ANT200H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Grave Goods, Types Of Volcanic Eruptions, Desiccation
Document Summary
Systemic context (living cultures/behavioral processes) site formation processes (transformational processes) archaeological context (archaeological record) Study of how the archaeological record is formed: how things move, and are transformed as they move, from systemic contexts into archaeological contexts. Taphonomy: the science that seeks to understand the ways in which things become entombed including the process of realization: note: definition in textbook is too narrow. Four keys processes in the systemic context influence the creation of archaeological sites: Human behaviours that result in artifacts moving from the archaeological context back to the systemic context. Human behaviours that modify artifacts in their archaeological context. Example: looters, modern construction, farming and construction of houses, pits, hearths, and so on, 500 years ago, (use the concept of primary context and secondary context to analyze the situation) Natural deposition: flooding, aeolian sediment (wind blown, volcanic eruption, vegetation. Cultural deposition: construction, burials, fires, etc.
