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A Past, Five Days Elder than Ourselves
- Define it: Sir Thomas Browne- thought to be framed by the six days of the biblical Creation. “Time we may comprehend,” he wrote. “'Tis but five days elder than ourselves.” His inspiration was Genesis 1.
- Where is it: in 1643 England
- Why are we mentioning it: the collapse of the classical world, casual speculations ceased, replaced gradually by a history that drew its inspiration from the Old Testament and from the surviving works of classical writers.Medieval
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Stone Tools and Scriptures
- Define it: the accepted dogma was genesis and that Adam was the first person in 4004 B.C.. However they were finding stone arrow heads and other stone tools at the same stratification level as extinct animal bones. A country gentleman in england went as far as to say that shards he had found 11 ft down were dating to a time "beyond the present world".
- Where is it? Europe, 1700s- early 1800s
- Why are we mentioning it: At the start of anthropology (and still some today) people were trying to match what they found to what they believed to be true, in this case genesis I. however things were not matching up and it lead to new theories on where things came from.
- limited number of sources
- Creation in Genesis 1
- nine of the clocke in the morning on 23 October 4004 B.C2)>
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Herculaneum and Pompeii
- Define it: two close together towns that were remarkably well preserved to to the volcanic eruption of mount Vesuvius. when interest originally arose, the sights were blasted into as Alcubierre looked for treasure. Another man, Winckelmann documented the layout of the two towns and sought to preserve the sights to study the remains social contextWhere: Italy, 1700'3-1860
- Why are we mentioning it?: The history of these two towns shows the different between looting and archaeology. Winckelmann sought to study and preserve, publishing his findings. This was a new idea at the time.
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Egypt and Mesopotamia
- Define it: The greatest mystery that early explores found in little known egypt was the hieroglyphics. Little was known of the people but from the works of classical writers. True investigation did not start until Napoleon invaded the country. The idea of the breath of human antiquity had not been established yet.
- Where:1800's Ottoman empire.
- Why: It was the start of archeology outside of europe
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Stratigraphic Geology
- Define it: the idea of geological layers caused by natural processes over time. William Smith produced the first geological map of england and a table of 32 different strata and the fossils in them. He relised that fossils served as a way to connect geological deposits from all around the world. It is connected to the idea of Uniformitarianism, which is that geological processes formed the earth at a regular rate over time.
- When: 1700's Europe
- Why: stratification is one of the major ways Archaeologists use to get a relative date of an artifact. Finding human remains along with other extinct animal bones is one of the first things that made people question theological dogma of the time.
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Humans and Extinct Animals
- Define it: People began to do excavations documenting multiple finds of extinct animals and human bones in the same layer. Some animal bones seemed to show stone tool marks. The term pre-history was coined to cover these new discoveries. A priest, MacEnerny Found remains underneath stalactites but he was ignored at first.
- It became accepted that there was no doubt
- When: 1800's
- Why?: Early Excavations were ignored in favor of the theological data. However, the tide was turning starting in england. The discovery of the skull in Neander valley and the publishing of Darwin's theory, the idea that the world was much older, and we've been evolving became accepted.
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Napoleon in Egypt
- Define it: When he invaded he took a bunch of scientist with with him who's job it was to record and study the current and past of egypt, sketching, mapping and collecting. There they found the in the town of Rosseta they found a stone inscribed with Ancient Greek, Middle Egyptian, and Egyptian Hieroglyphs. Copies of this stone was sent around the world for translation. The work of these scientist were later published, bringing Egypt to the world that was once unaware.
- When: late 1700-1800 Egypt
- Why: Egypt is one of the most deeply studied cultures out there. This began with Napoleon and took off with the translation of the Rosseta Stone.
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The Decipherment of Hieroglyphs
- Define it: Rosseta stone brought back by Napoleon and claimed by the british. Though many worked on translating it, the work was completed by a lone french scholar, Jean François Champollion, who worked on them for 14 years. The key to his success was when he finally realized that the hieroglyphs were phonetic signs, by studying cartouche and documents along with the Rosseta Stone.
- When:1808-1822 France & Egypt.
- Why?: Egypt is one of the most deeply studied cultures out there. This began with Napoleon and took off with the translation of the Rosseta Stone.
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Looters and Archaeologists
- Define: French and English governments assigned consoles to Egypt. Their job was to just collect antiquities not study the past. These people worked like looters, going as far as to steal and bribe officials to gain artifacts for their respective countries. They had no respect for anything not monetarily valuable, and blasted way to get at them. Some people were however interested in preserving and studying. A Prussian made thousands of comprehensive recordings that are still being used. When Egypt assigned their first director of antiquities, he sought to fight looting by being on step ahead of the looter, a crude but serviceable way of fighting them.
- When: 1800 Egypt
- Why: There is a major difference between Archaeology and treasure hunting. These early "Egyptologist" assigned by their governments were not recording or working to discover the the culture of Egypt. They were looting. However, some sought to study and record and looting was combated by the director of antiquities that lead to true archaeology taking its proper place.
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Discovering the Assyrians
- Define it: After the discoveries in Egypt, archaeologist began to transverse the middle east. In Mesopotamia they came across another ancient culture with their own form of writing. These people were the Assyrians. An Italian named Lanyard was one of the first to relies this. Excavations were aimed at discovering biblical cities such as Nineveh and Babylon. The french claimed to have found Nineveh, but not much progress was made until another great translation-able stone was found, inscribed with old persian and two forms of cuneiform, the Assyrian writing system. This was deciphered by three men. One of these men, Henry Rawlinson, then when on with Lanyard to discover an Assyrian library and with that, translate first historical account of Assyrian civilization, which was then published in Lanyards second book, Nineveh and Babylon.
- When: second half of the 1800 Mesopotamia (Iraq)
- Why: The culture bug was catching. Archeologist were diversifying into other areas and making great finds there too.
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Enlightenment and Human Progress
- Define: Enlightenment is based on the principe of human progress, that all humans have similar levels of inteligence and that app could progress. Differences are based on climate and environment. Cultural progress was the dominant theme of human history from the earliest times, caused by natural factors. This did not contradict theology. Based on Cook and other current exploration.
- When: 1700's
- Why: This principle developed from speculation without archeological data. Early Anthropology suffered from great cultural bias, especially when western civilizations approached non-weastern. This principle, when applied is an equalizer.
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The Barrow Diggers
- Define: Burial mound excavation became a common pursuit in england. Over a Thousand mounds were dug up. Lots was lost by unskilled harsh procedure, but some people started to take note that there was some pattern in the craziness as they studied their own noble savage past.
- When:1700-1800 England
- Why: Early Archaeology started in people's own back yards where they found stone & metal tools along with bones and adornments as these were burial mounds. People were just starting to try to put these into chronological order but were held back by thinking it al had to happen in recorded history not pre-history.
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The Native Americans
- Define it: When they came to know of the native americans, some thought that they were a lost tribe. One priest hypothesis current by such notaries as thomas jefferson- early example of scientific inquiry. mound-builder classical myths grew. same issues.
- When:1500-1800 The america's
- Why:
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The Swiss Lake Dwellings- swampy ground and they were seen when the
lake levels dropped, well preserved as anaerobic water drenched
When: 1800-1900
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Hand Axes and Lake Dwellers
- 1800
- The sequence was based on the Three Age System, and above all, on careful stratigraphic observations that led to sequences of different ancient societies, some working with stone, others with metals. Such stratigraphic observations were based on the principles of superposition—the first relative chronology for prehistoric archaeology anywhere.
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Inevitable Human Progress?
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The Discovery of Ancient Maya Civilization
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The Moundbuilders of North America- started seeing cultures not recorded in colonial times, east south-east, not one group
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Science, Moundbuilders, and the First Americans
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The Sumerian Civilization
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Heinrich Schliemann: Troy and Mycenae- he thought he discovered troy,
tried to use Oddisy and Iliad to find ruins- when do you conclude something?- I
wouldn’t have seen it with my own eyes if I hadn’t believed it.
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Heinrich Schliemann: Troy and Mycenae- he thought he discovered troy,
tried to use Oddisy and Iliad to find ruins- when do you conclude something?- I
wouldn’t have seen it with my own eyes if I hadn’t believed it.
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Flinders Petrie and the Small Object-
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The Discovery of Minoan Civilization
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Lubbock’s Prehistoric Times
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Oscar Montelius and the First Culture History
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Stratigraphic Archaeology and Culture Change in the Americas
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Diffusionism- wrong, don’t push too far- historical particularism-
doesn’t have to come from one source- look for previous sources –
ethnocentrism, preconceived notions- no cherry picking – big picture! – many connections not just
one, over all system.
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Mesoamerica and the Andes
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Tutankhamun: The Golden Pharaoh
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Leonard Wooley and Gertrude Bell: Carchemish and Ur
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Aurel Stein: Archaeology in Central Asia
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Early Archaeology in Africa
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Australia and New Zealand
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Field Archaeology and Aerial Photography
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Mortimer Wheeler and Scientific Excavation- OCD
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The Harappan Civilization
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Vere Gordon Childe: Prehistoric Revolutions
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The Search for Human Origins
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Excavating a Ghost Ship: Sutton Hoo
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Grahame Clark and the Birth of Ecological Archaeology
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Settlement Archaeology in the Americas
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The Sepulcher of the Maya Lord Pacal
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Taylor’s A Study of Archaeology
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New Chapters in Human Evolution
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Discoveries: Pazyryk, Tollund, and Olsen-Chubbock
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New Chapters in Human Evolution
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Major Archaeological Discoveries in the 1960s and 1970s
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Postprocessual Archaeology
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The Archaeology of Individuals, Groups, Gender
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High-Technology Archaeology
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Feder
Chapter 1
Belief in the Unbelievable
Pseudoscience and Archaeology
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Knowing Things
- Define it: How do you know what you know. Things we used to say we knew are now false and it could be changed again. Its all about refinement. In science we must be open to knew concepts and to tweak the old, a key part of the scientific method. We collect knowledge two ways. directly and indirectly. Directly is not as reliable as people think (aka Mantichora, mermaids). When approaching indirect information we must ask: how did they get their info, the source of their info, how are they experts, and what are their motives. Established sources.
- When: Always
- Why: Archaeology is a science. In it we must make reasonable conclusions based on what we "know" and not jump to conclusions.
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Science: Playing by the Rules
- Define it: Science is the art of getting reliable, truthful and factual information. It works by a series of techniques, to maximize the probability that what we know is how things actually work. Science is not always right but it is predictable in its reasoning and goal to evolve. Four underlying principles. There is a real and understandable universe, it operates according to certain laws, these laws are universal, and they can be studied.
- When: Always
- Why: Archaeology is a science.
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The Case of Childbed Fever
- Define it: mother infant mortality, hospitals are also morgues,don’t know to sterilize- experimenting is spreading the dead fluid. Scientific process. Make Hypothesize, throw out untestable ones, isolate the indepentat variables and test each of them.
- When:1800’s, Europe
- Why: It is a case of going though the scientific method, using testable, observable, and repeatable methods.
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Science and Nonscience: The essential differences.
- Define it: In science you always need a TESTABLE hypotheses. The methodology of knowing goes by four steps: 1. Observe, 2. Make Hypotheses, 3. Deduce- if this is true this also must be true, 4. Test and re-test. Test all Hypothesis, never jump to conclusions.
- When: Always
- Why: These are the same steps that you must take in Archaeology, just because your looking at remains not a chemical reaction does not change anything.
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Feder Chapter 3
The Cardiff Giant: The Goliath of New York
- Define it: People believed that giants once walked the earth because Genesis said so. So a man gave them what they wanted and got quite a bit of money for it. He carved a giant, over ten feet tall and buried him at a farm where he was dug up when they were digging a well. As it was stone they claimed he was a "petrified" human (although that cant actually happen, our cells are too soft). Studies of the origins of the statue proved it to be a hoax.
- When: 1860ʻs East coast, USA
- Why: These are false "archaeological" information that has been purported as the truth, and we should be able to spot them as they do not follow the scientific method.
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Feder Chapter 4
The Evolutionary context (of” Dawson’s Dawn Man”)
A remarkable Discovery in Sussex
The Piltdown Enigma
Unmasking the Hoax
The Lesson of Piltdown
- Define it: brain first then body. england had none of their own, multiple finds. Ape lower jaw, think human upper. Scientist loved it and debated it, jumped to conclusions because its showed that they wanted to be true, not what was actually true. But the parts were so wholly one way or another that some questioned the validity of the find. As more neanderthal remains and other pre-historic human remains were found they had to put aside. No admittance, probably wanted archaeological fame.
- When: 1912 England
- Why: Skeleton in the closet of prehistoric archaeology. It is a classic case of making what is found into what you want it to be not what it most likely is.
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Scientific Creationism
- Define it: In order to get around the separation of church and state, certain creationist were trying pass of ID by saying it was a scientific theory not a belief (not just christians either), that there is scientific evidence for the recent and spontaneous creation of the universe by an intelligent force, and destruction at least in part by the same force. Not all theories are created equal. They have tried to impose it on local, state, and national levels but have the most success at local levels, weakening the belief in evolution in the US. much of science deal with evolution. IT HAS BEEN TESTED AND RETESTED AND TESTED SOME MORE AND SHOWN TO BE RELIABLE. It is a crucial underpinning to modern science.
- When:1980-90- now =P USA, 33 out of 35
- Why: Archeology is the scientific study of human past and present. Though there can be many theories out there, not all theories are created equal and they should be well grounded in the scientific method and a razor should be applied two cut the possible conclusion to the most basic & reasonable.
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The Shroud of Turin
- Define it: The shroud of Turin is the supposed burial wrappings of Jesus, on which an image was left when he was resurrected. Shroud of Turin research project, concluded that it had to be a "burt of radiation". However two groups recreated the shroud with paints. one rubbed pigment over a bais-relief, and another left cloth our in the sun under a piece of glass with a guy painted on it. Does not match biblical references even- blood, clean shaven, shape, re-entering the tome. The material dates from the time the shroud was first said to appear it the time of the plague.
- When:1978- 80ʻs USA and the Vatican
- Why: It was bad science. They concluded that because hypothesis 1,2, and 3 failed it must be conclusion 4 without testing it. Its not the historical item they supposed.
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Burial Boxes in Jerusalem
- Define it: They found a simple burial box with the inscription, "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus" popular names but all together in that format. The box itself was legit but the inscribing were not. Over time a natural solution will form on the item and in the etchings but it was not in the etchings. another solution was painted on to replicate the look of originality. Latter other boxes were found. these were in
- When: 2002
- Why:
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