ANTH 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Processual Archaeology, Ground-Penetrating Radar, Ethnoarchaeology
Document Summary
Archaeologists have changed how they look at the past over time. Initially focused on reconstructing material remains of the past. Then strive to reconstruct the lifeways, or culture of past peoples. Next tried to explain the cultural processes that created a culture and known as processual archaeology. Use math to examine distributions of material remains over space and time. Emphasize human agency and the power of ideas and values when studying past cultures. Stress symbolic and cognitive aspects of society. Examine power, domination, and internal contradictions within a society from the archaeological record. Archaeological sites- places where traces of past human activity are found. Can range in size from large city to a tiny scatter of artifacts. Some occupied for a few hours, days, or weeks: some occupied for hundreds or thousands of years. Artifacts- portable objects made, used, or modified by hominins. Ecofacts- plant or animal remains that are by products of hominins.
