ANT100Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Human Events, Dendrochronology, Mass Spectrometry

• School: UTSG
• Department: Anthropology
• Course: ANT100Y1
• Professor: Shawn Lehman

Document Summary

Factors that affect the archaeological record: not all behavior will leave material traces, because of intervening cultural and natural processes, the archaeological record is not usually a direct reflection of past behavior. Natural factors: climate, biological factors (decay, rodents, carnivores, soil chemistry- acid can destroy or preserve (fossilize, catastrophic events (earthquakes, tornadoes) Industrial or agricultural development (changes context of materials within the archaeological site. The provenience and associations of an artifact, feature, or archaeological find in space and time. Provenience- three-dimensional location of an artifact or feature. Association- two or more items occurring together, usually in same level, feature (eg, artifacts assisiated with burial) Survey: the systematic search for archaeological sites. How are sites found: chance or accident, use of documentary sources, salvage archaeology (determines by industrial or urban decelopment plans or site destruction, archaeological survey (survey of regions, allows for reconstruction of settlement pattern)