ANTA01H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter Chapter 8: Site Survey, Human Events, Biostratigraphy
Document Summary
Human culture - defined in contemporary contexts, involves toolmaking abilities, cognitive, political, social, and economic components, as well as technology. Paleoanthropology - defined as the overall study of fossil hominins. Artifacts - objects or materials made or modified for use by hominids. The earliest identified artifacts are made of stone (due to their durable nature), but hominin tool use is probably older than these artifacts. Archaeology - defined as a body of methods designed to help us understand the human past through the study of its material remains. Archaeologists try to reconstruct the chronicle of past human events. Using clues from artifacts, archaeological features, sites, and contexts, archaeologists try to understand how people actually created and used those cultural products to interact with each other and their surroundings. Archaeologists try to interpret the cognitive and symbolic aspects of past societies. Site survey - the process of discovering the location of archaeological sites.
