ANTHRO 2AC Lecture Notes - Lecture 36: Cultural Conservatism, Lithic Reduction, Ethnoarchaeology

• School: Berkeley
• Department: Anthropology
• Course: ANTHRO 2AC
• Professor: Lightfoot Kent

Document Summary

Final exam: thursday, dec 15, 7:00-10:00 pm; pauley ballroom; Ethnographic analogy (employ present/historic situations to understand past); Approach used for generating interpretations about arch remains. Archs employ technology of the present to understand the past. Provides insights about the manufacture, use and meaning of the artifact identify different artifact types and assume similar functions or meanings if found in the same arch context. Make an analogy about a single cultural tradition. General analogy -- general comparative method (environment, cultural form); Broader interpretations: tend to be about multiple groups. Similarities of environment: similar kinds of adaptations are prone to take place in a group in similar environments. Cultural form: similar levels of cultural development. Cannot assume ancient history is similar to today or historical times, cannot assume cultural conservatism. Produced an unrealistic portrait of past peoples. Analogy as hypothesis generator but must evaluate with archaeological data;