Introduction To Archaeology PDF

Introduction to Archaeology Week 3, Part 1 © C.M. Darwent 2024  A Brief History of Cultural Resource Laws Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) of 1979 Passed because of looting incidents Protects archaeological sites, 100+...

Introduction to Archaeology Week 3, Part 1 © C.M. Darwent 2024  A Brief History of Cultural Resource Laws Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) of 1979 Passed because of looting incidents Protects archaeological sites, 100+ years old, on Federal and “Indian” lands from unauthorized excavation Misdemeanors, felony charges, and fines Exempt from FOIA to protect site information Permits needed for authorized excavations Amended in 1990 to establish museum curation guidelines © C.M. Darwent 2024  Cultural Resource Managers Most archaeology in the US today is CRM Federal and State agencies have cultural resource managers: National Park Service Bureau of Land Management Bureau of Indian Affairs Bureau of Reclamation Department of Agriculture Caltrans California State Parks © C.M. Darwent 2024  Rights of U.S. Indigenous Peoples American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 Right to believe and exercise traditional spirituality or religion Protects access to sacred sites and objects https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Di2lp2DA_o © C.M. Darwent 2024  Rights of U.S. Indigenous Peoples Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 Protection for Native American marked and unmarked graves All skeletal material collected before 1990 and stored in museums had to be inventoried Inventories publically posted to the NPS website https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nagpra/index.htm If ethnic affiliation is known, required to contact federally recognized tribe to proceed http://anthromuseum.ucdavis.edu/ with repatriation https://nagpra.ucdavis.edu/ © C.M. Darwent 2024  Ethical Guidelines for Archaeology Tom King, former chair of the National Advisory Council stated that archaeologists have moral and ethical responsibilities to: 1. Archaeological record Conserve as much as possible, dig only if necessary Report/publish results 2. Colleagues 3. Clients 4. Law 5. Living © C.M. Darwent 2024  Acquiring Archaeological Data 1. Research Questions Formulate hypotheses 2. Research Design “Ideal data” to test hypotheses Determines what material to collect 3. Permits 4. Fieldwork Transportation, accommodation, supplies 5. Laboratory Work 6. Data Analysis and Interpretation 7. Publication 8. Curation © C.M. Darwent 2024 https://www.crowcanyon.org/index.php/the-archaeological-process Artifact in a general sense, anything made or modified by people anything owing any of its attributes (form and/or location) to human activity © C.M. Darwent 2024 Feature non-portable association of objects which must be studied in the field usually consists of discrete objects, embedded in a matrix, the integrity of which would be destroyed by movement Association close spatial relationship of objects scale must be specified (how close is close?) in a geological stratum, in a burial, in the remains of a house © C.M. Darwent 2024 ARTIFACTS Unmodified Subtractive Artifacts Modified Additive Altered  These are not mutually exclusive categories! Modified Subtractive Additive Altered chemical or molecular artifacts modified by alteration of the raw material removal of pieces separate elements combined into a single object © C.M. Darwent 2024 What is a Site? © C.M. Darwent 2024 Space Archaeology © C.M. Darwent 2024 What is a Site? Usually defined in terms of a density of cultural stuff i.e., a high spatial density of artifacts Problem: When are you on a site and when you are off a site? This issue is critical to determining settlement patterns, or how land was used in the past by human occupants © C.M. Darwent 2024 Our notions of what sites look like are based on what ethnographic villages look like © C.M. Darwent 2024  A scatter of stone-tool making debris. How do we decide the extent of the site boundaries? © C.M. Darwent 2024 How dense do the cluster of artifacts need to be? It is up to the archaeological researcher or the government agency Usually based on where in the world you work Therefore, sites are artificially constructed units for the purpose of analysis © C.M. Darwent 2024 Archaeological Site Any area where there is detectable evidence of past human activities Fremont Pit House in Utah Table 4.1 in Text Habitation (house, midden) Earthwork Rock Art Resource use site (quarry, storage) Cemetery Industrial (mining) Petroglyphs at China Lake, CA Commercial (shop) Lithic scatter in Utah © C.M. Darwent 2024 Formation of the Archaeological Record Archaeological Record—the modern empirical traces of past human behaviors Artifacts have a life history, which is called their behavioral context Anthropology is the only discipline that can access evidence about the entire human experience on this planet (M.B. Schiffer) © C.M. Darwent 2024 Formation of the Archaeological Record In situ Artifact’s archaeological provenience is exactly known C-transforms Changes in site/artifact state caused by human behavior or cultural processes N-transforms Changes in site/artifact state caused by natural processes Primary deposit Artifacts are right where they were left by people who made and used them © C.M. Darwent 2024 Behavioral Context Artifacts were once part of a dynamic behavioral system (i.e., systemic context) For example: Procurement Manufacture Use Loss Discard Caching Ritual Interment © C.M. Darwent 2024 Archaeological Context Movement by mechanical processes Alteration via preservation factors © C.M. Darwent 2024 Archaeological Context: Mechanical Processes Floralturbation Natural formation process in which plants affect the archaeological site (e.g., roots, tree throw) https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/oct/29/archaeologists-discover- mesolithic-eco-home-near-stonehenge © C.M. Darwent 2024 Archaeological Context: Mechanical Processes Faunalturbation Natural formation process in which animals disturb artifacts within a site (e.g., worms, ants, Ant hills burrowing rodents) If a rodent hole is filled in it’s called a “krotovina” Russian for “mole hole” Worm tracks © C.M. Darwent 2024 Archaeological Context: Mechanical Processes Cryoturbation Natural formation process in which freeze/thaw activity moves artifacts Soil freezes and expands, pushing the artifacts up Soil thaws and contracts Soil particles move down and fill in the void left by the artifact These cycles can move large artifacts upwards several cm in a season © C.M. Darwent 2024 Archaeological Context: Mechanical Processes Argilliturbation Natural formation process in which wet/dry cycles push artifacts upwards as wet sediment swells, and moves them down as cracks form in the dry season Common in clay-rich soils © C.M. Darwent 2024 Archaeological Context: Mechanical Processes Graviturbation Natural process in which artifacts move downslope through gravity Can be enhanced by water (i.e., runoff) Iita, NW Greenland (2016) © C.M. Darwent 2024