REVIEW FOR FIRST EXAM ANTH 103: Introduction to Archaeology STUDY QUESTIONS AND TOPICS What is anthropology?

- The study of humans What are the subfields of anthropology? - Cultural, physical/biological, linguistic, archaeology, and applied anthropology Why do we study anthropology? - To learn about past and understanding how human behaviors changed over time. What is archaeology? - Study of material remains of past human cultures What are the methods of survey and excavation? - [SURVEY]: how archaeologists find archaeological sites o Reconnaissance: walking around to look for artifacts Look for things that do not belong (i.e. vegetation, natural freshwater water, locked trees) o Maps: identifying landmarks, bodies of water, slopes, elevations Finding desirable places people may have lived (i.e. high lands/waterfront) o Aerial Photography: better picture of whats in the landscape Looking at the landscape at afar (i.e. from a plane or satellite) o Remote Sensing: ground-penetrating radar, resistivity Sensors can detect and measure radiation of land o Shovel Test: After noninvasive survey methods shovel & screen Hypothetical grid: 2 feet down STP - [EXCAVATION]: systematic removal of layers of the soil; dig in layers based on color and textures of the soil. o Natural: by color, texture, materials, etc. o Arbitrary: by inches, specific measurements, etc. o Vertical: digging down, shovel pit tests, test trenches o Horizontal: open area excavation understanding relationships - [STRATIGRAPHIC ANALYSIS]: analysis of layering of soil o Cross-sectional: looking at soil in the trench Law of superposition: low layers older than top layers Law of association: objects in same later were buried at the same time Know the difference between artifacts, ecofacts, features, and sites. - Artifacts: any object that is made, modified, or used by humans (pottery, tools, etc.) - Ecofact: natural material that is found on site (animal bones, shells, seeds, etc.) - Features: immovable product of human activity ( shell midden, statue, etc.) - Sites: largest unit of analysis; anywhere human activities have taken place How do archaeologists interpret archaeological data? - Analogy: reasoning from example, linking the past with present o Ethnographic analogy: do fieldwork & write/record observations o Ethnoarchaeology: live among people to get info to compare with data (Lewis Binford corn burning)

o Experimental archaeology: using material culture in the present to recreate patterns that can observed in archaeological record Francois Bordes (flint-knapping) Know the difference between relative and absolute dating. - Relative Dating: stratigraphy; sequence dating, correlation of animal bones o Stratigraphy (Law of Superposition / Law of Association) - Absolute Dating: depend on region, time period, available materials, budget o Radiocarbon dating: depends on presence of bones by measuring the decay of carbon in organic artifacts o Potassium-Argon dating: breakdown of potassium-40 isotope in ingenious rocks; important in dating early hominin sites o Dendrochronology: annual growth rings of trees to build long chronologies; useful in environmental studies o Tephrochronology: tephra-particular matter ejected from a volcano; tephra horizon acts as time marker o Thermoluminesence: measures stored energy from mineral samples by using heat to release the energy in the form of light (light proportional to age of sample) What makes us human? What are the important clues to humanness in the fossil/archaeological record? Which hominin demonstrates each of these clues? 1. Bipedalism (Australopithecus afarensis) Emphasizes travel and dispersal of various species Small brain with bipedal stature; sexual dimorphisms; very small Lucy: found in Hadar, Ethiopia by Donald Johanson The First Family: 13 individuals that all died at the same time/place Laetoli Footprintsused Potassium Argon dating technique 2. Tool Use (Homo habilis) Higher/rounder skull, larger cranium Oldawon Lithic Industry found in Oldavai Gorge, Tanzania Lewis and Mary Leakey First Stone tools Hammerstone + Core = Flake 3. Ground Dwelling Bipedalism (Homo eructus) Small brain, but similar to modern humans from neck down Well adapted for cold weather, sculpted for hunting & gathering Turkana Boy: found in African; abandoned tree-dwelling lifestyle Koobi Fora, Lake Turkana Very tall, but small brain; 11 years old, 54 Acheulean Industry: Hand Ave (earliest example of tool-making tradition) First hominids to migrate out of Africa (growing population) Java man (Trinil, Indonesia) Homo eructus found by Eugene Dubois Zhoukoudian (China) tools from Homo eructus 4. Increased Brain Size (Homo heidelbergensis) Found thought Europe (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain caves) Gran Dolina: very stratified cave rich in animal, human, and fossil remains Body size similar to Neanderthals, build for cold climates

Hunting & Scavenging animals from landscape; crude looking tools Simade los Huesos, Atapuerca most evidence of brain expansion. 30 individuals about same age; found at the same site; short/robust/larger brains; different chest shape 5. Complex Social Behavior (Homo sapiens) Gradual Change: anatomy and behavior change occur simultaneously Creative Revolution: anatomy first, then behavior follows Blades, pigment processing, shellfishing, fishing, microliths, beads, images

Responses to environmental changes, intentional, and adaptive Pleistocene climatic fluctuations caused widespread glaciers, which resulted in the extinction of various species; Homo sapiens evolved and survived - Pleistocene: Homo erectus, Neanderthals, & Homo sapiens - Pliocene: Australopithecus afarensis, Homo habilis

What is the significance of fire for human survival? - Fire made it possible to eat cooked meats and was used for defense purposes. What was the relationship between Neanderthals and modern humans? What happened to the Neanderthals? - Unknown. Both existed at the same time, but there is no evidence as to what their interactions were. Where did the first fully modern humans come from, and where did they go? - First fully modern human came from Africa, and they migrated out into Europe, Asia, and eventually to the Americas (or multi-regionalism) What is the evidence for complex behavior in modern humans? - Advanced, complex artifacts, blades, pigments, processing, shellfishing, microlithics, beads, and images. - Sites of complex behavior of modern humans in Africa: o Klasies River, South Africa breccias, cut up shells/bones, stone blades o Katanda, D.R. Congo barbed point spears, harpoons, marine mammals o Pinnacle Point, South Africa curved silvers of stone, miniature blades