ANT101H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Homicide, Proton Magnetometer, Infrared Photography
Document Summary
When looking at something from the past, it is a symbol of human behaviour and the culture the behaviour is occurring in, not just an object. Objects can be interpreted for information on human culture during the time. The study of material remains in order to describe and explain human behaviour. Context is important (just as important as artifact itself) Relationship between artifacts through space and time. Primary context: positioning of artifacts where they were originally deposited. Secondary context: when artifacts have been moved from their original positioning. Ex. in forensics, finding a body in primary place of killing will give much info on the homicide vs if body was moved and found in secondary place. A categorization of artifacts to answer specific questions about a culture. Items that become associated with a site through natural processes. Things that cannot be taken back to a lab for analysis. Spatially distinct place that exhibits evidence of human activity.
