ISS 220 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Ethnoarchaeology, Experimental Archaeology, Biostratigraphy
19 Oct 2016
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Document Summary
Hominins: the evolutionary group that includes modern humans. Protohominins: earliest members of the hominin lineage that have a poor fossil record. Paleoanthropology: the study of fossil hominins from 5mya to present. Archaeology: the study of hominins within culture from 2. 6mya to present. The archaeological record of earlier hominins is less abundant than that of modern humans. The goal of archaeology is to interpret cognitive and symbolic aspects of past societies. The archaeological record is a finite resource. Archaeologists are employed by federal and state government agencies. Ecofacts: natural materials used to reconstruct the local environment of a site. Features: products of human activity that cannot be removed from a site. Contexts: spatial and temporal associations of artifacts and features at a site. Primary context: the setting without any disturbance; secondary context: the setting after some sort of disturbance. Taphonomy: how bones and other materials were buried in the earth and preserved as fossils.
