American Archaeology Vs. Post-Processual Archaeology

This paper deals with ways history can be interpreted and influences different interpretations have on society and individuals. This is explored through

Anthropology is the study of humans in the past and present. Four subfields encompass anthropology; Archaeology, cultural anthropology, linguistics, and physical anthropology. Archaeology is the study of human cultures in the past through material remains. These material remains include artifacts as well as architecture. Archaeologist can focus in prehistoric, historic, or classical archaeology. Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark, is an example of archaeology in film. It is not the best example since Dr. Jones does not carry the correct equipment with him in the field (notebooks, trowel, shovel) nor does he take any notes when removing an artifact from a site. However, the film does portray how an archaeologist would dig in order to recover artifacts, like when Indy and the team find the

He could see, through his excavations, that there were separate groups of humans that he came across and therefore the phrases urban and industrial revolution came about. Childe didn’t merely describe and correlate the culture sequences he attempted to account for their origin as well (Renfrew and Bahn, 2012:36). Not only could Childe notice different cultures but “in 1942, Childe used the distribution of tombs on Rousay to estimate the size and distribution of population on this Scottish island during the Neolithic period (Trigger, 2006:376),” and later on whilst he was excavating at sites such as Skara Brae the “analysis of the community and the estimation of population size became much easier (Renfrew and Bahn, 2012:190).” Throughout his life “as early as 1925, Childe had employed a functional view of culture to facilitate his culture-historical analysis (Trigger, 2006:397),” this concept of culture –historical approach is still being considered and thought about in archaeology today. “During the years of 1928 and 1957 Childe revolutionised specific words relating to the past. These terms became important, not just for archaeologists but also historians and more importantly the public. This terminology that was introduced allowed for clear stages that can be seen throughout the chronological timeline of the past (Greene, 1999:97).” These words such as, urban

Praetzellis did a superb job of teaching different theories and methods of archaeology through this text. Personally, I did not fully understand processualism vs. post processualism until Dave man-splained it to Sandra later in the book. Terms that we went over in class and read in the Johnson textbook, suddenly made sense upon reading it in a conversational setting. What really

This essay will aim to cover several archaeology techniques and methodologies that would have been used during excavation of archeological sites, in particular the New Kinord site. These methods will provide an insight into a wide range of information that I am interested in discovering. These include what the inhabitants of the site did for a living, their diet and how the term of occupation can be determined.

Archaeologists are now able to come together with natives and learn about the past as a team, getting more insight into ceremonials, traditions, sacred ritueals, everyday workings, and lifestyles of native peoples. Respecting the grounds and artifacts of these indigenous people is respecting their heritage- our universal heritage. The unfolding of information allows archaeologists to gain perspective on the people and land before the white

-Archaeologists reconstructed the environment and studied artifacts from a specific time period to learn about people from that time.

Artifacts are studied by both historians and archaeologists. Physical objects are what archaeologists focus on, while historians focus on things like writings.

Archaeology is the most common way to learn about the existence of humans. Many cultures have left written records behind providing information about life for them. The records left behind often tells about wealth, religion, hierarchy, important dates, property ownership and etc. Those records are often written from one person prospective and may not be all true. Understanding the life of past cultures that have no written records is what make archeology important. Archeology gives a voice to the voiceless with the hope of discovering their story.

Politics within nations and communities influences the finding of art artifacts and the eventual explanation of the art artifacts because they decide who has the right to claim it. If an archeologist finds an artifact that belongs to a nation or community and has significance, then the archaeologist can’t claim it. This can cause archaeologists and art historians to feel a certain pressure within their research projects because they can’t retaliate if a community claims the artifact they’ve been researching and studying. However, when the rightful community claims the artifact, they may be able to add insight into the meaning of the artifact because it belongs to them so they may know more about

The influential Lt. General Pitt Rivers has been called the father of scientific archaeology by many, in fact, there is a publication titled General Pitt Rivers, the father of scientific archaeology (by Mark Bowden, published in 1984 and reprinted in both 1990 and 1995). This title is not granted lightly, and it is made evident by the methodology and works published by Pitt Rivers that he was much more scientifically-oriented and objective than most other archaeologists at the time and before him.

Modern scientific methods and testing have made it possible for both historians and archaeologists and also

Janet Spector’s book What The Awl Means is a break-way writing that reflects on many relevant issues within archeology during twentieth century. Spector expresses her internal conflict on the lack of divergent views and limited knowledge acquired when excavating Indian sites. She demonstrates this causes a shortage towards influential archeology because there is “no framework for understanding Native American perspective and perception only the intense wish to know” (Spector 3). However, Spector sets specific motives to dismantle the ignorance people hold towards Native American specifically in archeology. She introduces her primary intensions to replace orthodox archeological methods, by integrating Native American voices into her project. While Spector raises a legitimate critique by acknowledging Eurocentric biases in archeology, she also falls prey to them herself, as demonstrated by her failure to

For over the many years anthropologist and archeologist have developed many diverse theories behind the motivations, beliefs, rituals and existence of Paleolithic rock art within the Native American societies. As majority of these intricate forms of art were created by people of the past, they hold clues to ancient societies and help emphasis connection to the social and cultural aspects of aboriginal communities. A compelling relationship between culture and art has been prominent in society as long as mankind has existed; hunter-gathers, in particular Native Americans created different forms of rock art as a universal way to express themselves and their culture. Originally, anthropologist focused on the religious traditions, beliefs and

• The study of the past based on recovering and identifying artifacts and making inferences about those who left these artifacts is called Archaeology .