PrefaceCorrelation GuideTopic GuideInternet ReferencesUnit 1: About Archaeologists and ArchaeologyUnit Overview1. The Awful Truth about Archaeology, Dr. Lynne Sebastian, Albuquerque Tribune, April 16, 2002
"You're an Archaeologist! That sounds soooo exciting!" Of course it sounds exciting because of the hyperbole and mystery perpetuated by T.V. shows, movies, and novels— professional archaeologists know better! Yes, the thrill of looking at the past is truly exciting. The process of discovery is slow, tedious, and frustrating especially when nothing is found. Digging square holes in the ground and carefully measuring artifacts, cataloging, taking notes, and hoping to publish something meaningful about the past—it is more of a work of love that has its inherent reward in knowledge. It is a work of love that has its inherent reward in knowledge.
2. Archaeology: The Next 50 Years, Brian Fagan, Archaeology, September/October 2006
As Brian Fagan reflects upon how far the field of archaeology has come as well as where it is going, he finds that "a century of increasing involvement with science has produced a finer understanding of how archaeological sites were formed, how people exploited their surrounding landscapes, and even how they thought about the cosmos and the world around them. Many future discoveries will come from minute detective work far from the field, contributing to a much more detailed portrait of the past."
3. All the King’s Sons, Douglas Preston, The New Yorker, January 22, 1996
A well-told narrative of modern archaeology, Douglas Preston’s article is based on scientific archaeology. It is not, however, a typical “scientific” or “monograph” report common to academic archaeology. This tale of archaeology, with all the immediacy and punch of being in the field, is wish fulfillment for students or laypersons of archaeology because it is about a spectacular find—the biggest archaeological site in Egypt since King Tut’s tomb. No “blah, blah Egypt, blah, blah dummy,” here.
4. Maya Archaeologists Turn to the Living to Help Save the Dead, Michael Bawaya, Science Magazine, August 26, 2005
By enabling local residents, rather than outsiders, to serve as custodians of their own heritage, archaeologists have helped to instill in them a sense of identity and, instead of looting and destroying valuable sites, they are now dedicated to preserving them.
5. The Fantome Controversy, Heather Pringle, Archaeology, May/June 2006
As treasure hunting at marine archaeological sites becomes more common, the mercenary practices of a small number of professional underwater archaeologists are coming under fire. Not only are they helping private companies obtain government licenses and search for valuables; they are willing to accept the fact that such materials will be sold for a profit. For the professional archaeological community, this is simply immoral.
6. Distinguished Lecture in Archaeology: Communication and the Future of American Archaeology, Jeremy A. Sabloff, American Anthropologist, December 1998
Jeremy Sabloff discusses the role that archaeology should play in public education and the need for archaeologists to communicate more effectively with relevant writing for the public. He further suggests the need to recognize nonacademic archaeologists and to focus on action archaeology, or what is more usually termed public archaeology.
UNIT 2: Problem Oriented ArchaeologyUnit Overview7. Prehistory of Warfare, Steven A. LeBlanc, Archaeology, May/June 2003
The state of primitive warfare is examined and found to be endemic to all such cultures as seen through archaeology. It is suggested that warfare might have occurred under conditions of resource stress and poor climates. It is surprising to learn that warfare has actually declined over time. Foragers and farmers, who constitute approximately 25% of the population, have much higher death rates than more complex societies.
8. The Mystery of Unknown Man E, Bob Brier, Archaeology, March/April 2006
A hurried burial, a makeshift attempt at mummification and a historical record of a harem conspiracy have combined to fuel speculation about the identity of a young man who was buried among Egyptian royalty. Although his body was discovered more than a century ago, only now—with the benefit of modern analytical techniques at archaeologists’ disposal—may he finally be recognized as the disloyal prince of Ramesses III.
9. Who Were the First Americans?, Michael D. Lemonick and Andrea Dorfman, Time, March 13, 2006
The authors combine archaeological, genetic and linguistic evidence to provide an overview of the multiple migration theories as well as the controversies associated with the implementation of NAGPRA and its consequent risk to scientific research.
10. Poop Fossil Pushes Back Date for Earliest Americans, Randolph E. Schmid, Associated Press, April 3, 2008
Fossil human feces found in a cave in Oregon has yielded DNA showing a relationship to
people living in East Asia—1000 years earlier than previously known.
11. Archaeologists Rediscover Cannibals, Ann Gibbons, Science, August 1, 1997
From digs around the world, archaeologists have unearthed strong evidence of cannibalism. People may have eaten their own kind from the early days of human evolution to the present time.
12. A Coprological View of Ancestral Pueblo Cannibalism, Karl J. Reinhard, American Scientist, May/June 2006
Cultural reconstruction can become easily colored by the projections of the archaeological community combined with the inclination of the media to oversimplify and sensationalize. The finding of one coprolite and how it came to be considered ironclad evidence of cannibalism among the Ancestral Pueblo people is one such cautionary tale.
13. Modern Humans Made Their Point, Ann Gibbons, Science, April 22, 2005, p. 491
Long before guns gave European explorers a decisive advantage over indigenous peoples, our Paleolithic ancestors had their own technological innovation that allowed them to dominate the Stone Age competition: the projectile point.
14. New Women of the Ice Age, Heather Pringle, Discover, April 1998
By combining research on the roles of women in hunting and gathering societies with recent archaeological evidence, Heather Pringle offers an emerging picture of women of Ice-Age Europe as that of priestly leaders, clever inventors, and full-fledged hunters.
15. Woman: The Toolmaker, Steven A. Brandt and Kathryn Weedman, Archaeology, September/October 2002
Women were not only leaders and hunters in the Ice Age, but ethno-archaeology tells us that in modern tribal societies women are also skilled toolmakers. These female flintknappers again defy the stereotypical roles of men and women showing that today’s tribal women, as did women in the archaeological past, excel at tool-making.
16. Yes, Wonderful Things, William Rathje and Cullen Murphy, from Rubbish! The Archaeology of Garbage, HarperCollins, 1992
One of the catchiest definitions of the word “archaeologist” is that archaeologists are people who dig up other people’s garbage. Modern garbology is useful in that timely historical reconstruction can be done by direct comparison of what people say they do and what their garbage indicates they in fact do.
17. Bushmen, John Yellen, Science, May 1985
This article examines a revealing experiment in which anthropologist John Yellen excavates !Kung Bushmen campsites. Comparing the archaeological data with information from living informants and historical resources, Yellen discovers a kind of lyrical "back to the future" experience. A whole way of life and values has disappeared, but the native cannot permit themselves to confront these changes.
18. The Maya Collapses, Jared Diamond, from Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Viking 2005
The best way to understand the collapse of the Mayan civilization, says Diamond, is to consider such factors as population growth, environmental degradation, climate change, warfare and the short-sightedness of Mayan leaders. Not only did the same kind of precipitating factors bring down other great societies of the past, but they seem to be leading the modern world down the same path too. Can we and will we take heed before it is too late?
UNIT 3: Techniques in ArchaeologyUnit Overview19. Gritty Clues, Aimee Cunningham, Science News, June 10, 2006
Advances in soil analysis have allowed for the detection of dozens of chemical elements that are the result of human occupation. With these chemical signatures of various human activities, combined with artifacts and other historical evidence, archaeologists are able to achieve a better understanding of our past.
20. Digging Deep, Marianne Alfsen, Archaeology, May/June 2006
The use of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) in underwater archaeology has become so sophisticated that small suction devices and hydraulic arms are able to retrieve artifacts with the sensitivity of a fingertip and a brush. Aside from cost, the biggest hurdle for the archaeological establishment is getting used to not having direct, physical contact with the layers of culture being excavated.
21. A Wasp’s-Nest Clock, Rachel Preiser, Discover, November 1997
Most prehistoric rock art is impossible to date because it lacks the organic carbon necessary for radiocarbon dating. However, Rachel Preiser describes an unusual case in which two Australian scientists were able to date an in situ fossilized wasp’s nest that was directly overlying a painting of a human figure. The technique of optical luminescence dating placed the nest and painting at 17,000 years old. This may be the world’s oldest portrait of a human.
22. Profile of an Anthropologist: No Bone Unturned, Patrick Huyghe, Discover, December 1988
Archaeologists have borrowed a method first used by physical anthropologists to develop a technique of learning the age, gender, possible ethnicity or ancestral relationships, etc. and the cause of death of extant human beings through analysis of skeletal remains. As long as there are bones, there is archaeological information to be gained-whether the person lived in ancient times or the more recent historic past. Determining the cause of death such as if by warfare, personal violence, criminal violence, suicide, cannibalism or natural death sheds a great deal of light on culture of the individual who is being studied. The next article is an example of the application of the forensic technique.
23. What Did They Eat?, Eleanora Reber, Anthropology Newsletter, February 1999
If an unglazed pot is used for cooking food, lipids and water-soluble compounds from the contents are absorbed into the vessel. These residues may be extracted and identified. A gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer then identifies each compound through its molecular fragments. As with most radiometric measures, the samples must be painstakingly protected from contamination. Eleanor Reber indicates that with this modern technique, much can be learned about prehistoric diets.
UNIT 4: Historical ArchaeologyUnit Overview24. Artful Surgery, Anagnostis P. Agelabakis, Archaeology, March/April 2006
Classic Greek sources offer little help in tracing the early development of medicine. But the story of a wounded young woman will rewrite our history of the development of ancient medical practice two centuries before Hippocrates.
25. Where Was Jesus Born?, Aviram Oshri, Archaeology, November/December
The widely accepted story of Jesus’ birth is that it took place in the Bethlehem of Judea. But archaeological evidence indicates that it actually occurred in another Bethlehem altogether—just a few miles north of Nazareth.
26. Legacy of the Crusades, Sandra Scham, Archaeology, September/October 2002
Sandra Scham discusses the “Crusader Complex” in the Middle East. This involves the complexities of warfare, religion and how people perceive each other. The Christian Crusades lasted from 1097-1291, but still have left an impact on the mental and geographic maps of the peoples in the Middle East. Some archaeologists view the Christian Crusades and their aftermath to be the historical basis for today’s Holy Wars in the Middle East.
27. Secrets of the Medici, Gino Fornaciari, Bob Brier, and Antonio Fornaciari, Archaeology, July/August 2005
The Medici were among the most powerful families in the world. An excavation of Florence’s first family reveals clues to the lifestyles of the Renaissance rich, solves a murder mystery, and turns up a lost treasure.
28. Digging for the Truth, Nick D’Alio, American History, June 2007
The Virginia Company of London failed to enrich its shareholders, the Jamestown colonists suffered greatly and eventually the fort was leveled. Yet, contrary to conventional wisdom and popular history, archaeological investigation shows that the English experiment with independence and commerce succeeded and was to serve as a model for a new nation.
29. Living Through the Donner Party, Jared Diamond, Discover, March 1992
The infamous story of the Donner Party unfolds anew as an anthropologist invokes the dynamics of scientific thinking. In generating a new idea about an old problem, the type of predictability about human behavior necessary for cultural and historical reconstruction of the past is demonstrated.
UNIT 5: Contemporary ArchaeologyUnit Overview30. Thracian Gold Fever, Matthew Brunwasser, Archaeology, March/April 2005
Given the fact that Bulgaria has little money available for archaeological field work or for protection and maintenance of such sites if they are opened to the public, one archaeologist claims that his unorthodox excavation practices and private business deals are necessary as he tries to stay one step ahead of the looters.
31. In Flanders Fields, Neil Asher Silberman, Archaeology, May/June 2004
The citizens of Ieper, Belgium must decide whether to preserve a World War I battlefield as a memorial to the fallen or to build a highway that would bring about economic development. Meanwhile, a pioneering project on the very same land has demonstrated archaeology’s essential role in preserving and understanding the great historical drama of modern warfare, whose gruesome traces lie beneath the surface of a now-peaceful ground.
32. The Past as Propaganda, Bettina Arnold, Archaeology, July/August 1992
What happens when archaeologists lie? Nazi-driven archaeologists manipulated archaeological data to create a propaganda line that was ethnocentric, racist, and genocidal. The Nazi Party used this German-centered view of the past to justify expansionism and genocide.
33. Earth Movers, Marion Lloyd, The Chronicle of Higher Education, December 3, 2004
In a challenge to anthropologist Betty J. Meggers’ view that the Amazon region was a somewhat hostile region that supported relatively few people, some archaeologists are now claiming that Brazil’s rain forest fostered large-scale communities, perhaps building cities that rivaled those of the Aztecs and the Mayas.
34. The New Neandertal, Jean-Jacques Hublin, Archaeology, July/August 2005
Virtual fossils and real molecules are changing how we view our enigmatic cousins. With the “New Neandertal” we have definitively shed two images, one in which our ancient cousin was brutish and far different from us, the other in which we were nearly identical. But perhaps our new-found knowledge is taking us to a deeper understanding of Neandertals.
35. Whither the Neanderthals?, Richard G. Klein, Science, March 7, 2003
The longest continuous debate in paleoanthroplogy is nearing resolution. Modern humans replaced the Neanderthals with little or no gene exchange. Almost certainly, the Neanderthals succumbed because they wielded culture less effectively.
36. Children of Prehistory, Bruce Bower, Science News, April 28, 2007
Until now, the activities of children at archaeological sites have been largely ignored. Upon close inspection, however, it seems that some of the European cave art may have been the playful experiments of children and even many of the rudimentary implements were fashioned by kids taking early whacks at tool production.
37. Watery Tombs, Kristin M. Romey, Archaeology, July/August 2005
Contrary to the pop culture view of Mayan sacrifice involving young maidens, most victims seem to have been males. Ironically, a key to understanding this deadly ritual may be in the testimony coerced from shamans by Spanish priests centuries ago.
Test-Your-Knowledge FormArticle Rating Form
