AR101 Lecture notes 2

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Wilfrid Laurier University *

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AR101

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Geology

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Oct 30, 2023

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The geologist: uniformitarianism concept  Relates to geological processes and formation of layers of the earth  James Hutton was the first to argue for continuous processes: soil erosion, sedimentation and volcanism  Significance = interpreting stratigraphic context The Biologist- Concept: Evolution and Nature  Evolution: biological process that leads to gradual change in organisms  Natural selection: those best adapted will pass on traits to next generation “survival of the fittest”  18 th Century belief in “divine creation and the great chain of being”  19 th century Charles Darwin theorizes about how humans came to be in their present form  Significance = can be applied to human cultures The Museum Director – concept: Three Age System  A system in which history is divided into 3 ages based on technological advances  Spurred by increase in museum collections size that was lacking organization  19th Century Christian Jurgensen Thomsen proposes: Stone, Bronze, Iron Ages basis for Old World chronology  significance = trends in cultural change could be discerned through objects, building chronology Evidence for Early Man in Europe – Stone tools and Bones  19 th Century Jacques Boucher de Perthes finds stone hand axe in gravel pit at Abbeville in the Somme Valley associated with bones of extinct animals  Not known at the time but likely made by early humans Evidence for Early Humans in Egypt – concept: stratigraphic context  Observation of layered materials (strata) deposited over time  19 th C General Augustus Henry Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers observes exposed layers of a wall carved into a hillside  Deduces that humankind is older than 4-5000 years based on stone tools of an earlier date found embedded in walls for which the Contruction date was known  Also recognized for his approach to detailed record keeping Evidence for Early Humans –Experimental Archaeology  Testing of hypothesis through replication

 19th C Sir John William Dawson Canadian geologist investigated whether stone tools were man made or natural processes Discovery of the World’s Ancient Civilizations  1822, Frenchman Jean-Francois Champollion deciphers Egyptian hieroglyphics using Rosetta stone  1840’s, American John Lloyd Stephens and artist Frederick Catherwood map Mayan ruins and surmise they were built by ancient Indigenous peoples  1873, German Henrich Schliemann discovers ancient cities of Troy and Mycenae  1902-31 Englishman Sir John Marshall, Director General of the Indian Archaeological Survey undertook systematic excavations that revealed Harappa and Mohenjo Daro, cities of the Indus Valley civilization Archaeological Practice and Thought – Paradigm Culture- historical  description of culture groups, development of timelines documenting events and change based on material remains  prevalent in the early half of the 20th C  Australian V. Gordon Childe a leading thinker and writer about European prehistory  concerned with the identification of cultures, their age, how and why they changed through time Archaeological Practice and Thought – Paradigm: New Archaeology  spurred by ecological anthropology (Franz Boas, Julian Steward, Grahame Clark) , specialists other than archaeologists, and new scientific aids  1950’s rise of ‘New Archaeology’ and ecological approach = concerned with cultural and biological adaptations to the environment  field and laboratory support originating from physical and life sciences, natural history  linked with advances in technology following WWI Archaeological Practice and Thought – Paradigm: Processualism  popular in 1960’s, lead by American Lewis Binford, realization archaeology shares with anthropology goal of understanding human behavior and culture  embraces scientific method, formulation and testing of hypotheses to learn about humans  analyses are ecological, regional, used to investigate ‘origins’ i.e. agriculture, humankind Archaeological Practice and Thought – Paradigm: Post- processualism  post-modern thought of 1980’s and 1990’s, subjectivity cannot be overcome  Lead by British archaeologist Ian Hodder, interpretations of the archaeological record are shaped by the viewpoint of the archaeologist

 encourages diversity in approaches, multivocality  i.e. feminist archaeology, Indigenous archaeology QUIZ:  35 multiple choice  10 true false  8 matching  2 short answer  Covers stuff from unit 1 ex: lectures, readings, videos  Spelling for names The archaeological record  Any evidence of past human preserved in the crust of the earth  Living population: o Social/ cultural behavior dictates what enters into the records  Culturally based sample: o Physical environment influences what is and isn't preserved in the record  Enviromental based sample o Archaeological methods, sampling determines what is excavated  Analyzable sample  Considered a non-renewable recourse, can't put back what you took out  Can be harmful to the environment  Essential to record artifacts because once you dig something up context is destroyed Material Remains Artifact:  Portable objects made or modified, used, discarded by people Eco fact:  Organic or biological remains used but not made or modified by people

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Concept: Context, o The place where an artifact, ecofact, or material evidence is found o The layer the object came from is called the object’s provenience = vertical and horizontal location of find o Context can be primary (original place of deposition) or secondary (removed from primary context) tertiary and so on o Context is just as important as the object themselves o Causes of damage to context include o Urban development o Looting o Agriculture o Tourism o Conflict o Archaeology Features: o Specific contexts representing non-portable human activity o Identifiable but not portable o Examples: o Posthole o Decomposed wood forms o Rich organic soil o Natural feature of landscape used by humans Site: o Show traces of past human activity o Places where artifacts, features, structures, organic and environmental remains are found together Bill Rathje‘s Tuscon Garbage Project: o Studied modern human waste patterns to make links between human behavior and the archeological record o Primary findings are that what people said they bought and didn’t buy isn't what they found in the remains o Dumps mummify not compost Lewis Binford – Middle Rang theory (MRT):

o Basically, said if we can find a link between the materials found through archaeology and the humans who lived at the time, we can use it to find out more about the people of the past o MRT can create these links between material remains and behavior of humans of the past Experimental Archaeology: o Involves controlled imitative experiment to replicate past phenomena o Example is flint knapper: someone who replicates ancient stone tools o An analog to better understand how things are made and used in the past Taphonomy: o Study of processes like death, burial, decay, preservation) affecting animal and plant remains o Involves cultural and natural processes o To understand the impact ie: loss or changes to physical remains and the archaeological record Stratigraphy: o The accumulation of natural and cultural debris in successive layers o Tells us how the site was formed, relative age of each layer Superposition: o Oldest layer is at the bottom o Youngest/ most recent layer is at the top Inorganic Materials: o These usually survive longer than organic materials o Earliest stone technology predates modern homo sapiens (humans) and can be traced to the earliest members of humans about 2.3 million years ago o Fired clay survives well since it's not water soluble o Lasts hundreds of years o Pottery vessels, cooking utensils, bricks Organic Materials (living matter) o Determined by matrix and climate o Tropical climate most destructive with acidic soils, heavy rains, warm temperatures and high humidity o Climates with variable temperatures accelerate decay Preservation – Dry Environment: o Recovered from around the globe, the result of human induced desiccation (removal of moisture)

o Worlds oldest mummies created by small fishing communities, the chonchorro of northern Chile and southern Peru Preservation – Cold environments: o Captain john franklin 1845, British expedition to find northwest passage, ships became ice bound o 128 crew members died from malnutrition, starvation, lead poisoning o Buried below permafrost, creating ice mummies, environment halts decomposition Preservation – Wet environments: o Windover Pond, Florida – 6000BC o Anaerobic environment, ph. of water halts decomposition o Bone, antler and biological tissue preserved o Deterioration with exposure and rapid drying – necessary for artifacts to remain wet until removed and conserved Preservation – natural disasters o 1978, Mary leaker and Tim white find Australopithecus afarensis dating 3.7 million years ago o Track of 59 footprints sealed in harden volcanic ash layer o Russel tuttle, university of Chicago studied pedal morphology, conducts gait analysis to prove bipedal hominins

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