (citadel and lower town with workshops)
-oldest known sanitation systems (latrines)
-craft specialization/trade
-standardized weights
-formal government; but no definite evidence of social stratification
42. Kennewick Man
Found in Washington; skeleton of Paleoamerican man
-one of most complete skeletons ever found; 8-9k y BP
-hunter-gatherer; genetically close to modern indigenous Americans
43. Law of Superposition
-lowest layers oldest; highest recent; relative dating methods; (except for intrusive layers)
44. LiDAR
-aerial remote survey method; creates high-res. Maps with lasers
45. Lomekwi
-Kenya; earliest stone tools found 3.3mya
46. Macrobotanical remains
-charred plant material; used to study morphology and plant variation across space/time
-reconstruct paleoenvionment
-used for radiocarbon dating
47. Magnetometry
-remote ground sensing survey; uses variation in Earths natural magnetic field (passive
technique)
-thermo remnant (enhacement from fires)
-Induced (enhancement from organic activity)
48. Mayan Civilization
-mesoamerican civ 2000 BC 15000 CE
-first civ in New World
-independent city states w/ large monuments; often warring
-Kings/Queens claimed direct descent from gods to justify rule
-Agriculture: slash and burn; food surplus

-North (low altitude); South (volcanoes in highlands)

-traded salt, obsidian, jade
-religion; rulers = chief priests
-ballgame
-most advanced precolonial writing system
-collapsed reorganization without kings/queens; Mayans exist today with culture
combined with Christian customs
49. Microbotanical remains
-pollen, starch, phytoliths (microscopic; differentiate some plant species)
-used for environmental reconstruction
50. Minimum Number of Individuals (MNI)
-best represented skeletal element; fewest number of individuals that the total group of
bones found could belong to
51. Modern Homo Sapiens (Anatomically modern human)
-from H. erectus
-Replacement model: Out of Africa Sapiens evolved in Africa and left to replace
other hominins like erectus, around the world; supported by DNA data; Africa has most
genetic diversity
-oldest modern human fossils from 195 kya in Africa (middle Plaleolithic)
-Multiregional Hypothesis: African/European/Asian/ all evolved separately from H.
erectus Not probable
-cultural and behavioral modernity before agriculture; art (venus figurines of western
Europe; self-portraits), organized sites with pits
-Solutrean pressure-flaking tools
-exponential increase in brain size
-close to Clovis culture of North America
52. Mohenjo-daro
-part of Indus Valley Civilization
-1000 urban centers; food surplus; Great Bath; central courtyards; surrounded by
farmlands
53. Monte Verde
-Southernmost point of South America; earliest Western Hemisphere site
-evidence of plant and shellfish food economy
-genetic similarities between Australia, SE Asia and South America
54. Mound builders
-Mississippian indigenous culture
-large conical mounds; hand-built/basket loading
-added to upon death of leader/sig. event
-Cahokia tribe largest mound complex and largest indigenous community in North
America
-Monks Mound truncated pyramid with several stages and houses on top; largest
mound in N.A.
-Mound 72: on top of other mounds; 250 skeletons; ritual burial evidence; sacrificial
young women buried there
-decline: challenge of authority; bison moving west; soil deletion
55. NAGPRA

-Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act; requires federal agencies
to return remains and cultural artifacts affiliated with extant indigenous groups; report
holdings to affiliated tribe
-often requires burials be preserved in situ
-led to cataloging and analysis of thousands of artifacts in the backlog
-difficult for scientific advances; reburial may damage objects
-Kennewick Man: indigenous laying claim to his remains
56. Neanderthals
-Neander Valley in Germany: 20-40kya
-larger brains than H. Sapiens; intelligent
-buried dead with flowers (ritual)
-lived in caves and rock shelters
-took care of injured and elderly (bone remains prove this)
-stone/wood hunting tools; carnivorous
57. Number of Individual Specimens (NISP)
-counts all fragments of individuals; eg: 86 pieces of antelope = 86 individuals
58. Out of Africa, or Replacement Model
-supported by genetic diversity in Africa; people most likely originated in Africa
-modern humans from homo erectus; then left Africa to other parts of world
-opposes multiregional hypothesis
-races evolved 100kya independently
59. Palynology
-study of pollen, a micro plant artifact
-help date/reconstruct environment
-if found in poop or guts, reconstruct diet
-Otzi the iceman was dated via pollen in digestive tract
-some plants produce more pollen/more durable overrepresented
-easily bioturbated; difficult to date
60. Phytolith
-tiny silica crystals from cells of plants
-inorganic, very durable in archaeological record
-environmental reconstruction; domestication studies; tool use studies
-not very diagnostic; some plants have same kind; small and mobile like pollen; cant
directly date
61. Post-processual archaeology
-1980s to present; humanistic; individuals and agency; past cannot be value-free
-rejects processual archeology because no one perceives the past objectively because
we create the past
62. Poverty Point
-Louisiana; massive concentric shape earthworks with core inside of 500 acres; large
mounds built quickly
-stone imported from places all over the country
-artifacts carved from stone that originated elsewhere

-ritual site and pilgrimage center, but no evidence of burial at this site
-earlier than Cahokia
-big workforce; dense population
63. Primary Context
-artifact in situ; same place and position as when it was deposited into arch. record
64. Processual archaeology (New archaeology) came before prost-processual
-1960s to present; focused on why and used scientific methods to turn archeology into
a science; past is neutral and value-free; archaeologists can be ovjective
65. Quipu
-recording devices; Incan civ (no writing system)
-knotted string records record tax obligations, cencus, calendrical info, military
organization
66. Radiocarbon Dating
-known halflife of C14 and amount of C-14 in dead organism; finds when org. was alive
-limitations include context, assuming atmosphere consistency; max date of 40,000
years ago
67. Relative Dating
-sequencing, relative to each other; indirect; ceramics, stone tools
eg: stratigraphy (law of superposition)
-seriation (arrange objects so that those adjacent are more alike than those farther apart);
culturally dependent, not applicable to all artifacts
-pollen dating (palynology); unsteady rate of accumulation; compare data between sites
68. Remote Sensing Survey
-measurements of ground surface or subsurface; remotely
aerial: -satellite photography, satellite spectrometry, LiDAR; plane sensors have higher
resolution
ground: -magnetometry, electrical resistivity/conductivity, ground penetrating radar
(GPR)
69. Reverse stratigraphy
-one layer is unearthed by human or natural actions; cant use stratigraphy reliably
anymore
70. Rosetta Stone
-196 BC; hieroglyphic Egyptian to greek to demotic Egyptian; deciphered by
Champollion
71. Sahelanthropus tchadensis
-hominid sp. 7mya; closest to ape-hominin split
-Chad; small brain like chimp; could be common ancestor between chimps and apes
-broader flatter teeth, flatter faces, more forward foramen magnum than chimps (but far
from modern)
72. Secondary Context
-moved from deposition
73. Seriation
-relative dating method; arranging objects so that those adjacent are more alike than
those farther apart; Flinders Petrie; dont need context, change in styles are gradual
74. Stratigraphy
-relative dating; sequence of soil/strata

75. Taphonomy
-study of decaying organisms and how fossils are formed
76. Teotihuacan
-mesoamerican city in Valley of Mexico
-mesoamerican pyramids; largest city in pre-columbian America, 100 BC until 8th
century
-Aztecs later claimed to be descended from them
-religious center; where the gods are made; Aztecs name it this and made it
pilgrimage site
-interacted with maya; all urban, no rural
77. Uniformitarianism
-James Hutton and Lyell; assume the same processes observed presently have been at
work in the past; so slow that the formation of the earth must be ancient
78. Uruk
-Sumer civilization on Euphrates river; King Gilgamesh
-ziggurats (white temple, monumental works w/ administrative and ideological
functions; control; hierarchy
-cylinder seals demarking goods; central regulation of trade
-administrative texts and record keeping; writing systems
79. Venus Figurines
-oldest ceramics in world; Czech republic; pregnant women
oldest = venus of Dolni Vestonice 27,000 BCE
-magdalenian culture of Europe had venus figures
80. Warfare Hypothesis in Civilization
-competition over goods, lands, led to conflict; communities formed walled settlements
cities; military leaders become rulers/integrated with religious authorities
81. Wolfs Law
-bone in healthy being will adapt to physical stress
82. Woodhenge
-timber; located in Stonehenge World heritage site close to stonehenge; circular postholes for sun calendar; 5 different constructions; celebration of equinox and solstice
83. Younger Dryas
-geological period from 12,900-11,700 BP (early Holocene)
-sharp decline in temperature in N. Hemisphere
-break in gradual warming of earth since last glacial maximum
-vegetation replaced with those of colder climate
-Childes Oasis hypothesis: warming flooded coastlines; habitable ecosystems sharnk
and forced people/animals/plants together agriculture and domestication
-against hypothesis: climate doesnt force this to happen, only allows the possibility
84. Ziggurat
-Uruk; temple square pyramids from Babylonian ties; religious; enforcing hierarchy
Categories of questions in the final exam:

Multiple choice, short answer, Matching, True/False, fill in the blank.

Short answer question example
Please explain how Gobekli Tepe and Poverty Point have improved our understanding of huntergatherer societies. To get full credit, you will need to answer this question from two aspects:
religion and social organization (4 points).