Archaeology > FINAL EXAM > Flashcards

FINAL EXAM Flashcards

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1
Q

Archaeology

A

The study of past societys through material culture.

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2
Q

Archaeological Culture

A

A recurring pattern of similar artifacts, features, and practices found within a specific region during a limited time period.

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3
Q

Segmentary societies

A

Non-hierarchical, decentralized social structures composed of multiple, self-regulated groups that come together periodically for collective action.

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4
Q

State

A

Highly socially stratified system with a government staffed by bureaucrats, with taxes and a high standing army. Monopoly of forces is present.

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5
Q

Pre-Clovis

A

Got entangled with modern feelings about the environment and early human tool use.

Routes include: Ice-free corridors, North Pacific Corridor (Island hopping, Kelp Highway)

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6
Q

Island Hopping Hypothesis

A

People migrating made a series of short journeys between islands or along coastlines, rather than one long trip across the ocean.

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7
Q

Kelp Highway

A

People traveled by sea along the Pacific coast from Northeast Asia.

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8
Q

Buttermilk Creek complex

A

Texas 15,500 BP. An archaeological assemblage of artifacts, primarily stone tools.

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9
Q

Lake Otero footprints

A

Fossilized human and animal tracks were discovered in what was once Lake Otero in New Mexico’s White Sands National Park. Oldest footprints, ~23,000 years ago.

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10
Q

Teosinte

A

Maize was domesticated from it around ~9000 BP. It is sweet. Non-shattering rachis. Kernels are separately pollinated.

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11
Q

Squash

A

The second-earliest plant domesticate in North America, and was clearly present by 5000 BP (3050 BCE).

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12
Q

Anthropology

A

The holistic study of humankind.

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13
Q

Culture

A

Made up of traditions and customs transmitted through learning that governs behavior and beliefs.

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14
Q

Chiefdom

A

Two layers of social stratification, chief and non-chiefs, but the distinction is not always inherited, and power is held through redistribution and persuasion.

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15
Q

Wealth Redistribution

A

Sharing or gifting prestige goods.

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16
Q

Paleoindians

A

The earliest inhabitants of the Americas. Period ended ~10,000 years ago. They were simple foragers, and left few archaeological remains. Specialized less and generalized more.

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17
Q

Clovis Culture

A

Includes all early fluted-point Paleoindian cultures. Begins ~ 13,000 BP. Clovis points are different in SW and SE. Long believed to be the first people in the Americas.

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18
Q

Clovis-first hypothesis

A

Proposed that the Clovis people were the first humans to colonize the Americas.

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19
Q

Monteverde

A

Chile 14,500 BP. Provides evidence of human occupation in the Americas far earlier than thought, OVERTURNING the “Clovis-first” hypothesis.

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20
Q

Page-Ladson site

A

14,200 - 14,550 BP. A submerged archaeological and paleontological site in a Florida sinkhole on the Aucilla River.

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21
Q

Maize

A

Was domesticated 9000 BP from Teosinte. The earliest maize was found in the Xihuatoxtla Rockshelter ~8700 BP. Maize definitely by 900 CE.

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22
Q

Sugar hypothesis

A

Teosinte is sweet. Some archaeologists have argued that it was originally domesticated as a sweetener.

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23
Q

Four Field Approach

A

Frans Boas. Anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, and biological anthropology

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24
Q

Band

A

A group that people traveled in.

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25
Complex Chiefdom
3-tier settlement pattern.
26
Staple redistribution
Sharing or gifting food.
27
Beringia
Land bridge between Asia and North America. (Ice-free Corridors)
28
Clovis Points
Widely distributed across the US around 13 KYA. Different in the SW and SE.
29
Ice-free Corridor
People walked across Beringia, and took over land route through ice sheets. No earlier than 13,000 BP.
30
Megafaunal extinction hypothesis
(AKA Overkill Hypothesis) Humans arrived in NA around 13,000 BP, overhunted large mammals, and caused the extinction of mammoths and mastodons. Requires a Clovis-first arrival of humans.
31
Bottle gourd
The earliest known domesticated plant in the Americas. It's native to East Africa. Used as containers.
32
Guila Naquitz
An important site for early domesticate remains.
33
Alcohol hypothesis
Maize is easily fermented, because of the sugar. Some archaeologists have argued that it was originally domesticated as a source of alcoholic beverages.
34
Xihuatoxtla Rockshelter
The earliest form of maize is found here ~8700 BP, in the form of starch grains, pollen, and phytoliths.
35
Grain Hypothesis
People domesticated maize for a starchy grain.
36
Adena culture
Ohio. Complex burials. Some craft specialization. Burial mounds. No real occupational settlements, just farmsteads. Domesticated foods about 25-35 % of diets.
37
Hopewellian cultures
Conical burial mounds. Specialized grave goods. Log tombs. Some cremations. Addition of earthworks around mound complexes. Long-distance trade. Some astronomical alignments.
38
Marksville culture
Hopewellian in Louisiana. Major ceremonial center with a semi-circular embankment and 6 mounds.
39
Emergent Mississippian
The Big Bang in the Bottom
40
Southeastern Ceremonial Complex
SECC. A widespread network of religious, social, and political traditions among Native American societies in the SE United States from approximately 1000 to 1600 CE.
41
Mound 72
There is an explosion of mound construction at Cahokia. Dates to the Lohmann Phase. It's a compound sacrifice burial mound--270 individuals. Elites are less maize than non-elites.
42
Ocmulgee
Georgia. Mounds originally constructed 1000-1150 CE, early Mississippian from Swift Creek. Abandoned. Reoccupied 1350-1600 Lamar Culture, Late Mississippian.
43
Proto-historic archaeology
Proto-historic cultures are cultures that are seeing the effects of European contact without actually meeting Europeans yet. (trade goods, diseases, etc.)
44
Chiefly Cycle
Complex chiefdoms (paramount chiefdoms) are a type of chiefdom in which a 'higher chief' rules over smaller chiefdoms. Each chief has their own council. Not stable.
45
Ocute
A significant Late Mississippian paramount chiefdom that existed in the Oconee River valley of present-day central Georgia. Contacted by de Soto. Slave raids by the Westo (English-allied) fragmented Ocute.
46
Vacant Quarter
A large region in the American Midwest and Southeast that was depopulated during the 14th and 15th centuries CE.
47
Plantation archaeology
The archaeology of large estates, enabled by the labor of enslaved people, in terms of social and literal landscape.
48
Enslavement of Indians
Occurred before and during European colonization and involved forced labor, including for Indigenous slavers and colonial powers.
49
Task System
People were given a task for the day.
50
NAGPRA
1990, says that in the US, all human remains and associated artifacts belong to their descendants.
51
Gray literature
Unpublished research and reports created outside of traditional academic publishing.
52
Beans
They were domesticated independently in Mexico and South America around 2500 BP.
53
Shell Mound Archaic
3000-1000 BCE / 5000-3000 BP. Shell mounds in interior, especially along the Green River, Kentucky. Burials of humans and dogs in shell. Evidence of violence.
54
Middle Woodland period
2200-1250 BP / 0 BCE - 700 CE
55
Interaction sphere
An area that shows evidence of trade and shared beliefs, showing extensive interaction.
56
Late Woodland period
500-1000 CE (1500-1000 BP)
57
'Big Bang' at Cahokia
1050-1100 CE. Trade and outside contact increased. The Mississippian begins.
58
Ramey incised pottery
From the Mississippian period in SE U.S, most closely associated with Cahokia.
59
Natchez
The only Mississippian chiefdom known to survive into the 1700s.
60
Historical Archaeology
Combines the study of written records with material evidence from excavations to investigate human societies that left behind both historical documents and physical artifacts.
61
Disease Pool
A population (usually nonhuman) in which a microorganism is endemic (common & nonfatal). Must be in close contact with humans.
62
Yamassee
Probably started as a series of Mississippian groups, including the Ocute, contacted by de Soto. Survivors fled to La Florida and allied with the spanish. Following pirate raids and pressure to convert, moved back to SC.
63
Haudenosenee
Iroquois confederacy, approximately 1500 CE - present.
64
Gang system
People were kept at work all day in a gang.
65
Indentured Servitude
Indentured servitude of Europeans in English colonies to about 1680.
66
Gullah/Geechee
Descendants of enslaved West and Central Africans living along the SE U.S.A from NC, to FL.
67
Culture Resource Management (CRM)
Dig up archaeological sites in developments.
68
Section 106
The federal portion of the CRM involves evaluating sites/locations impacted by federally funded development to see if they might be eligible for the NRHP.
69
Floodplain weed domestication
Most of the Southeastern domesticates were low-maintenance. Could maintain a semi-sedentary or mobile lifestyle while gardening. Backup food.
70
Late Archaic Period
4000-1000 BCE / 6000-3000 BP
71
Ohio Hopewell
~40% of diet domesticated. A set of burial practices and art styles developed from Adena in Ohio. Spread out and influences wide area. Begins in the Hopewell Interaction Sphere.
72
Hopewell Interaction Sphere
A vast network of trade and cultural exchange among various Native American societies in eastern North America from ~200 BCE to 700 CE.
73
Cahokia
1100 - 1400 CE. Lots of mounds and craft specialization until it ended in 1400 CE.
74
Platform mounds
Mississippian. Mounds with flat tops to serve as a raised foundation for buildings, ceremonies, and other activities.
75
Middle Mississippian
~ 1000 - 1400 CE. Peak of the Mississippian culture, marked by the development of large, complex chiefdoms and major centers like Cahokia.
76
Etowah
1200 - 1625 CE. Mississippian culture, known for its large platform mounds, and sophisticated burial practices that revealed a stratified society.
77
First contact
When people from two cultures meet for the first time. It can have dramatic effects on each culture.
78
De Soto
Hernando de Soto went into the interior of the Southeast in 1539. The first European to document the Mississippi River.
79
Disease Vector
The way in which a disease is moved from the pool to a human, in which the disease is rapidly fatal.
80
Deerskin trade
For trade goods
81
Yamassee War
Yamassee allied with many other groups and attacked South Carolina in 1715-1717.
82
African Diaspora
The archaeology of African people around the world, often, but not always, driven by the trade in enslaved people.
83
Colonoware
Hand-built, unglazed pottery often found on early plantations. Probably made by enslaved Africans might have been made by Indians sometimes. It doesn't follow the usual rules for a pottery 'style.'
84
The Ancient One
The Kennewick Man, discovered in Washington in 1996. ~9,000 years old. The lawsuit ran for 9 years.
85
Office of the State Archaeologist
Call when human remains are found at a site.
Archaeology
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