Underwater and Social Archaeology Quiz

Underwater Archaeology

• Questions in underwater archaeology include ancient navigation, trade routes, ship construction, and environmental impacts.
• Techniques include remote sensing (sonar, magnetometers) to map seafloors and detect buried objects, underwater excavation for digging and retrieving artifacts, and photogrammetry for creating 3D models.
• Examples of sites include Uluburun Shipwreck (14th century BCE, Turkey) and Skara Brae (Neolithic Orkney Islands, Scotland).

Social Archaeology

• Social structures are defined by Band, Tribe, Chiefdom, and State.
• Band: Small, self-sufficient, egalitarian groups with informal leadership; family-based; labor division by age and sex.
• Tribe: Egalitarian, with greater social/cultural integration and sometimes permanent leadership.
• Chiefdom: More hierarchy, permanent leadership, kin-based, and inequality with variable access to resources.
• State: Centralized, permanent social/political structures; bureaucracy, tax, and laws with independent leaders.

Hierarchy vs. Heterarchy

• Hierarchy: Top-down structure with a clear chain of command.
• Heterarchy: Flexible network-based structure with power distributed horizontally.

Cooperation and the Emergence of Complex Societies

• Cooperation 1: Hydraulic Hypothesis suggests inequality/hierarchy arise from efforts to organize public works.
• Cooperation 2: Population Growth requires organized efforts to feed and manage larger populations.
• Cooperation 3: Environmental Variability/Stress leads to risk-reduction strategies.
• Cooperation 4: Trade develops through the construction and control of regional trade routes.
• Coercion 1 and 2 involve warfare and class conflict, respectively, where inequalities and hierarchies can arise from subordination or exploitation.

Environmental Archaeology

• Studying past environments involves oxygen isotope ratios (O16/O18), phytoliths, pollen, and atmospheric CO2 concentrations.
• These data provide insights into ice cores, deep-sea cores, corals, and glacial-interglacial cycles.
• Example sites include Beringia (land bridge between Siberia and Alaska during glaciations).
• Climate change is a factor; rising CO2 levels impact ice coverage and sea level.

Archaeological Science Methods

• Stable isotopes, Ancient DNA, Elemental analysis (bones, soils, artifacts), residue analysis are used in archaeological research.
• These techniques are used to determine dietary sources, migration, technology, and environmental exposure.
• Ötzi is an example of an exceptionally well-preserved human body from which much scientific data can be extrapolated.

Cultural Resource Management and Historic Archaeology

• NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act) requires institutions to return Native American remains to affiliated tribes.
• Kennewick Man is an example of a case involving legal battles over the return of human remains to Native Americans.
• Bioarchaeology involves the study of human remains in archaeological contexts, examining burial practices, age, sex, trauma, and paleopathology (disease signs).