ANT200Y5 Y

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ANT200Y5 Y
Prehistoric Archaeology

World Prehistory
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Archaeology
The theories, methods and techniques used by
archaeologists
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Prehistory
body of knowledge resulting from archaeological
study of material remains of societies that
existed prior to the development of full-scale
written records
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TOPIC 2 What is Scientific Archaeology?
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Ashmore Sharer 1999246
The study of the human past through material
remains
with the aim of ordering describing the events
of the past,
and explaining their meaning
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Approaches to Archaeology

• classical archaeology

• historical archaeology

• industrial archaeology

• forensic archaeology

• prehistoric archaeology

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Why?
1. Entertainment
2. Exploitation
3. Scientific understanding of human past
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Anthropological Archaeology
The scientific study of material evidence of any
human activity,
generally in absence of observation of that
activity,
for purposes of explanation.
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three elements
1. observed material evidence
2. unobserved human activity
3. explanation of human activity
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Inference
reasoning from known to unknown
Given ? if ? then
Observed ? Assumptions ? Product
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e.g., Stratigraphy
Law of Superposition
Assumption
lower layers are older than upper layers
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Scientific Method
1. collect data
2. formulate hypothesis about data
3. check hypothesis using other data
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4. confirm or disconfirm hypothesis
5. use confirmed hypotheses to generate test
other hypotheses
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Dimensions of Inference
Contextual Dimensions
1. formal
2. spatial
3. temporal
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Cultural Dimensions
4. material
5. social
6. ideational
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TOPIC 2 What is Archaeology?
Lecture 2 History of Scientific Archaeology
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A. Origins

• Antiquity - AD 1500

• Renaissance 1500s 1600s

• Enlightenment 1700s 1800s

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A. Origins
1. Antiquity to AD 1500

• speculative 'Age' schemes

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2. Renaissance 1500s 1600

• Mercati artifacts

• changes in economic conditions

• discovery of Americas

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3. Enlightenment 1700s 1800

• systematization

• scientific method

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• 1797 John Frere

Law of Superposition

• 1833 Charles Lyell

Principles of Geology

• 1859 Charles Darwin

On the Origin of Species
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B. Scientific Archaeology
1. Methods 1850 - 1945
2. Culture History 1945-1960
3. Explanation 1960 -gt
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1. Methods 1850 - 1945
a. Excavation
b. Classification
c. Early theory
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b. Classification
Thomsen Worsaae
Three Age System
Stone, Bronze Iron
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c. Early Theory

• cultural evolution

• unilineal evolution

• cultural relativism

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c. Early Theory

• particularism

• archaeological culture

• diffusion

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2. Culture-History 1945-1960

• Form typology

• Space culture areas

• Time relative chronometric

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3. Explanation 1960 -gt present
Paradigm

• theoretical perspective

• school of thought

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3. Explanation 1960 -gt present

• Processual Archaeology

• Post-processual Archaeology

• Social Archaeology

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Processual Archaeology
Lewis Binford
culture humanity's extrasomatic means of
adaptation
stresses material conditions of human culture
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Post-Processual Archaeology
Ian Hodder
reaction to processual archaeology
stresses ideational conditions of human culture
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Social Archaeology
Social Agency
developed from post-processual archaeology
stresses social conditions of human culture