archaeology section of final

the branch of anthropology that seeks to reconstruct the daily life and customs of peoples who lived in the past and to trace and explain cultural changes. Often lacking written records for study, archaeologist must try to reconstruct history from the material remains of human cultures

the relationship between and among artifacts,ecofacts,fossils,and features

any object made by a human

artifacts of human manufacture that cannot be removed from an archaeological site. Hearths, storage pits, and buildings are examples of features.

natural items that humans have used; things such as the remains of animals eaten by humans or plant pollens found on archaeological sites

locations where the material remains of human activity have been preserved in a way that archaeologists or paleanthropologists can recover them

iceman

the earliest stone toolmaking tradition named after the tools found in bed 1 at olduvai gorge, tanzania,from about 2.5 million years ago. the stone artifacts include core tools and sharp-edged flakes made by striking one stoe against another

aztec word for spear thrower

use on tools

the careful removal of the archaeological deposits; the recovery of artifacts,ecofacts, fossils,and features from the soil in which those deposits have been buried

a method of dating fossils that determines the age of a specimen or deposit relative to a known specimen or deposit

a method of dating fossils in which the actual age of a deposit or specimen is measure

the study of how different rock formations and fossils are laid down  in successive layers or strata. older layers are generally deeper or lower than more recent layers

a thin flake whose length is usually more than twice its width. in the blade technique of toolmaking, a core is prepared by shaping a piece of flint with hammerstones into a pyramidal or cylindrical form.

a chisel-like stone tool used for carving and for making such artifacts as bone and antler needles, awls, and projectile points

a small,razorlike blade fragment that was probably attached in a series to a wooden or bone handle to form a cutting edge

method of comparative cultural study that extrapolates to the past from recent or current societies

a dating method uses the decay of carbon-14 to date organic remains. It is reliable for dating once-living matter up to 50,000 years old

the time it takes for half of the atoms of a radioactive substance to decay into atoms of a different substance

a chronometric dating method that uses the rate of decay of a radioactive form of potassium into argon to date samples from 5,000 years to 3 billion years old. The k-Ar method dates the minerals and rocks in a deposit,not the fossils themselves

wedge-shape writing invented by the Sumerians around 3000bc

picture writing as in ancient Egypt and in Mayan sites in Mesoamerica