what are the two types of anthropologists that study the past?
Paleoanthropologists and archeologists
what do Paleoanthropologists focus on?
skeletal fossils and genetic remains
- compare us to our ancestors
What Do archeologists focus on?
reconstructing changes in past human societies using the archeological record (all human material and objects) - long term perspective - determine the how and why
Archaeological record
The record consists of material evidence of human modification of the physical environment.
what are the 3 main goals of archeology?
What is the archaeological process and what are the main methods?
what are processual archeologists?
what are post-processual archaeologists?
what is an archeological survey?
what are artifacts?
objects that have been deliberately and intelligently shaped by humans or hominin ancestors
what are features?
non-portable items created by humans (house)
what are ecofacts?
biological remains that are likely associated with food consumption or other human activities
when an object is found they record three things, what are they?
the matrix
the provenance
the other remains around it
what is the immediate matrix?
soil, gravel, clay, sand
what is the provenance?
the 3D position of the artifact found
Stratigraphy is what?
In archaeology, stratigraphy is the layering of soil and other materials in the earths surface. This layering can be naturally caused (e.g. by geological processes) or artificially caused (e.g. by someone digging a well that has since filled in).
ethnoarchaeology
the study of the way present day societies use artifacts and structures and how those objects became part of the archeological record.
Taphonomy
the study of how the various processes that may have affected the formation of a particular site
what is another name for the post-processual archologists?
interpretive
what is GPR?
remote senstivity technology
what is GIS?
Geographic Info Systems
what is excavation?
what is substinance?
food
clothes
shelter
basic needs
what are substiance strategies?
the ways people meet their basic needs - basically how humans lived and survived in the past