Field Methods in Archaeology and Paleoanthropology Key Terms

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Chapter 4

• Field Methods in Archaeology and
  Paleoanthropology Key Terms

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• bioarchaeologyThe archaeological study of human
  remains emphasizing the preservation of cultural
  and social processes in the skeleton.
• prehistoricA conventional term used to refer to
  the period of time before the appearance of
  written records. Does not deny the existence of
  history, merely of written history.

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• artifactAny object fashioned or altered by
  humans.
• material cultureThe durable aspects of culture
  such as tools, structures, and art.

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• fossilThe preserved remains of plants and
  animals that lived in the past.
• taphonomy The study of how bones and other
  materials come to be preserved in the earth as
  fossils.

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• soil marksStains that show up on the surface of
  recently plowed fields that reveal an
  archaeological site.
• middensA refuse or garbage disposal area in an
  archaeological site.

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• grid systemA system for recording data from an
  archaeological excavation.
• datum pointThe starting, or reference, point for
  a grid system.

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• flotationAn archeological technique employed to
  recover very tiny objects by immersion of soil
  samples in water to separate heavy from light
  particles.
• stratifiedLayered said of archaeological sites
  where the remains lie in layers, one upon
  another.

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• coprolitesPreserved fecal material providing
  evidence of the diet and health of past
  organisms.
• endocastA cast of the inside of a skull helps
  determine the size and shape of the brain.

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• Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)A technique for
  amplifying or creating multiple copies of
  fragments of DNA so that it can be studied in the
  laboratory.
• relative datingIn archaeology and
  paleoanthropology, designating an event, object,
  or fossil as being older or younger than another.

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• absolute or chronometric datesIn archaeology
  and paleoanthropology, dates for archaeological
  materials based on solar years, centuries, or
  other units of absolute time.
• stratigraphyIn archaeology and
  paleoanthropology, the most reliable method of
  relative dating by means of strata.

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• fluorine datingIn archaeology or
  paleoanthropology, a technique for relative
  dating based on the fact that the amount of
  fluorine in bones is proportional to their age.
• seriationTechnique for putting groups of objects
  into a relative sequence.

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• palynologyIn archaeology and paleoanthropology,
  a method of relative dating based on changes in
  fossil pollen over time.
• radiocarbon datingIn archaeology and
  paleoanthropology, a technique for chronometric
  dating based on measuring the amount of
  radioactive carbon (C-14) left in organic
  materials found in archaeological sites.

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• dendrochronologyIn archaeology, a method of
  chronometric dating based on the number of rings
  of growth found in a tree trunk.
• potassium-argon datingIn archaeology and
  paleoanthropology, a technique for chronometric
  dating that measures the ratio of radioactive
  potassium to argon in volcanic debris associated
  with human remains.