Lesson Objectives 1

1. What were the goals of early scientists that excavated ancient sites? They excavated ancient sites out of curiosity and to have a sense of adventure. Their motivation was to become international sensations by discovering some long-lost ancient civilized society, like Heinrich Schliemann in his quest for the city of Troy. 2. What are the ways archaeologists date the past? Historical records: only as far back as the beginnings of writing/written records presentday-3000 B.C., radiocarbon (C-14) dating: pre history 1500 AD-40,000 years ago, dendrochronology (treering dating) present day to 8000 BC, potassium-argon dating: for early pre history 250,000 years ago to origins of life, 3. Why are the concepts of culture and culture change important to archaeologists? Culture is a society's system of beliefs, traditions, and behaviors that have been developed in response its environment. Cultures change through the formation of inventions, diffusion, migration, internal constraints and external constraints. They are important to archaeologists because they

4. In what ways do cultures adapt? Culture as adaptation refers to the theory that humans develop culture in response to their climate change. For example, a society that was dominated by farming begins to hunt due to the drought, thus this society now is changing its culture from farming practices to hunting ones. Also adapt through cultural ecology: the total way in which humans adapt to and transform their environments. 5. What is the difference between evolutionary ecology and optimal foraging strategy? Evolutionary ecology is the theory that human behavior was shaped by natural selection, thus humans will act in a way to maximize their survival. Optimal foraging strategy is the theory that humans will use the foraging strategies that give them the most return in energy in regards to time and effort needed to acquire that energy. 6. In what ways do people themselves change externally and internally? Internally through their interactions with other people, such as men with women, children with adults, kin groups quarreling within itself, ethnic groups competing for access to wealth or political power. Also through their gender roles, men as the hunters and protectors of the family and women as keepers of the house and raising the children. Externally by their environment and climate changes, which causes them to modify their food acquiring strategies in a way that best optimizes their return.

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7. Why is the Pleistocene (Ice Age) important to the study of humanity?

8. According to anthropologists, when and where did the hominid line of evolution develop?

9. What were the three major adaptive problems for early hominids?

10. 11. 12. 13.

What is the fossil evidence of hominid evolution prior to the coming of the genus Homo? Who was the first human-looking fossil man and what were his physical characteristics? What is the archaeological evidence for early human behavior and toolmaking? What were the specialized cognitive processes in the development of intelligence, language, and socialization?

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14. 15. 16. 17. What is the relationship between the Pleistocene (Ice Age) and the development of humanity? Who is Homo erectus and what role did he play in human evolution, tool technology, settlement of the northern hemisphere, and language? Who were the Neanderthals and what role did they play in human evolution, tool technology, and culture? In what ways has modern science helped the investigation of human origins?

4 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 5 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 6 30. 31. 32. How did the environment of the Upper Pleistocene have a cause and effect on human lifeways, technology, and settlement? Why was blade technology more proficient than early tools? What was the daily life style like, based on archaeological evidence, during the Upper Paleolithic of Europe? What is meant by the hunter-gatherer life style of the Upper Paleolithic? Describe the art forms of the Upper Paleolithic and what is its symbolism. In what ways did the lifestyles change in Eurasia and into Siberia?

How was the New World settled (or discovered), and what did the environment have to do with the circumstances leading the ancient hunters to cross over the Bering Straits? What is the archaeological evidence in Alaska that suggests that man came by way of Beringia? What is the biological and linguistic evidence for the land bridge crossing? Who were the Clovis hunters, and what is the archaeological evidence for their way of life? Define whom the hunters and gatherers were of the Plains, Easter Woodlands, Desert West, and South America. What role do the Aleuts and Inuit play in the discussion of the first Americans?

What is the earliest evidence for modern humans in Africa and how did they live according to archaeological evidence? How do the Kalahari San compare with the ancient hunter-gatherers of Africa? How were the landmasses of Sunda and Sahul first settled? How early were they settled and what special skills did they need to settle the islands of Southeast Asia, including New Guinea and

adjacent islands? 33. 34. What is the archaeological evidence for settlement in Australia? How does this early evidence compare with the modern Aborigines? Because of its isolation, how did people live and survive in Tasmania?

7 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. Explain the environmental changes that occurred during terminal Pleistocene and postPleistocene times. In what ways did the hunter-gatherer population cope with the changing environmental situation? Describe how Mesolithic hunter-gatherer societies adapted to the changing environment in Europe and Scandinavia. In what ways, according to archaeological evidence, did hunter-gatherer societies adjust to the varieties of environments in post-glacial times. Describe the nature of the increasing complexity of societies in post-glacial times.

8 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. What are the differences between early theories on the origins of food production and more recent multivariate theories? What are new methods of studying early food production contributing to our knowledge of this subject? Why did food production take so long to develop and what were the consequences of agriculture? What kinds of information has paleopathological studies contributed to our knowledge of human nutrition during the early stages of food production? What were the preadaptive conditions for the domestication of animals and plants? What are the differences in the types of plants and animals domesticated in the Old World and the New World? How and why did tool technology change with the advent of domestication?

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9 46. 47. 48. 49. To understand the climatic conditions which had a direct influence on hunter-gatherers that led them to change their way of life. Know the archaeological evidence that demonstrates the change from hunter-gathering, such as Netiv Hagdud, Abu Hureyra, and Jericho. Discuss the economies of the developing farming way of life and the influence of trade on these first agriculturalists. Know the chronological movement towards agriculture in the Zagros Mountains and Mesopotamia, as well as Anatolia.

50. 10 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56.

What are the necessary stages for farming development?

What events occurred in the Mesolithic that gradually led to plant domestication in Europe? Theoretically, how did the transition to farming take place in Europe? How did agriculture spread into the Balkans? Who were the Bandkeramik people and what was their way of life? Discuss the social changes and kinship relations which are interpreted from the archaeological evidence for Europe. What is the archaeological evidence for the settlement of farmers in Russia? Define the difference between henges and megalithic tombs.

11 57. 58. 59. 60. What were the environmental conditions of Northern Africa at terminal: Pleistocene times and into the early Holocene that led to domestication of plants and animals? What were the causes and effects of agricultural along the Nile River Valley? What happened to the Sahara area during the early Holocene that led to pastoralism? How did the inhabitants of Sub-Saharan Africa adapt to specialized environments of this area?

12 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. What influences did the change of climate during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene have on hunter-gatherer way of life in southern and eastern China? In what ways did the domestication of plants and animals in northern China differ from that of southern China? Describe the way of life of the Jomon culture of Japan. Describe the spread of agriculture into southeast Asia and the island near southeast Asia. Describe the Lapita complex and the spread of agriculture into the Pacific. How did the people of New Zealand settle and survive in this remote area of the Pacific.

13 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. What were the conditions for the development of agriculture in the New World, including beans and squash in Mesoamerica? How did food production develop in the Andes; highlands and the coast? What is the archaeological evidence? How did agriculture come about in the American Southwest, and what affect did it have on the Hohokam, Mogollon, and Ancestral Pueblo? Contrast the way of life of the Ancestral Pueblo at Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde. What were the conditions during the late Archaic of Eastern North America which led to full

domestications, and what affect did corn have on these societies? 72. Who were the Mound Builders and why did they construct huge earthen works? What were the differences in the traditions of the Adena, Hopewell, and Mississippian?