ANTH 9 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Pyroclastic Flow

• School: Irvine Valley College
• Department: Anthropology
• Course: ANTH 9
• Professor: albert

Document Summary

Basic jobs of archaeology is a search for patterning. Patterns in 2 contexts: systematic context- pattern of artifacts when in use, archaeological context- pattern in the ground= the archaeological record. Formation processes- processes that form the archaeological record. Two types of formation processes: natural- result from the action of nature, cultural- result of human action, both types operate on al sites. Preservation bias- can never have unbiased interpretation, even in. Nature of the climate: good climates (fairly constant) Cold- artic, high altitude (alps, andes: bad. Nature of the deposit: good= constant conditions. Water logged- boylston street fish weir, 2 acre fish trap, Nature of the material: excellent- preserve in all deposits- ceramics, lithics, carbonized, gold, good- preserve in most deposits- one, antler, copper, bad- preserved in only the best deposits- wood, plants, cloth, paper, leather, iron. Comparison of pompeii & herculaneum (natural formation processes) Herculaneum- buried under hot pyroclastic flow, organic materials carbonized & preserved.