ANT 240: Final Exam Questions With Verified Answers

ANT 240: Final Exam Questions With Verified Answers How do we get from the archaeological record to data? - answer- Low level theory: transforming observation into interpretation in the field and lab. - Hearth, midden/trash heap, pottery type. How do we get from the data to human behavior? - answerHow can we connect statics to dynamics? - Archaeological record (dead, unmoving). - Human behavior (living). Processual archaeology's answer: middle-level theory. Trying to establish necessary links between behavior and the patterned remains it produces. Why aren't the behaviors that produced the archaeological record just obvious? - answerMultiple behaviors can produce very similar archaeological resorts. Why are upper long bones often missing in animal bone assemblages from residential sites? - answer- Neolithic Turkey: Because people are "schlepping" only the best cuts of meat home, leaving heavier bone elements at the kill site. - 9th Century Saxon England: Because the best cuts (haunches) are being transported to the market on the bone. - North American Plains: Because long bones are being pulverized to remove nutritious bone grease. How do we determine what the material consequences of certain behaviors are? - answerIf human beings were butchering antelopes... then we should expect the bone assemblage to exhibit the following characteristics. So how do we know what characteristics the bone assemblage should exhibit? - answerWe have to observe culture in its systemic context. Producing patterning in material culture in its archaeological context. What are you doing when you make inferences about ancient behaviors using modern behaviors? - answer- Arrowhead looks like other arrowhead, so it's the result of the same behavior. - Kivas looks like another structure, so they have the same function. What are you doing when you make inferences about ancient behaviors using modern behaviors? - answerMaking an analogy. But not all analogies are created equal! - answer- Formal analogy. Similarity in form (or morphological attributes) between archaeological and modern examples. Similarity in function. - Relational analogy. Objects/artifacts/architecture etc. must have formal similarities, must come from cultures that are related. Through similar environments, settlement patterns, economies. Or through historical relationship (descendant cultures). middle-level theory - answer- Trying to establish necessary links between behavior and patterned remains. - Key feature: observe how living behavior produces static remains in the present. - Ethnoarchaeology, experimental archaeology, taphonomy. How do we strengthen the analogies/establish necessary links? - answer- Ethnoarchaeology: studying contemporary peoples to learn how behavior translates into archaeological remains. - Binford did ethnoarchaeology among the Nunaviut of Alaska. Robert Kelly - answer- What effects do different degrees of nomadism/mobility have on archaeological patterning? - Trash disposal practices, investment in architecture. - The Mikea of Madagascar: horticulture and hunter-gathering. - Permanent villages: trash in pits of 30-40 meters away. Twice as many posts, thick, consistent diameter, deep holes. - Forest hamlets (2 months, seasonal maize growing): trash in an arc 3-9 meters away. Thin posts, irregular diameter, shallow post holes. - Foraging camps (1 week): trash 1-2 meters away. Transient structures, no post holes. - Very processualist! Fits in with ideas of "cultural ecology". Culture is an adaption for survival, so people make choices to maximize utility and emphasize efficient use of time and resources. Ian Hodder - answer- Maro and Mesakin people of Nuba Mountains of Sudan. - Grains, pigs, cattle, goats. - Live in round houses in walled compounds. - Cook food and eat in their courtyards.