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How can archaeologists study past ideas like ideological systems?
- Myths or supernatural phenomena or
- beliefs are not likely to be preserved
- directly, however rituals and symbols associated with the ideology can be observed and analogy would have only limited
- application
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What is a ritual?
stereotyped, repetitive behavioral sequence
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How could you recognize a ritual in the archaeological record?
- The behavior occurs over and over,
- probably in the same place
- Generally accompanied by oral or
- written literature, set of sacred objects, sequence of
- taboos, feasts and/or sacrifices, and symbols
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What are the two types of ritual?
Calendrical and Critical
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Mississippian Religion has 3 Themes of iconography
World Renewal/Fertility, Ancestor Worship, Warfare, Cosmography
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Is Mississippian a Tradition, Period, or a Phase?
Mississippian is a Period. It is a bounded chronological unit. A length of time distinguished by particular items of material culture, such as hose form, potter or subsistence
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Two things that set Mississippian apart from the Woodland period are:
Hierarchical Social Organization, Ideology (Three themes)
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What is cultural continuity through time?
Tradition
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What do we call cultural uniformity and ties across space for a length of time?
Horizon
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What do we call a cultural manifestation that is limited in space and the smallest amount of time we can distinguish?
Phase
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What kind or artifact is also limited in space and time, and is linked to a limited social group?
Type
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What is a type?
A group of artifacts with a recurring set of attributes limited in space, time, and cultural association.
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What is a component?
A time period at a site. It could be a period (Mississippian component) or a phase
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A set of components from various sites in a region will make up a:
Phase
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A stratum or set of strata presumed to be culturally homogenous is:
A component
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A multicomponent site is:
Diachronic, with remains from more than one time period
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Settlement Pattern
Study of spatial distribution of activities, from the arrangement inside a house to distribution of sites in a region.
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Activity Area
- Activity Specific clusters of artifacts
- Identified by contest, artifact and feature association, types of trash & artifacts
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Tool Kit
Items that functioned together for a tast
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Where might you find a tool kit?
In a cache, in a burial
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Are activity areas and tool making always gender specific?
No
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What size group is indicated by a tool kit or an activity area?
- Tool Kit - Individual
- Activity Area - Individual or small group
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What is our best evidence for individual behavior?
- Burials - the bones can tell us about diet and activities (but not in great detail)
- Burials - location and grave goods (Status, activity that marks them)
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At what level do we look at settlement pattern?
- We look at:
- within a house
- within a household
- within a viliage
- Within a region
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What can we learn from settlement patterns?
- Behavior synchronously or diachronically
- How people interacted with the landscape and resources and each other
- Lear about the social system
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What are the two extreme types of social systems?
- Egalitarian: Status by age, sex, marital status.
- No classes
- Leadership by achievement
- Hierarchical: Status by age, sex, marital status
- Vast majority of people are commoners, there are a few elites and one ruler
- Leadership is ascribed
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How do you tell the social system?
- Do settlements look alike, similar locations and settings
- Do all houses look alike?
- Do you find similar sorts of trash?
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Besides looking at settlement pattern, what other evidence can tell you about the social system?
Mortuary practices
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What and when is the first period in the history of Archaeology in America?
Speculative Period, up to 1850
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Name some characteristics of the Speculative Period
- No profession or professional, antiquarians
- No method, theory, or body of data
- Belief the world began 4004 BC
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What laws concerning archaeology were passed during the Speculative Period?
None
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What theoretical approaches did archaeologists take?
None
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What is the name of the second period, and when does it begin/end?
Descriptive Period 1850 - 1914
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List some Characteristics of the Descriptive period
- Beginning of profession
- Beginning of many schools, programs, journals, societies, and government agencies
- Emphasis on descriptive of artifacts
- Myth of the moundbuilders sparked a lot of interest (first Smithsonian publication)
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What laws concerning archaeology were passed during the Descriptive period
- Antiquity Act 1906
- Protected sites on federal property
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What theoretical approaches did archaeologists take during the descriptive period?
- Cultural-Historical
- Descriptive in nature, putting remains into space time grids using cultural areas
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What is the name of the 3rd period?
Chronological Period 1914 - 1960
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List some characteristic of the Chronological Period
- Emphasis on placing sites in time
- Development of numerous relative and absolute dating techniques
- Effectively the beginning of federal legislation affecting archaeological resources
- Huge amounts of data collected in Southeast through WPA, TVS River Basin survey in Missouri
- Beginning of multidisciplinary projects
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What laws concerning archaeology were passed during the Chronological period?
- 1935 Historic Sites Act
- Designated National Historic Landmarks, first not restricted to federal lands
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What theoretical approaches did archaeologists take?
Cultural-Historic
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What is the 4th and current period in American Archaeology?
Explanatory Period 1960 - Present
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List characteristics of the Explanatory Period
- Two new theoretical approaches
- New specialties within archaeology
- Rise of CRM
- Man more archaeologists
- New relationships with Indian
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What laws were passed during the Explanatory Period?
- 1950s - 1960s DOT authorizes 1.5% of budget
- 1966 National Historic Preservation Act
- Set up the national register of historic places that recognizes local, state, and national significance
- set up SHPOs office
- 1969 National Environmental Policy Agency
- If federal monies used in project, must first assess the impact to cultural resources
- 1979 Archaeological Resources Protection Act
- Strengthened the 1906 Antiquities Act
- 1990 NAGPRA
- Protects native american graves and grave goods
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What Theoretical approaches do archaeologists take during the explanatory period?
- Cultural-Historical
- Processual
- Post-Processual
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What Agencies impact at the state of SC level?
- SCIAA - Office of the state archaeologist
- Maintains site files, oversees underwater sites
- Archives and History - Office of SHPO
- Oversees NRHP nominations, quality of contract reports, federal funding
- SC Heritage Trust Program
- Acquires sites
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How are most American archaeologists employed today?
CRM
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Do professional archaeologists have a professional code of ethics
Several, SAA, ROPA, AAA
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Professional Standards
- Who is qualified to work
- What is required in fieldwork
- What is required in lab work
- What is required in reports
- federal standards and SC guidelines
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Conservation Ethic
- Responsibility to the future, unthreatened sites should not be completely excavated.
- Curation of artifacts, notes, photographs, maps
- Work towards the preservation of archaeological sites
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