ARCH 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Biological Anthropology, Population Genetics, Remote Sensing

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Archaeology
• Course: ARCH 100
• Professor: David Maxwell

Document Summary

Archaeology - archaeology is the study of past human behaviour from material items left behind. These can be ancient items, such as stone tools that are millions of years old. These can also be recent items, such as modern garbages. The universe operates according to understandable rules, laws, or principles. These laws are consistent across space and time. These laws can be discerned and understood by people. 2. induce general hypothesis or possible explanations for what was observed. 3. deduce specific things that must also be true if the hypothesis is true. 4. test the hypothesis by checking against the deduced implications. Used to help selecting and evaluating hypothese: Occam"s razor ("entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity") The explanation or hypothesis that explains a series of observations with the fewest assumptions with the fewest assumptions or leaps (of faith) is the best explanation or hypothesis. Includes the study of: human biology, human behaviour, human interactions with the environment, human culture.