TRAD 101

Fall 2008

Review Terms for Midterm Exam

The following list has been provided to you to help you study for the midterm exam. It
includes many of the important terms; however, this does not mean that these are the only topics
covered on the exam.
Anything from the course is fair-game for inclusion on the exam. We suggest you use the
review terms as a guide for your studying. The midterm exam is on Wednesday Oct. 15, 2008.
You will only need something to write with, everything else will be provided for you.

Archaeology- The study of humanity through the analysis of the material remains of human
behavior: the study of things that people made and used in the past and that have fortuitously
preserved. Archaeologists often foucs on human cultural evolution
Paleoanthropology- anthropological study of the evoulution of our species. Paleoanthropologists
study the skeletal remains and cultures of ancient hominids.
Artifact- anything manufactured by a human being or human ancestor but usually a portable
object like a stone spearpoint or a clay pot, as stinguished from larger, more complex
archaeological features
Site- a site is any location where people lived and/or worked and where the physical evidence of
their existence, in the form of artifacts, ecofacts, and features can be or has been recoverd
Feature-the combination of artifacts and/or ecofacts at a site, reflecting a location where some
human activity took place. Features include fireplaces, middens, burials, cooking hearths, activity
areas, and buildings. Also defined as nonportable, complex artifacts.
Sediment-
Stratigraphy- related to the geological or cultural layer in which something has been found,
statigraphic layering represents a relative sequence of geological time and/or cultural chronologys
Paleoclimate-
Pleistocene- the geological ephoch beginning about 1.7 mya and ending about 10,000 years ago.
It was marked by a succession of colder periods known as glacials interrupted by warmer periods
known as interglacials.
Holocene- the recent and current geological epoch. The Holocene followed the Pleistocene and
represents a break with glacial climates.
Relative Dating-a date that places a fossil or an archaeological site or artifact in a sequence with
other specimens but doesn not allow for the assignment of an age in terms of years or even a
range of years.
Absolute Dating – any date where a year or a range of years can be applie to a site or an artifact.
As opposed to a relative date, where only a chronological order can be established
Dating Techniques-
Stone Tool Analysis-
Bipedalism- the ability to walk on two feet. With a few notable exceptions such as birds and
dinosaurs, the hominids are the only creatures who do this habitually-when an organisms preferred
form of walking efficiently is being bipedal
Complex Tool Use-
Paleolithic (Lower, Middle and Upper)-1)the upper Paleolithic is the final phase of the
paleolithing, dating to after 40,000 yrs ago and associated with anatomically modern human
beings in Europe. 2) middle Paleolithic is the middle stone age the period after the lower, it spans
from 250kya to 40kya. It includes the cultures of premodern and modern varieties of human
beings. 3) period from 2.5mya to 250kya that encompasses the stone tool industries of Homo
Habilis and Homo erectus
Oldowan- the earliest stone tools, simple chopping tools and sharp flakes, dated to 2.4 mya that
were most likely made by Homo Habilis
Achulean- stone tools frome the later lower Paleolithic ???
Mousterian – the stone tool tradition of the Neanderthals and early anatomically modern human
beings . A core and flake technology in which a series of different, standardized tool types were
produced from stone flakes struck from cores.
Levallois- Stone tool technology involving production of consistently shaped flakes from
carefully prepared cores. Levallois technology is associated with archaic forms of Homo Sapiens.
Australopithecines (know major species)- any member of the genus Austrolopithicus, The
oldest members date back to 4.2 mya the genus became extinct by 1 mya and was characterized
by an ape-sized brain but also by the modern human behavioral trait of bipedal locomotion
including several species-
Anamensis-
Afarensis-
Garhi-
Africanus-
Robustus-
Boisei-
Aethiopicus-
Paranthropus-
Homo (know major species)
Hunting vs. Scavenging
Sexual Dimorphism- Differences in the form and size of the two sexes. Among most primates,
the maled trends to be larger and physically more powerful than the female.
Social Behavior
Controlled Fire-
Tool use
Makapan
Swartkrans
Kada Gona
Laetoli
Hadar
Olduvai Gorge
Gadeb
Koobi Fora
Dmanisi
Zhoukoudian
Schoningen
Gran Dolina
Neanderthals
La Cotte de St. Brelade
Lehringen
Cannibalism
Kebara
Shanidar
Divye Babe
Ritual/Symbolic behavior
Middle Stone Age
Klasies River Mouth
Blombos
Burials
Ochre
Blade technology
Bone technology
Art
Old Multi-regional theory
Current Multi-regional theory
Out of Africa theory
Clothing
Dolni Vestonice
Sungir
Mezerich
Mobilary Art
Parietal Art
Chauvet
Lascuax
Venuses