COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Human Evolution and PREHISTORY Link to the Canadian Archaeological Association Link to the Canadian Archaeological Association Chapter Two: METHODS OF STUDYING THE HUMAN PAST

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Chapter Preview What Are Archaeological Sites And Fossil Localities, And How Are They Found? How Are Sites And Localities Investigated? How Are Archaeological Or Fossil Remains Dated?

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Aim Of Archaeology To use archaeological remains to reconstruct human societies that can no longer be observed firsthand, in order to understand and explain human behaviour

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Methods of Data Recovery Artifacts  any object fashioned or altered by humans, e.g. pipe, stone tool, house walls Context of artifacts  the way that artifacts were left in the ground

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The Nature of Fossils Fossil  the remains of a once-living organism, generally having lived more than 10,000 years ago, e.g. bones

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Fossilization Typically involve the hard parts of an organism: Bones Teeth Shells Horns Woody tissues of plants

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Fossils Altered Remains of plants and animals that have been altered, as by the replacement of organic material by calcium carbonate or silica Unaltered Remains of plants and animals that lived in the past and that have not been altered in any significant way

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES A site is a place containing the remains of previous human activity A feature is a discrete place within a site, e.g. fire hearth, storage pit

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. FOSSIL LOCALITIES In palaeoanthropology, a fossil locality is a place where fossils are found, e.g. rock fissures in South Africa where human ancestor remains were dropped by predators

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Site Identification Presence of artifacts (most sites) Chance Survey, ground or aerial, with test pits Interviewing local inhabitants Remote sensing techniques, e.g. magnetometer Partly determined by the reasons for the search, e.g. CRM work and laws requiring archaeological assessments of construction projects

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Site Identification Soil marks, geological formations Kind of vegetation growing at the site Documents, maps, folklore Natural agents, e.g. soil erosion By accident during another human activity, e.g. widening of Trans- Canada Highway

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ORIGINAL STUDY Kwaday Dan Ts’inchi Champagne and Aishihik First Nations (CAFN) hunters discovered well preserved human remains in a glacial area of British Columbia Radiocarbon dates cluster in the 1400’s Male in his late teens or early 20’s Many cultural artifacts, as well as environmental items like fish scales

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Locality Identification Palaeoanthropologists must identify geological context with conditions right for fossilization Specific localities with these contexts are then identified in much the same way as archaeological sites

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Archaeological Excavation Grid system  A system for recording data from an archaeological excavation, where the site surface is divided into squares Datum point  The starting, or reference, point for constructing a grid

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  Separate excavation of each square in the grid  Use of shovels, trowels and sifting screens  Familiarity with natural soil around site  Excavation of stratified sites, layer by layer (or use of arbitrary levels)  Flotation for very fine objects Archaeological Excavation

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Fossil Excavation Use of geological techniques, e.g. knowledge of rock sequence in which fossils lie Tools to remove fossils from rock beds, e.g. pickaxes, dental picks

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Methods in Forensic Anthropology 1.Recovery – survey, excavation, photograph/draw remains in situ, transport to laboratory 2. Analysis – inventory, ask questions: Are the remains bone? Are the remains human? Are the remains contemporary (less than 50 yrs.) Determine sex, age, using qualitative and quantitative techniques

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. State of Preservation of Archaeological Evidence Inorganic materials (e.g. stone) are more resistant to decay than organic (e.g. bone) State of preservation is affected by:  Climate, i.e. temperature and humidity  Cultural practices, e.g. mummification

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. SORTING OUT THE EVIDENCE: EXCAVATION Excavation is destruction and the excavation record is all that remains. Scale map Stratification of each grid square Description of artifacts and bones Photographs Scale drawings

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. SORTING OUT THE EVIDENCE: LABORATORY Fossils:  Removal from the matrix with specialized tools and possible use of chemicals  Microscopic examination  Preparation of an endocast, a cast of the inside of a skull

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. SORTING OUT THE EVIDENCE: LABORATORY Artifacts:  Clean and catalogue artifacts  Examination of manufacture and wear patterns for evidence of function  Analysis of plant and animal remains (palaeoethnobotany and archaeozoology) for clues about environment and human economic activities

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. SORTING OUT THE EVIDENCE: LABORATORY  Analysis of human skeletal material – human osteology  Information about people’s diets and health status, including life expectancy and mortality e.g. palaeopathology -- The study of disease in ancient populations, usually from evidence in bone

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Public Archaeology Any archaeological activity that interacts or has potential to interact with the public, e.g. ownership and trade in artifacts and human remains, leading to repatriation legislation (U.S.) and protocol (Canada)

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Goals of Public Archaeology To build relationships based on mutual trust To distribute archaeological knowledge Local heritage awareness Participatory programs for First Nations people Support of museums Cultural tourism

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Dating The Past Relative Dating Designating an event, object, or fossil as being older or younger than another Absolute (Chronometric) Dating Dates based on solar years, centuries, or other units of absolute time

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Methods of Relative Dating 1.Stratigraphy 2.Seriation (most reliable) 3.Fluorine test 4.Palynology 5.Faunal analysis

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Methods of Chronometric Dating 1.Radiocarbon analysis 2.Dendrochronology 3.Potassium-argon analysis 4.Amino acid racemization 5.Electron spin resonance

COPYRIGHT © 2008 Nelson Education Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NEXT TIME: Biology and Evolution