Anthropology tricks that make archaeology stick

Dating: Relative (before/after) vs Absolute (exact date). "RAD" — Relative, Absolute, Done.

StratigraphyLower = older — law of superposition

C-14Organic material, reliable to ~50,000 years

K-ArVolcanic rock, millions of years range

DendrochronologyTree rings — exact year accuracy

TL / OSLCeramics and sediments — dates last heating

Relative dating: stratigraphy (lower = older), typology, seriation

Relative Dating Methods — Stratigraphy: law of superposition — lower layers are older unless overturned. Typology: classify artifacts by style to establish sequences. Seriation: order artifacts by style changes over time. Fluorine dating: bones in same deposit absorb fluorine at same rate — confirms contemporaneity.

Carbon-14: half-life ~5,730 years, reliable to ~50,000 years. Organic material only.

Radiocarbon Dating — Living organisms absorb C-14 from atmosphere. After death, C-14 decays at known rate. Measure remaining C-14 → calculate age. AMS (accelerator mass spectrometry — counts individual atoms) allows dating tiny samples. Works on bone, wood, charcoal, shell, seeds. Limit ~50,000 years. Calibration curves correct for atmospheric C-14 fluctuations.

Potassium-Argon (K-Ar): half-life 1.3 billion years — dates volcanic rock layers near fossils

Potassium-Argon Dating — K-40 decays to Ar-40. When volcanic rock forms, argon escapes — clock resets to zero. Date the volcanic layer → constrain the fossil age between layers. Used at Olduvai Gorge (Homo habilis finds) and Laetoli (Australopithecus footprints). Ar-Ar dating is a refined version — more precise for small samples.

Taphonomy: processes that modify bones and artifacts after death and deposition

Taphonomy — Taphonomy studies: weathering, carnivore gnawing, water transport, bioturbation (burrowing animals), root etching, trampling, chemical dissolution. Essential for interpreting bone assemblages — distinguishes human butchery marks from carnivore tooth marks. Actualistic studies: observe modern bone decay to model ancient processes.

Provenience: exact 3D location of an artifact. Context: association with other objects. Looting destroys both.

Provenience and Context — Provenience = precise coordinates (x, y, z) of a find. Primary context: undisturbed original position. Secondary context: object moved after deposition. Looted artifacts lose provenience permanently — scientific value destroyed. Field recording: total stations, GIS (Geographic Information Systems), photogrammetry now standard. A pottery sherd in situ tells more than a gold object without context.

Lithic analysis: study of stone tools. Knapping = controlled fracture. Conchoidal fracture = predictable flaking.

Mode 1Oldowan — simple flakes, ~2.6 mya

Mode 2Acheulean handaxe — ~1.7 mya

Mode 3Mousterian — Neanderthal, prepared cores

Mode 4Blade tools — Upper Paleolithic, H. sapiens

Ceramics: clay + temper → fired pottery. Typology tracks style changes. Most common find on most sites.

Ceramic Analysis — Temper: material added to clay to prevent cracking (grit, shell, fiber). Firing: hand-built vs wheel-thrown; low-fired (earthenware) vs high-fired (stoneware, porcelain). Analysis: form, decoration, temper, paste, firing temperature. Neutron activation analysis: traces clay source by chemistry. Seriation uses pottery style changes to date sites and establish sequences.

Bioarchaeology: read health, diet, age, sex, and stress from skeletal remains. "Bones tell life stories."

Bioarchaeology — Age: epiphyseal fusion (young), dental eruption (children), bone degeneration (older adults). Sex: pelvis width, skull robustness (not reliable in juveniles). Diet: stable isotopes (C-13/N-15 — marine vs terrestrial, maize vs non-maize). Disease: porotic hyperostosis (iron deficiency), cribra orbitalia, treponemal lesions (syphilis). Trauma: healed fractures vs perimortem.

Remote sensing finds sites without digging: LiDAR, aerial photography, ground-penetrating radar, magnetometry.

Remote Sensing in Archaeology — LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging): laser pulses penetrate forest canopy → reveal hidden structures. Discovered Caracol Maya city, Angkor Wat complexity, Amazonian earthworks. GPR (ground-penetrating radar — bounces radar waves off buried features): bounces radar off subsurface features. Magnetometry: detects burned features and pits by magnetic anomalies. Aerial photography: crop marks show buried ditches and structures. Satellite imagery: large-scale survey.

Neolithic Revolution: ~10,000 BCE — farming replaces foraging. "The most important change in human history."

Agricultural Origins — Independent origins: Fertile Crescent (~10,000 BCE — wheat, barley, sheep), China (~8,000 BCE — rice, millet), Mesoamerica (~7,000 BCE — maize, squash), New Guinea (taro). Consequences: sedentism, surplus, population growth, social stratification, states, cities — but also: infectious disease increase, nutritional decline, warfare. The Çatalhöyük site (Turkey) documents early agricultural community life.

Processual: archaeology as science (laws, hypothesis testing). Post-processual: meaning, agency, multiple interpretations matter too.

Archaeological Theory — Processual (New Archaeology, 1960s): Binford — culture process, ecological adaptation, scientific method, hypothesis testing. Cultural systems, not just culture history. Post-processual (1980s): Hodder — meaning, symbolism, agency, gender, power. Critique: past people had intentions we can access. Modern archaeology: pluralist — combines scientific rigor with interpretive nuance.