Final Synthesis Paper
ANTH-1030 Professor Jude Higgins
Kristina Reinholtz
Final Synthesis Paper
Archaeologist try to reconstruct the past from what others have left behind. Culture brings
anthropology and archeology together, by looking at the cultures as a whole which includes beliefs, art,
morals, laws, customs, knowledge, ceremonies, diet, symbols, and other habits of a society. Archaeology
contributes to anthropology by using many levels of theory and paradigms. Archeologist try to answer
the questions of who, what, why, where, when and how, when examining the remains and the site.
Archeologist developed the categories to reveal patterns in cultures through time and space which
includes morphological type, temporal types, functional types and defining attributes of artifacts. When
archeologist look at an artifact such as pottery they ask, how was this made? What materials did they
use to make It.? What techniques were used to create the pottery? Why was the pottery made? Was it
for cooking, decoration or a different use all together? When was the pottery made? Archeologist uses
many different dating techniques to determine the age of an artifact. Archeologist try to determine the
behaviors associated with certain artifacts in order to reconstruct the past.
The first project based research project we did for this call was the “Skull Lab.” The skull lab
consisted of examining eight skull casts and trying to determine the skulls Genus and Species, based on
the skulls characteristics. This project taught us that, one only has to look at the different skulls to see
evidence of evolution. You can see the many differences in size and shape in the: craniums, eyebrow
ridges, nasal cavities, molars, jaw bones, cheekbones, etc. We learned the mechanisms and processes
of evolution: adaptation, genetic drift, gene flow, mutation, natural selection, and speciation.
We learned how to determine what is considered small, medium, and large, when dealing with the
characteristics of skulls.
The second project based research was “Monitor Diet.” For this project we collected garbage
for a week (excluding bio hazards) and brought it to class the next week. Then we chose a bag containing
another student’s garbage that they collected. We went through their garbage and tried to determine:
social status, spiritual/religious beliefs, political beliefs, environmental beliefs, sex and gender of the
individuals who created the trash. For this project we used typology to classify the refuse in the bags.
Final Synthesis Paper
ANTH-1030 Professor Jude Higgins
Kristina Reinholtz
This project was an excavation simulation of going through a midden pile at an archeological site. We
used behavioral inferences to see if we could determine the behaviors of the person that created the
trash. This project taught us that being an archeologist means getting your hands dirty and learning how
to deal with awful smells. We learned that you can infer many behaviors based on someone’s trash, for
example, they ate a ton of fast food; based on this you could infer they are too busy to cook or that they
do not know how to cook.
The third project based research was the “Mapping Exercise.” For this project we used the
archeological mapping technique to map out everything found in a room in our houses. We used
behavioral inferences to try to infer the behavior of each item found in the room, for example, the bed
is for sleeping. We used excavation simulations, in order to try to view the same room in the future. We
had to move 1,000 and 100,000 years into the future and then remap the room and determine: what
changed, what items remained or deteriorated, and if we could infer the behavior of the items that
were left in the room. We had to use artifact identifications so we could figure out how things would
look in the future and see if we could figure out by looking at them, if we would be able to recognize
them for what they originally were. I thought this project was one of the hardest, for the class, because
we do not know the rate of deterioration for many materials the things in the room were made of. I
learned that if people were to disappear off the face of the earth, by 100,000 years nature would take
over leaving no sign of people ever existing. Nature would cover all man made buildings; they would
look like hills or mountains or would crumble and leave no evidence of being a building.
The fourth project based research was the ”Ethnoarchaeology Exercise.” For this project we
used the concept of ethnoarchaeology to observe behaviors of people eating a meal at a restaurant. We
took notes, which consisted of what the people were doing, how many people, the sex ratio, and the
space they used, while eating their meal. We used the archeological concept of mapping the remains
that were left behind, in order to try to reconstruct everything that we observed. Based on the remains,
we had to use behavioral inferences to reconstruct the behavior that caused the remains. I learned that
I was not able to reconstruct all of the behaviors that I observed from the remains left behind. I had to
infer many behaviors based on our cultures normal behaviors while eating a meal. I learned that
archeologist have a hard time trying to infer behaviors based on the evidence left behind by past
cultures.