Anthropology Exam 2 Flashcards

a portable object made or modified by humans

natural artifact not modified by humans

something made by humans that isnt movable

relative and absolute

the exact date or date range for an object

one thing is older/ younger than another

1. Law of superposition (relative)

2. Frequent seriation (relative)

3. Calendrical dates (absolute)

4. Radiocarbon dating (absolute)

5. Dendrochronology (absolute)

principal that holds that objects in deeper layers are older, layers on top are younger.

where anthropologists immerse themselves in the daily lives of people they study. by living w them, participating in community activities, interviews, and having detailed recordings.

Native American Graves Protection and Reparation Act

1. structured

2. semi-structured

3. unstructured

-asking fixed questions

-essentially an oral survey

-provides data that can be analyzed quantitative and qualitative

-asking a fixed set of questions while exploring more deeply

-end up asking participants similar but not identical questions

-provides extra qualitative details

-asking questions to participants as they come to you

-no consistency between interviews

-asking for clarification about things that are going around

observation /questions -> research topic area -> hypothesis ->test w/ experiment -> analyze data -> report conclusions

study of ancient peoples and their cultures through the material remains that people left behind.

false or fake claims that don't test hypothesis. rely on and ignore cultural context or artifacts

1. does not have scientific method

2. presents itself as being persecuted by or at odds w/ the archaeological community

3. has simplistic answers to complex questions

-discredit indigenous people (Moundbuilders, lost tribe of Israel, justified native American relocation)

-Used to reinforce ethno-nationalist ideologies (root race and Arianism)

-distrust in professionally and academically trained archaeologists and experts in their field

theosophical idea of humanity evolving in cycles with each stage representing a different phase of spiritual and physical development.

superiority in your own culture or civilization or race

original (white) inhabitants of north america. there was once a powerful race that was exterminated by native americans to make room for existing savage tribes- Pres. Andrew Jackson

the way that people interact with their environments in order to make a living (food getting strategies)

1. foraging

2. Pastoralism

3. Horticulture

4. Agriculture

hunter-gatherers-fishers

-small group size

-mobile

-food sharing

-egalitarian

-rare warfare

-gendered division of labor

-rarely have surpluses of food

-pacific northwest people were none of those things

-plentiful fish populations enabled

i) hierarchy and wealth accumulation

ii)Sedentarism

iii) higher population densities

-europeans and anthropologists have been fascinated by foragers

-lifestyle labeled as savage or noble

-changed drastically over time

breeding and managing of migratory herds of domesticated grazing animals such as goats, sheep, cattle, llamas, and camels

-mobile (nomadically or via transhumance)

-increased wealth and inequality

-division of labor based on age and gender

cultivation of crops in food gardens, carried out with simple hand tools resulting in relatively little surplus. This can fall under agriculture

-sedentary

-wealth accumulation

-inequality

-increased political complexity

involves large-scale production of domesticated food on farms. intensive production of 1 or more crops. often assisted with plows, fertilizers, and irrigation. covers growing crops and raising animals for food, fiber, and other products on a larger scale.

both are similar however; agriculture involves more than plant cultivation.

study of production, consumption and transfer of wealth, goods, food, objects, etc.

1. reciprocity

2. Redistribution

3. Maneet exchange

exchange of goods between parties approximately of equal value

collection and allotment of goods by a central authority

buying and selling of goods and services with set prices

evolutionary process by which humans modify wild plants/ animals for their own purposes like companionship, food, and labor. sometimes the members of that population are unable to survive/ reproduce without human assistance

-increased size

-reduction in dangerous adaptations

-good temperament

-directed

-prey

-commensal

-increased size

-reduction/loss of natural means

-reduction/loss of protective devices such as husks

-loss of delayed seed germination

-loss of toxins

-friendly: naturally agreeable

-feedable: easy to feed

-fecund: reproduce and grow up quickly

-family friendly: conform to hierarchy

-different diets

-increased rates of malnutrition

-reduced uncertainty

-social and sexual inequality

-increase of diseases

-decrease in free time

Training animals to be more manageable and less aggressive towards humans

taming is the behavioral conditioning of a wild-born animal, while domestication is permanent genetic alteration of animals which lead to behavioral or genetic changes that benefit humans.

-Fertile crescent

-sub-Saharan Africa

-China

-Southeast Asia

-South America

-Mesoamerica

-Eastern North America

wheat

barley

sheep

goats

sorghum

millet

coffee

rice

taro

sugarcane

bananas

pig

rice

silkworm

potato

tomato

peanuts

llama

maize

beans

cacao

chillis

turkey

sunflower

squash

archaeological site in modern south turkey (11.5KYA). no evidence of agriculture, large megaliths and structures occupied by mobile hunter-gatherers. One of the earliest monumental sites and apparently one of the oldest religions in the world.

1. agricultural innovation

2. diversification of labor

3. central government

4. social stratification 5

-more intense farming methods differentiate cities from villages

-canals, reservoirs, irrigation

-more intensive farming allowed for not everyone to be a farmer

-results in technological innovations

-merchants, smiths, artists, and politicians

-provide planning and coordination within a large group of people

-road systems, monumental architecture, record keeping, law codes

-anything that requires planning reflects a central government

-sedentary productive societies allow for the accumulation of wealth

-growth of hierarchical social classes based on wealth, occupation, and parentage

-dwelling size and location, skeletal remains, burials and funerary objects

-integrative theory

-conflict theory

population grew and spread, government integrated groups into their population, people willingly joined civilizations

-cities wanted/ needed more resources and labor, government conquere and subjugated neighboring groups, forced them to integrate into civilizations

a complex, systematized form of communication involving the use of vocal or gestural units (words or signs) that can be combined into larger structures (sentences) that can convey an infinite array of complex meanings

vocalizations, gestures, body fluids to communicate

transmitting into from a sender to a receiver, not specific, systematized, nor symbolic

honeybees perform waggle dances to communicate the direction and distance of a food source

each language is unique and shapes human thought in unique ways

similar things characteristics of all languages

-the language we speak impacts how we understand reality

-some languages dont have certain words for certain ideas and some do

-languages handle concepts in different ways

-languages emphasize different ideas

-posits that the cognitive structures that all humans share influence language and perception of reality in similar ways.

-more the focus of linguistics than linguistic anthropologists

how cultures categorize the world around them. differs culture to culture and environment to environment. but may share underlying logic

-mesopotamia ( 5400ya)

-egypt (5200ya)

-china (3300ya)

-mosoamerica (between 2900 & 2600ya)

implicitly- accents/ dialects

explicitly- european nations

domain of social and cultural life concerned with power.

electoral politics or political organizations

all of our actions are in relation to power systems, everything is political.

political anthropologists- little p

political scientists- big P

1.traditional

2. charismatic

3. rational-legal

1. band

2.tribe

3.chiefdom

4.state

-traditional and charismatic

-band and tribe

acephalous

centralized

-state and chiefdom

-rational-legal

-subscience types

-exchange systems

- population densities

-settlement patterns

group with a shared identity and sense of peoplehood

political institution

-acephalous system & persuasive

-unofficial leadership and cannot enforce their will

-common among foragers; effective in small groups

-important decisions are made collectively: egalitarianism

-political power comes from kinship ties and prestige

-collection of smaller groups, integrated a unifying factor & often share kinship ties, ancestry, identity, culture, language. acephalous & persuasive

-smaller groups are generally autonomous; self-supporting & self-governed. egalitarian

-political organization is unofficial and temporary, the leaders only come together to solve common issues

-formal centralized system around a single leader (chief), inherited office of leadership in a chiefdom, combining coercive forms of economic, political, individual, military, religious authority.

-title of chief is hereditary and permanent

-fuse economic, political, military, & religious power (embodied by chief)

-stratification based on rank, closer to chief the more power/ prestige

-highly formalized, hierarchical system centered on a defined territory

-although varying, they all share coercive power & monopoly on violence

-common among agriculture societies, synonymous with civilization

sociocultural construction that creates a network of social & biological relationships between individuals

-having some sort of kinship is universal

-nonblood relatives' people who are treated as kin, godparents, frat brothers, sorority sisters

-adoption, child becoming fam to a fam they weren't born into. common

lineal

generational

bifurcate merging

-also known as eskimo or inuit system

-highlights the nuclear family

-common in european and north american societies

-also called the hawaiian system

-highlights the extended family

-common across polynesia and other chiefdom societies

-also called iroquois system

highlights parallel cousins while ignoring cross-cousins

-common among tribal societies

ways people trace their kinship connections and social priviliges and obligations.

falls under lineal and cognatic

contributes to rules surrounding dalliance, marriage, and inheritance

patrilineal descent

matrilineal descent

-descent through fathers and men

-more common than matrilineal descent

-children of women in the decent group belong to their husbands descent group

-descent through mothers and women

-children belong to their wife's descent group

-women are important but dont have authority

-ambilineal descent

-bilateral descent

-ability for someone to choose which side of the family they would like to associate with

-family tree is different for each grouping of offspring

-descent is understood equally between mothers and fathers sides of family.

formation of a socially recognized union

-create a basic economic unit

-provides structures for raising offspring

-forms alliances between families and individuals

-2 people

-common among industries/ postindustrial societies as mobile foragers

socially sanctioned union between more than 2 people at a time

-polygyny

-polyandry

one man married to more than 1 woman

one woman married to more than 1 man

need to marry within a group

need to marry outside a group

-neolocal

-patrilocal

-matrilocal

-avunculocal

-ambilocal

-bride wealth

-bride service

-dowry