ANTH question
AAZZDD
Day2lecture-Archaeology101.pdf
Archaeology 101
• Research report prompt is up on Canvas
• Day 1 slides and lecture recording are also up
• Please watch all class videos (these are required)
• Great job on the discussion boards! Be sure to check
out and/or use the open-ended board as well!
Quick announcements
• Logical fallacies and South Park
– “Kyle of DeVry Institute”
• Detecting baloney
– Always search the claimant/author/source
– Some conspiracy theories have been true
• Our personal biases, things to keep in mind:
– Culture
– Religion
– Economic status/upbringing
– Political views
Class discussion and Project 1
• From Greek
– anthropos – human beings
– logia – the study of
• The study of human diversity, through time and space
• Anything that humans are or were, can do or have
done is fit for study
What is Anthropology?
• Specific qualities about anthropology
• Holistic
– Puts together all that is known about human beings into one
discipline
– Comprehensive
• Comparative
– No single culture defines humanity
– Examine differences and similarities
– Ethnology
• Comparison, analysis, and interpretation
of data about different cultures/societies.
The Anthropological Perspective
• Evolutionary
– Change is constant
– Studies how we got to where we are today
• Adaptive
– Flexible
– Culture as the means to adapt
The Anthropological Perspective
• Scientific or humanistic?
– It can be both
– Follows scientific methods for data collection
– Studies people
– Example: ethnoarchaeology
“…the most scientific of the humanities, and the most humanistic of the sciences.”
The Anthropological Perspective
The (Main) Subfields
Anthropology
Linguistics
Biological
Applied
Cultural
Archaeology
Archaeology
Prehistoric, historic, contemporary
Artifacts
Fieldwork
Studies culture from material remains
The Fundamentals of Archaeology
• Context is key
• Archaeology is a science
– Systematic
– Based in testing hypotheses
• Archaeology is not like other sciences
– Not always replicable (field work)
– We study people, and people are messy
Archaeology – The Process Like all science, it should start with a question, in our case about humans
How did war affect tributary city-states
in the Maya area?
Ancient Maya Game of Thrones
Ancient Maya Game of Thrones
Finding sites
Survey
Mapping: Tape and compass
Mapping: EDM
Mapping: LiDAR
Excavation
Excavation
Artifacts
Features
Lab analysis
Copan, Honduras
Copan, Honduras
Copan, Honduras
10J-45 at Copan, Honduras
10J-45 Acropolis
eastwest
10J-45 at Copan, Honduras
10J-45 at Copan, Honduras
10J-45 at Copan, Honduras
10J-45 at Copan, Honduras
10J-45 at Copan, Honduras
10J-45 at Copan, Honduras
10J-45 at Copan, Honduras
Archaeological Analysis
What we do with the things we find
→Reseach Report
• Archaeological Context
• Chronological Context
• Use Context
• Spatial Context
The Artifact
10J-45
Archaeological Context →Where did we find it?
Archaeological Context: Offering
Chronological Context: Epigraphy
→ How old is it?
Yuri Knorosov
Chronological Context: Ceramic Seriation
COPAN
TEPEU 1 Late/
TEPEU 2 Early
TEPEU 2A
TEPEU 2B
POST-
CLASSIC
Chronological Context Absolute dating
475 AD
650
700
750
800
830
1000
AD 562
Spatial context
→ What was it found associated with?
Use context
→ What was it used for?
Use context
→ What was it used for?
So what is this thing?
• Jade pectoral
• Symbol of kingship
• Found in secondary royal tomb
outside city center
AD 562 – peak of Tikal-Calakmul war
= Copan was affected
Archaeology: Synthesis
• Study of material culture
• Begins with a question
• Survey, mapping, excavation, analysis
• Emphasis on contexts
What’s missing?
• What happens to the stuff? → Collections
Project 2 – The Archaeology of Everyday Life
1. The premise: You’re an archaeologist 400 years in the
future, exploring a room that was rapidly abandoned
following a cataclysm. You wish to understand that
room’s inhabitants…
2. Pick 2 “artifacts” in that room
3. Describe their contexts
a) Archaeological Context
b) Chronological Context
c) Spatial Context
d) Use Context
4. Create a brief presentation with your interpretations.
Have fun!
What’s a scholarly or academic source?
1. Written by experts
• People who are trained in X discipline/method
• People who collected primary data
2. Peer-reviewed
• Reviewed by other experts in discipline/method
• Sometimes reviews are based on replication
Google Scholar
https://login.proxy.libraries.smu.edu/
Where do I find academic sources?
Where do I find academic sources?
SMU Catalog
https://www.smu.edu/libraries/fondren
Through our librarian!
Where do I find academic sources?
How good is Wikipedia?
• Actually a good starting point!
How do I use academic sources?
• Summarize ideas/arguments using
your own words
• Avoid direct quotes unless absolutely
necessary
• When in doubt, cite
• Rule of thumb – once per paragraph if using ideas from the same source
What are citation styles?
• Consistent ways of acknowledging the
work of others
• The key is others need to be able to find
that source
• Two styles to keep in mind • In-text citations (Figueroa 2020)
• References cited
• The key is to be consistent and thorough
A tip/shortcut
