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[Gr.,=study of beginnings], A branch of anthropology, which seeks to document and explain continuity and change and similarities and differences among human cultures. Archaeologists work with the material remains of cultures, past and present, providing the only source of information available for past nonliterate societies and supplementing written sources for historical and contemporary groups. History of Archaeology
The discipline had its origins in early efforts to collect artistic materials of extinct groups, an endeavor that can be traced back to the 15th cent. in Italy when growing interest in ancient Greece inspired the excavation of Greek sculpture. In the 18th cent. the progress of Greek and Roman archaeology was advanced by Johann Winckelmann and Ennio Visconti and by excavations at Herculaneum and Pompeii; in the 19th cent., by the acquisition of the Elgin Marbles. The study of ancient cultures in the Aegean region was stimulated by the excavations of Heinrich Schliemann at Troy, and of Arthur Evans at Crete. The work of Martin Nilsson, Alan Wace, and John Pendlebury was also significant in this area, and the decipherment of the Minoan script by Michael Ventris raised new speculations about the early Aegean cultures.
The foundations of Egyptology, a prolific branch of classical archaeology because of the wealth of material preserved in the dry Egyptian climate, were laid by the recovery of the Rosetta stone and the work of French scholars who accompanied Napoleon Bonaparte to Egypt. Investigations that have reconstructed the lives and arts of elite segments of ancient Egyptian society and rewritten Egyptian history were carried on in the 19th cent. by Karl Lepsius, Auguste Mariette, and Gaston Maspero, and in the 19th and 20th cent. by W. M. Flinders Petrie, James Breasted, and others.
Interest in the Middle East was stimulated by the work of Edward Robinson (1794-1863) on the geography of the Bible and by the decipherment of a cuneiform inscription of Darius I, which was copied (1835) by Henry Rawlinson from the Behistun rock in Iran. Archaeology in Mesopotamia was notably advanced in the 19th cent. by Jules Oppert, Paul Botta, and Austen Layard, and in the 20th cent. by Charles Woolley, Henri Frankfort, and Seton Lloyd. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, beginning in 1947, aroused new interest in Biblical studies. Interest in complex New World cultures was stimulated by the publication by John Stephens of an account of his travels (1839) in Central America, which excited the interest of archaeologists in the Maya. In the 19th cent. studies began of the Toltec and of the Aztec in Mexico and of the Inca in South America. In 1926 the discovery of human cultural remains associated with extinct fauna near Folsom, N. Mex. established the substantial depth of prehistory for the New World Archaeological Collections
Museums with valuable collections include the Metropolitan Museum and the American Museum of Natural History in New York City; the British Museum; the Louvre; national museums in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, rich in remains of the Iron Age; the Vatican and Capitoline museums, Rome; collections from Pompeii and Herculaneum at Naples; and museums in Athens, Cairo, and Jerusalem. Many universities have established schools and museums of archaeology. Organizations such as the National Science Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Geographic Society in the United States promote archaeological studies. Modern Archaeology
In contrast to the antiquarianism of classical archaeology, anthropological archaeology today is concerned with culture history (i.e., the chronology of events and cultural traditions) and the explanation of cultural processes. A variety of different dating techniques, both relative (e.g., stratigraphy) and absolute (e.g., radiocarbon, obsidian hydration, potassium-argon), are used to place events in time. Attempts at explaining evolutionary processes underlying prehistoric remains began with the conclusion advanced in 1832 by the Danish archaeologist Christian Thomsen that cultures may be divided into stages of progress based on the principal materials used for weapons and implements. His three-age theory (the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age) was essentially based on prehistoric materials from Scandinavia and France.
Concerted investigations began in the mid-19th cent. with the stratigraphic excavation of such remains as the lake dwelling, barrow, and kitchen midden. At first the sequences of culture change uncovered in Western Europe were generalized to include all of world history, but improved techniques of field excavation and the expansion of archaeological discoveries in Africa, Asia, and the Americas challenged the universality of rigid classifications. Technological traditions ceased to be regarded as inevitable concomitants of specific cultural stages.
Later interpretations of prehistoric human life emphasize cultural responses to changing demographic and environmental conditions. Thus the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic periods are evaluated in terms of subsistence technologies, and explanations are sought for the causes underlying these transitions. Contemporary archaeologists are also concerned with the emergence of various forms of institutional organization, including chiefdoms, class stratification, and states. Among the most important work done in the mid-20th cent. was that of Louis Leakey, who located the skeletal remains of humans in East Africa dating back 1.7 million years. In recent years, a number of archaeologists have turned from traditional concerns and have made efforts to reconstruct ideological elements of extinct cultures. See B. G. Trigger, A History of Archaeological Thought (1989); R. J. Wenke, Patterns in Prehistory (3d ed. 1990); I. Hodder, Reading the Past, (2d ed. 1991).
Archaeology Glossary
Accession, Accession number
The number assigned to artifacts or data for permanent storage and curation in a collections facility.
Alluvium
Sediment (gravel, sand, silt, etc.) deposited by a stream
Anticipated Effects
Effects that would be created by development of a proposed project to culturally sensitive areas.
Archaeological Site
The location of past focused human activities, defined in close proximity of continuous distribution of artifacts.
Archaeologically
An area where the occurrence of archaeological material is predicted, often on the sensitive basis of settlement/subsistence pattern and environmental data
Area of Direct Impact - AKA:ADI
The area that would be impacted by the proposed development.
Area of Potential Effects
The geographic area or areas within which an undertaking may cause changes in APE the character or use of historic properties, if any such properties exist.
Artifact
An object (tool or ornament) showing human workmanship or modification.
Assemblage
The complete inventory of artifacts from a single, defined archaeological unit (such as a stratum or component)
Associated Funerary
Those objects which, as a part of the death rite or ceremony of a culture, are objects reasonably believed to have been placed with the individual human remains at the time of death or later
Backdirt
The soils excavated from test pits, typically used to refill them once excavations are terminated.
Bedrock Milling Station
An outcrop of bedrock containing one or more mortar cups, milling slicks (bedrock metates"), or other features related to food grinding or crushing.
Bedrock Mortar - AKA:BRM
A mortar cup in a bedrock outcrop
Biface
A tool that has been worked on both sides
Burial
Human remains disposed of by interment burials may be simple (containing the remains of one person) or complex (containing the remains of two or more individual.
Carbon-14 Dating
A method for determining the age of organic material.
Chert
Crypto-Crystaline Silicate. A flint like rock; commonly selected as a raw material for flaked-stone tools.
Chipping, Knapping
Making stone tools by controlled flaking, either by percussion as in using hammerstone, or by exerting pressure on the stone edge with a pointed antler tool.
Complete Survey
To define the extent of a site both surface and subsurface.
Components - AKA:Constituents
The elements of a site, all spatially related features of a site.
Consulting Process
The process where the lead agency provides information regarding development to the various agencies for consultation.
Core
A cobble or small rock from which flakes or blades are removed; the core may be used as a tool as well as a source of flakes.
Cremation
Disposal of the dead by burning; a feature consisting of ash and small pieces of burned human bones and teeth.
Cultural Resources
Relates only to remains and sites associated with human activity or activities or elements or areas of natural landscape which traditional cultural significance.
Data Recovery
The act of excavating with the intent of answering specific research questions.
Datum - AKA:Hub
A stationary control point from which all other features or artifacts are mapped from.
Debitage - AKA:flaked stone
Lithic refuse or debris produced during flaked-stone tool manufacture.
Depression
A large or small circular or rectangular area where cultural activity took place. (i.e. depressed area of a roundhouse or longhouse)
Direct Impacts
Impacts that would directly effect a site. (i.e. a site would have a direct impact if a development proceeds adjacent to a site)
Ethnography
The study of a culture to obtain information on past and present life ways.
Excavation
A systematic process of digging archaeological sites, removing the soil and observing the provenience and context of the finds (both cultural and noncultural) contained within, and recording them in a three-dimensional way.
Extended Phase I Survey
A Phase I survey which the archaeologist excavates a few shovel test pits to determine whether a subsurface deposit is present; however, may be done during the Phase I Survey
Feature
A large, complex artifact or part of a site such as a hearth, cairn, housepit, rock alignment or activity area
Fire-Cracked Rocks
Burned rocks, typically fractured during intense heating in a firehearth or remnants of rocks associated with cooking. Fairly common to prehistoric archaeological sites.
Firehearth
Typically a prehistoric feature containing ash, charcoal, burned rocks and/or other evidence of a fire kindled by people.
Flake
A thin, flattened piece or chip of stone intentionally removed from the core rock by chipping with either a stone or bone hammer.
Flaked Stone
see Debitage
Flexed burial
A human interment in the fetal position, that is, with the legs and arms bent and drawn towards the ribs.
House
Compacted earth, post molds, hearths, and/or other associated features representing the floor of a structure.
Housepit
A depression of any shape representing the former location of a partly subsurface (semisubterranan) structure.
In situ
In place; applied to archaeological remains found in their original, undisturbed location or position.
Indirect Impacts
Impacts that would not directly effect a site. (i.e. a site would have indirect impacts if a subdivision development would create by the influx of people in the area)
Integrity
Classification of a site regarding the degree of disturbance.
Lithic
Of or pertaining to a stone (obsidian, chert, basalt, etc.), as in lithic artifacts.
Lithic Scatter
see Debitage
Loctus, Loci (plural)
A concentration of site elements.
Mano
a loaf-shaped handstone used for grinding seeds, pigments, and so forth, metate or millingstone.
Metate
A portable stone slab upon which seeds and other grains are milled with a mano (worked with a push-pull motion).
Midden
Soil that is dark and has a greasy feel. A deposit marking a former habitation site and containing such materials as discarded artifacts, bone and shell, food refuge, charcoal, ash, rock, human remains structural remnants, and other cultural leavings.
Millingstone
A roughly shaped stone slab upon seed and other plants products are ground with the aid of a mano. The milling basin of the slab may be ovoid to round, depending on the rotary motion of the handstone.
Mitgation
Actions taken to preserve or reduce impact to a site.
Mitigation Process
The consulting and review process of direct and indirect impacts to sites to obtain specific results.
Mortar
A stone or wooden bowl-like artifact in which seeds, berries, meat, and other products are ground or pulverized with a pestle. Mortars occur in bedrock outcrops and as portable items.
Multi-Component Site
A site with one or more feature.
Pestle
An elongate, often cylindrical stone used to pulverize food products and other cultural products in a mortar.
Phase I
Generally consists of a records search, a pedestrian field survey, and a written report.
Phase 11
The purpose of this phase is to determine whether a cultural resource is significant" as outlined in Appendix J of CEQA. Usually will include test excavation pits. The goal of this is to determination of the site boundaries; an assessment of the site\'s integrity; evaluation of the site\'s importance or significance through a study of it\'s features and artifacts.
Phase 11I
Total data recovery.
Principal Investigator, AKA:PI
The designated archaeologist who oversees and is responsible for all aspects of archaeological investigation.
Project Proponent
The property owner/developer who is sponsoring the project.
Projectile point
A sharp tip (usually stone) affixed to the business end of a spear, lance, dart, or arrow.
Provenience
The origin or source of an object.
Sacred Objects
Ceremonial objects which are used by traditional Native American religious leaders for the practice of traditional Native American religions.
Site
The location of past cultural activity; a defined space with more or less continuous archaeological evidence.
Spatial
Artifacts and features in close proximity that infer a relationship in time.
Standard Test Unit
A defined unit of measure for the purpose of recovering archaeological material.
Sterile Soil
The layer of soil that contains no presence of cultural material.
Stratum
A layer of material deposited by cultural or geological processes.
Surface Survey
A reconnaissance or on-foot examination of an area to determine its archaeological potential, and usually, to formally locate and record archaeological sites.
Temporal
Groups of items (artifacts, features) that can be traced to a given point In time.
Trait
Any definable element or feature of culture suitable for comparative purposes.
Transect
A survey is often conducted by people walking a study area which has been mentally divided into subareas, in order to systematically locate artifacts exposed on the ground; a series of transacts, or passes, are walked by one or more persons in a parallel fashion to inventory an area.
Uniface
A tool that has been worked only on one side.
Unit
A defined area of excavation. |
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