Introduction to Archaeology
The Beginnings of Scientific Archaeology…
Theories and More
So what is Archaeology?
Goals of Archaeology
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Conserving and managing the worlds archaeological sites
for the future
Studying sites and their contents in a context of time
and space to reconstruct human culture.
Reconstructing past lifeways or the ways in which people
made their living in the changing environments of the
past which has developed into a major goal of
archaeology.
Explaining why cultures change (or stay the same).
Understanding sites, artifacts, remains and other aspects
of the archaeological record.
Theories
Creationism
What is Creationism? Creationism is the idea that a higher
power, in many cases God, created man and placed them here
on earth along with the animals and plants and everything
that is present today. It argues that all life on earth was been
created exactly as it is in the present, and any alterations
would run counter to God’s plan.
Fixity of species.
Great Chain of Being
Essentialism
Grand Design.
Evolution
What is Evolution? Evolution is the theory
in which humans evolved, or changed
over time, from a common ancestor.
Evolutionary Theories
John Ray (1627-1705), an ordained
minister, was the first to identify species.
In 1735 a Swedish botanist named Carolus
Linneaus (1707-1778) wrote a book called
“systema Naturae” or System of Nature,
where he classified all animals.
Key Contributors to the Theory of
Evolution Cont’d
Comte de Buffon (1707-1788), in 1749,
developed the theory of “degeneration”
Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802) (Charles
grandfather) also began to express ideas of
natural selection and evolutionary thought.
Key Contributors to the Theory of
Evolution Cont’d
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) was
the first European to come up with an
organic theory of evolution
Thomas Malthus (1766-1834), in 1798,
argued that human populations double
every 25 years, it increases exponentially
while food production remains stable,
thereby creating a struggle for existence
Key Contributors to the Theory of
Evolution Cont’d
James Hutton, a geologist, argued in his work
Theory of Earth in 1784, that the earth was formed
entirely by natural processes not by a divine flood of
global proportions.
His work was later refined by Charles Lyll in 1833.
There view that the earth had been formed completely
from natural processes that are still in operation today
became known as Uniformitarianism.
Key Contributors to the Theory of
Evolution Cont’d
George Cuvier (1769-1832),
developed the theory of
catastrophism in 1830
Russell Wallace developed the
theory of evolution based on natural
selection simultaneous to Darwin.
Darwin’s Theory
1. Species produce offspring faster than the food supply
increases
2. No two individuals of a species are exactly alike
3. Because there are so many individuals in a species there
is a struggle for existence, favorable characteristics will
survive
4. Those favorable characteristics are inherited and passed
on
5. Over long periods of time those successful variations will
produce new species
From Biological Theory to Social
Theory
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) argued that human progress is not
an accident, that social institutions progress from a simple form to
a complex form and that each culture passes through these same
phases.
This idea fine tuned by Spencer, Edward B Tylor (1832-1917)
and Lewis Henry Morgan (1818-1881) was known as Unilinear
Cultural Evolution .
Unilinear Cultural Evolution “Stage”
“savage” stage as hunters and gathers
“barbaric” stage of farming
“civilized” stage of modern western culture.
Diffusionist Theory
Suggests that culture change and
human origin was based on
population movement.
This idea was in direct reaction
against the unilinear models.
Historical Particularism
Historical Particularism, a widespread reaction against
sweeping generalizations about culture change brought on
by the Unilinear Cultural Evolutionists ( Herbert Spencer,
Edward Tylor, and Lewis Henry Morgan).
In the United States this movement, known as Historical
Particularism, was led by the anthropologist Franz Boas.
Historical Particularism carefully and scientifically
catalogued cultural data and was used to plot culture areas
Culture History
Culture History- the scientific cataloguing to determine
the what, when, and where events took place
The conceptual framework of the cultural history
approach emphasized the goal of outlining sequence
(time dimension) and geographical distribution (space
dimension) of past cultures.
Culture History
 Components- The component unit consists of grouping similar
artifacts that distinguishes the culture of the inhabitants of a
particular time and place.
 Phases – Phases are cultural units represented by grouping similar
artifacts and cultural traits in the same space over a short period of
time.
 Culture areas- A culture area is a geographic region characterized
by fairly uniform environment and culture.
 Traditions- Traditions are social organization, customs, beliefs, and
material culture that distinguish an area for a long period of time.
 Horizons- Horizons are distinctive artifacts and cultural traits that
cross traditions into neighboring areas allowing the assumption that
they spread rapidly.
Cultural Ecology
Julian Steward (1902-1972) developed the
idea of Cultural Ecology and the theory
of Multilinear Cultural Evolution
Multilinear Cultural Evolution.
Multilinear cultural evolution- cultures pass through
similar stages at different rates, not on a universal track,
of cultural development based on their environment.
 Cultural ecology defined by three principles
1. Similar adaptations can be found in different
cultures living in similar environments
2. No culture as adapted to their environment
and have since remained unchanged (culture
is constantly changing and adapting)
3. Adaptations during periods of cultural
development in any area can either add to the
complexity of society or result in new
cultural patterns.
Descriptive Culture Models
The primary basis for interpretation of culture history depended on descriptive
culture models. These models are:

Inevitable variation

Cultural Selection

Invention

Diffusion

Migration
Disadvantages of Culture History
In 1948 Walter Taylor (1913-1997) wrote A Study
of Archaeology.
Archaeologists started reassessing the objectives of
their research.
The New Archaeology
A pioneer in this new an revised view of the past
was Lewis Binford.
The New Archaeology advocated for rigorous
scientific testing using formal scientific methods
including testing for hypothesis.
Processual Archaeology
This approach was in direct contrast to the descriptive
approaches of the past.
Focuses on Cultural Materialism
Post Processual Archaeology
In the 1970’s a new approach emerged
called Postprocessual archaeology
Postprocessual archaeology has made three
important contributions to the field.
So where are we today?
Introduction to Archaeology
Ch 2
The Beginnings of Scientific Archaeology…
Theories and More
Why is it important to know
prehistory prior to beginning a
study in archaeology?
Archaeologists want to learn about people across
all space and all time through the location and
interpretation of material remains.
Human Origins
2.5 million years ago the first tool making human appeared in Africa
1.5 millions years prior to that earlier hominids occupied the region as earlier as
Around 1.9 million years ago, humanity moved out of Africa into Asia and Europe
changing and adapting to their environments along the way.
Around 750,000 years ago, the human population was no more then a few tens of
thousands of people.
By about 100,000 years ago, those modern humans were “fully developed”
By about 40,000 to 15,000 years ago, humans occupied every corner of the globe.
So what is Archaeology?
Archaeology: the study of material remains and human
cultures using archaeological theory and techniques.
Essentially, archaeology is the study of the human past.
Goals of Archaeology
Conserving and managing the worlds archaeological sites for the future
Studying sites and their contents in a context of time and space to reconstruct human
culture.
Reconstructing past lifeways or the ways in which people made their living in the changing
environments of the past which has developed into a major goal of archaeology.
Explaining why cultures change (or stay the same).
Understanding sites, artifacts, remains and other aspects of the archaeological record.
History of Archaeology
The first archaeologists were adventurers.
Some early archaeologist dug for profit other to satisfy
their intellectual curiosity, yet archaeology has come a long
way since then.
It has moved from an amateur’s pastime to a scientifically
based occupation.
Archaeology in the
Contemporary World
Archaeology has important lessons about human diversity to impart
in today’s world.
Relationships between individuals and groups have been established
and important in society since the beginning of man.
Archaeology has a way of reconstructing the past thereby
contributing to modern day development.
Creationism
What is Creationism? Creationism is the idea that a higher
power, in many cases God, created man and placed them here
on earth along with the animals and plants and everything
that is present today. It argues that all life on earth was been
created exactly as it is in the present, and any alterations
would run counter to God’s plan.
Fixity of species.
Great Chain of Being
Essentialism
Grand Design.
Evolution
What is Evolution? Evolution is the theory
in which humans evolved, or changed
over time, from a common ancestor.
Evolutionary Theories
John Ray (1627-1705), an ordained
minister, was the first to identify species.
In 1735 a Swedish botanist named Carolus
Linneaus (1707-1778) wrote a book called
“systema Naturae” or System of Nature,
where he classified all animals.
Key Contributors to the Theory of
Evolution Cont’d
Comte de Buffon (1707-1788), in 1749,
developed the theory of “degeneration”
Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802) (Charles
grandfather) also began to express ideas of
natural selection and evolutionary thought.
Key Contributors to the Theory of
Evolution Cont’d
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) was
the first European to come up with an
organic theory of evolution
Thomas Malthus (1766-1834), in 1798,
argued that human populations double
every 25 years, it increases
exponentially
while food production
remains stable,
thereby creating a
struggle for existence
Key Contributors to the Theory of
Evolution Cont’d
James Hutton, a geologist, argued in his work
Theory of Earth in 1784, that the earth was formed
entirely by natural processes not by a divine flood of
global proportions.
His work was later refined by Charles Lyll in 1833.
There view that the earth had been formed completely
from natural processes that are still in operation today
became known as Uniformitarianism.
Key Contributors to the Theory of
Evolution Cont’d
George Cuvier (1769-1832),
developed the theory of
catastrophism in 1830
Russell Wallace developed the
theory of evolution based on natural
selection simultaneous to Darwin.
Darwin





Charles Darwin began to formulate this theory of evolution
while aboard the HMS Beagle.
Darwin boarded the Beagle being a staunch believer in fixity of
species.
During a stopover in the Galapagos Islands, Darwin noted the
flora and the fauna of S. America showed striking similarities to
those in the Galapagos.
Darwin collected 13 different varieties of finches, these finches
shared similarities and clearly represented a closely affiliated
group
This lead Darwin to believe that the finches had all descended
from a common, mainland ancestor, and had become modified in
response to the varying environments of the islands.
Darwin’s Theory
1. Species produce offspring faster than the food supply
increases
2. No two individuals of a species are exactly alike
3. Because there are so many individuals in a species there
is a struggle for existence, favorable characteristics will
survive
4. Those favorable characteristics are inherited and passed
on
5. Over long periods of time those successful variations will
produce new species
From Biological Theory to Social
Theory
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) argued that human progress is not
an accident, that social institutions progress from a simple form
to a complex form and that each culture passes through these
same phases.
This idea fine tuned by Spencer, Edward B Tylor (1832-1917)
and Lewis Henry Morgan (1818-1881) was known as
Unilinear Cultural Evolution .
Unilinear Cultural Evolution “Stage”
“savage” stage as hunters and gathers
“barbaric” stage of farming
“civilized” stage of modern western culture.
Diffusionist Theory
The diffusion theory suggests that
culture change and human origin is
based on population movements,
migration, and invasion.
This idea was in direct reaction against
the unilinear models.
Historical Particularism
Historical Particularism, a widespread reaction against
sweeping generalizations about culture change brought
on by the Unilinear Cultural Evolutionsits ( Herbert
Spencer, Edward Tylor, and Lewis Henry Morgan).
Instead of presuming that some cultures were more
evolved than others, this new idea argued to regard all
cultures as unique in time and place.
In the United States this movement, known as Historical
Particularism, was led by the anthropologist Franz Boas.
Historical Particularism

Historical Particularism carefully and
scientifically catalogued cultural data and
was used to plot culture areas

Historical Particularism has influenced
how researchers interpreted archaeological
data. This cataloging of data using scientific
methods served as a basis for interpreting
this data using a variety of theoretical
perspectives.

Culture History, or the description,
chronological, and spatial ordering of data
Culture History
 Components- The component unit consists of grouping similar artifacts
that distinguishes the culture of the inhabitants of a particular time and
place.
 Phases – Phases are cultural units represented by grouping similar
artifacts and cultural traits in the same space over a short period of time.
 Culture areas- A culture area is a geographic region characterized by
fairly uniform environment and culture.
 Traditions- Traditions are social organization, customs, beliefs, and
material culture that distinguish an area for a long period of time.
 Horizons- Horizons are distinctive artifacts and cultural traits that cross
traditions into neighboring areas allowing the assumption that they
spread rapidly.
Cultural Ecology
Julian Steward (1902-1972) developed the
idea of Cultural Ecology an theory of
Multilinear Cultural Evolution that simply
stated societies do pass through similar
stages of cultural development but this
development was based on their
environment.
Multilinear Cultural Evolution.
In the late 1930s anthropologist Julian Steward asked, “are there
ways of identifying common cultural features in many sites
distributed over man cultural areas?”
Multilinear cultural evolution- cultures pass through similar
stages at different rates, not on a universal track, of cultural
development based on their environment.
 Cultural ecology and defined the three principles as
1.
Similar adaptations can be found in different cultures
living in similar environments
2.
No culture as adapted to their environment and have
since remained unchanged (culture is constantly
changing and adapting)
3.
Adaptations during periods of cultural development in
any area can either add to the complexity of society or
result in new cultural patterns.
Culture History
Culture History- the scientific cataloguing to determine
the what, when, and where events took place
The conceptual framework of the cultural history
approach emphasized the goal of outlining sequence
(time dimension) and geographical distribution (space
dimension) of past cultures.
The primary basis for interpretation of culture history
depended on descriptive culture models. These models
are: inevitable variation, cultural selection, invention,
diffusion, and migration and are used to describe an
reconstruct the past.
Descriptive Culture Models

Inevitable variation Small changes in learned behavior passed
down from generation to generation, ultimately, over time, greatly
affect ones culture.

Cultural Selection is the selection of cultural traits on the basis of
whether they are advantageous to the society as a whole.

Invention is simply a new idea. This new idea either modifies an
old idea or creates a completely new idea.

Diffusion is the method by which new ideas or changes in culture
spread, usually over long distances. It can result from mechanisms
such as warfare, trade, and general travel.

Migration is the actual movement of human populations. English
settlers moving to the North American continent, Spanish
conquistadors conquering and moving into Mexico, etc.
Disadvantages of Culture History
In 1948 Walter Taylor (1913-1997)wrote a very eye
opening essay titled A Study of Archaeology.
Archaeologists started reassessing the objectives of
their research.
This self critique occurred right around the time of
other technological innovations such as the computer
C14 dating methods, and new methods for locating
and identifying archaeological sites.
All these changes brought about a new approach to
understanding archaeological evidence.
The New Archaeology
A pioneer in this new an revised view of the past was
Lewis Binford.
In the 1960s Binford wrote a series of articles that
stressed the importance of theory and strictly defined
the close links between archaeology and anthropology.
This demand for change within the profession in
addition to the technological advances taking place was
seen by many as the New Archaeology.
The New Archaeology advocated for rigorous scientific
testing using formal scientific methods including testing
for hypothesis.
Processual Archaeology
Processual archaeology focuses on the cultural
process and the explaining of culture change through
explicitly scientific methods (the how and why past
events took place).
This approach was in direct contrast to the descriptive
approaches of the past.
Cultural Materialism
holds that there are biological and psychological
needs common to all humans…How societies meet
these needs in the means in which to evaluate the
cultures adaptive efficiency
Post Processual Archaeology
In the 1970’s a more Holistic archaeology
was born, which did take into consideration
ecological, technological, human
conscience, religious and worldviews, and
human body limitations. The new approach
was called Postprocessual archaeology
Post Processual Continued
Postprocessual archaeology has made three
important contributions to the field:
1.
2.
3.
Meaning is more important than
materialism.
Archaeologist must examine their social
responsibilities and look to the broader
aims of the discipline.
There are many perspectives on our historic
past that have been neglected (minorities,
women, etc)… archaeology is the voice of
many, not just one!
So where are we today?
Modern archaeology consists of a variety of
theoretical perspectives and approaches that
share aspects of cultural history approaches,
processual approaches, and post processual
approaches.