!!!“Archaeology deals with rich and poor, literate and illiterate, the ordinary and the exceptional, without fear or favor, dependent simply on the survival of evidence and the attentions of archaeologists” Scarre , Chris 2005 Human Past: World Prehistory and the Development of Human Societies. Thames and Hudson, New York.Literally, “the study of ancient things.” NOUN: The systematic study of past human life and culture by the recovery and examination of remaining material evidence, such as graves, buildings, tools, and pottery. Text!courtesy!The!American!Heritage!Dictionary!of!the!English!Language,!Fourth!Edition.!(2000),!Houghton!Mifflin!Company,!New!York.!And!Dr.!David!Anderson!!Thatʼs!vertebrate!paleontology!!!Text!courtesy!of!Sarah!A.!Blankenship!What!is!not!Archaeology?!What is Archaeology? The systematic study of the human past through surviving material remains. material remains = often referred to as the “archaeological record” archaeological record = the physical remains recovered (such as pottery, stone tools, the remains of structures, etc.)In the New World (The Americas), archaeology is both a scientific and humanistic discipline. scientific = archaeology can be described as a historical science in that it mainly deals with events that can no longer be directly observed, although the evidence left behind (the archaeological record) can be studied to reconstruct what took place. humanistic = concerned with humanity, and the “human as agent;” !!!!!!!!!Slide courtesy Annie BlankenshipThe!scientific!study!of!the!cultural!evolution!of!humankind!using!the!material!remains!of!past!human!behavior.!• Reconstruct!cultural!history!• Reconstruct!past!lifeRways!• Explain!variation!and!cultural!change!• Preserve!the!past!Archaeology!is!different!from!many!social!sciences!and!historical!sciences.!It!is!perhaps! the! most! general! historical! science! because! it! uses! perspectives! from!many!different!disci plines,!like!biology,!ecology,! geology,!and!geography,!as!well!as!anthropology,!to!explore!the!past.!Text!courtesy!of!Dr.!Paul!T.!Thacker!and!Dr.!David!G.!Anderson!Basic Premises of Archaeology!Binford,!Lewis!R.!1983 !In!Pursuit!of!the!Past!Decoding!the!Archaeological!Record.!Thames!and!Hudson,!New!York.!!Image:!Virginia!Archaeology!Month!Poster,!1992,!VDHR!“The!surviving!archaeological!record!is!typically!a!pale!reflection!of!what!actually!happened!in!the!past. The!challenge!that!archaeology!offers,!then,!is!to!take!contemporary!observations!of!static!material!things!and,!quite!literally,!translate!them!into!statements!about!the!dynamics!of!past!ways!of!life”!(Binford!1983:20).!Slide!courtesy!of!Sarah!A.!Blankenship!and!Dr.!David!G.!Anderson!So!in!archaeology:!Objects! =!Behavior! =!Culture!!Text!courtesy!of!Sarah!A.!Blankenship!Anthropology!Cultural/Social! Linguistics!Biological/Physical Archaeology!Americanistic!archaeology!is!taught!as!one!of!the!4!subfields!of!anthropology,!a!discipline!which!advocates!that!every!aspect!of!every!human!society,!extant!or!extinct,!counts.!Picture!it!as!an!Umbrella!Text!courtesy!of!Dr.!David!G.!Anderson!and!Sarah!A.!Blankenship!The!scientific!study!of!humanity!• Global:!It!is!not!enough!to!look!at!any!single!group.!• Holistic:!It!is!not!enough!to!look!at!just!one!part!of!the!human!condition.!• Comparative:!One!must!look!at!the!similarities!and!differences!among!and!between!cultures!Text!from!1998!Thomas,!David!H.!Archaeology,!3rd!ed.!Thomson!Learning,!Australia.!And!courtesy!of!Sarah!A.!Blankenship.!!!!!!!!!Culture!is “that!complex!whole!which!includes!knowledge,!belief,!art,!!morals,!law,!custom,!and!any!other!capabilities!and!habits!!acquired!by![a!person]!as!a!member!of!society”!!(Edward!Tylor!!in!Primitive Culture,1871).!Edward Tylor (English anthropologist) (1832-1917) Text!courtesy!of!Sarah!A.!Blankenship!Culture:!A!system!of!belief!and!behavior!acquired!and!shared!by!members!of!a!society.!1.!technological!(relationships!with!the!environment),!!2.!social!(organizational!systems),!!3.!ideational!(belief!systems).!Text!courtesy!of!Dr.!Paul!T.!Thacker!and!Dr.!David!G.!Anderson!(Driver!1957,!297)!anthropology!studies!human!society!from!!2!perspectives:!!!!!diachronic!view!that!stresses!development!through!time!!synchronic!view!that!emphasizes!the!contemporary!state!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!of!human!societies!with!little!or!no!time!depth!Text!courtesy!of!Sarah!A.!Blankenship!Archaeology in the Old World had its roots in geology, and the documentation of the great antiquity of the earth, and the processes by which the earth and the life forms on it changed over time, including humanity. Slide!courtesy!of!Dr.!David!G.!Anderson!History!of!Archaeology:!Old!World!The!European!Renaissance!(15th!–!17th!C.)!Age!of!Exploration!Renaissance!exploration!led!to!the!discovery!of!new!peoples!around!the!world,!whose!origins!warranted!explanation,!and!whose!existence!did!not!easily!fit!with!traditional!perspectives.!Image!courstesy!of!http://bms.westport.k12.ct.us/lmc/images/AgeExpMap.jpg!and!text!courtesy!of!Dr.!David!G.!Anderson!Slide!courtesy!of!Sarah!A.!Blankenship!Slide!courtesy!of!Sarah!A.!Blankenship!Michele Mercati (1541-1593)!R!Described!ancient!!stone!tools,!and!argued!they!were!used!before!metal!was!!discovered!in!his!manuscript,!Metallotheca,!!(written!ca.!1589R1593,!published!ca.!1717).!!!He!is!considered!by!some!to!be!the!Father!of!Archaeology.!!!“Michael!Mercati!is!the!archaeological!counterpart!of!!Cardano!in!mathematics,!Vesalius!in!anatomy,!!Galileo!in!the!physical!sciences,!!and!Copernicus!in!astronomy”!(Clarke!1978:4R5)!!The!European!Renaissance!(15th!–!17th!C.)!Concepts!of!Time!and!the!Antiquity!of!Man!Slide!courtesy!of!Sarah!A.!Blankenship!Jose de Acosta (1540-1600)!•! Jesuit missionary; worked in Mexico and Peru •! Historia Natural y Moral de las Indias (1590) •!Hypothesized that Native Americans in New World arrived from Asia via land •!Amazing as the Bering Strait (land bridge) was not discovered until 1728!! Slide courtesy Scott Meeks.Isaac!de!la!Peyrère!(1596R1676)!!Argued!that!stone!tools!were!the!work!of!ancient!peoples!in!his!treatise!Prae-Adamitae,!published!in!Latin!in!1655!and!in!English!as!Men Before Adam. !He!was!seized!by!the!Inquisition!and!forced!to!recant,!and!his!book!was!publicly!burned.!http://digitale.bibliothek.uniRhalle.de/download/webcache/300/280654!Text!courtesy!of!Sarah!A.!Blankenship!Archbishop James