History of Archaeology

History of Archaeology?

From Greek“a dialogue about the past”Archaeologists study the human pastDo not dig dinosaurs, that is PaleontologyThrough the identification and analysis of past human activityArchitectural remainsRefuse/rubbish, depositsBurials and cemeteriesOthers?History of ArchaeologyExploratory Periodca. 500 BC – 1900Includes Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the Industrial AgeWhat is out there?Gradual accumulation of knowledge about the diversity of the pastDevelopment of methods of inquiryClassificatory Period1900 – 1950Arranging data in time and spaceCulture HistoryExplanatory Period1950 – presentHow and why do cultural systems changeProcessual and Post-processual archaeologyThe Beginnings of the Exploration of the PastThe earliest human civilizations recognized the traces of their ancestorsSources of mythic pasts and folk beliefsTuath de DanaanThunderstones and Elven-BoltsGiants and TrollsDanes Graves, Danes FortsThe past was often used to reaffirm and reinforce the political power of the rulers NabonidusKing of Babylon from 556 to 539 BCExcavated in temples of Ur to demonstrate his descent from earlier KingsFirst written (in cuneiform) records of investigative excavationNabonidusHis excavations discovered the Shrine to Ishtar, which was expanded upon for his useThe work “made the King’s heart glad and caused his countenance to brighten”However, the Persians conquered Babylon soon afterwardsPope St. Damasus IAD 304-384Known for his preservation and restoration of early Christian sites in RomePatron saint of archaeologistsMedieval BeliefsTapestry detail showing the believed construction of StonehengeSometimes attributed to be MerlinNote large size of the builder, could it be a giant? Medieval BeliefsDetails from an illuminated manuscript of a moral story about buried treasures and the evils of ill-gained wealthPlaced by the devil to temptMedieval Beliefs“Magic Crocks”Spontaneously created in the earthExposed by the activities of burrowing animalsMedieval Beliefs Meet Early SciencePolish King Wladyslaw II ordered excavations to understand this phenomena in 1416Determined to be cremation urns of “pagans” that were exposed by erosionLate Bronze Age (1200-700 BC) cemetery Renaissance and Enlightenment
Rediscovery of Classical Greece and RomeInspiration to art, literature, science
Rise of Antiquarianism
Collecting and displaying objects of antiquity
Leisure pursuit of the upper class
Artifacts were trappings of wealth and an educated mind
Foundations of museums, but items often lacking provenience, loss of contextual information
Beginnings of scientific inquiry
Empirical data collected to answer problemsCiriaco de Pizzicolli
Italian antiquarian (1391-1455)Believed that data from ancient monuments could supplement historic textsRecorded ancient monuments in Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Egypt
Said that his work was “restoring the dead to life”
Much of his work was lost in a library fire, but it was widely referenced by other researchers prior to its destructionSketch of the Parthenon in Athens Michel Mercati (1541-1593) was the superintendent of the Vatican Botanical Gardens
Collection of “ceraunia”Thunderstones and Elven-bolts of folk belief
Determined that they were stone tools made by humans before metals were inventedOne of the earliest illustrations of archaeological artifacts
Antiquarianism
Ole Worm’s Cabinet of Curiosities, Denmark 1655
A typical amalgamation of unusual objects of natural and cultural history assembled in a decontextualized manner that does not seek to explain the meaning of the items
Antiquarianism
Archaeology and Western Imperialism during the Exploratory Period
Find art and artifacts to bring back to the mother countryLooting the cultural heritage of others to glorify imperial conquests
Implicit superiority of the conquerors over the conquered, those who have fallen from earlier glory that now must be rescued and preserved
For Europeans it was often the case that: Living white archaeologists studied dead people of colour
In American archaeology:American archaeology is largely the study of the American Indian
The study of the “other”
Enlightenment
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)Mounds in the US Southeast and Midwest were often attributed to a mythical race of Moundbuilders
Excavated a prehistoric burial mound on his estate in Virginia
Determined that the evidence suggested that it was constructed by ancestors of the region’s Native American cultures, debunking racist myths
1850 painting of the excavation of a mound in Louisiana showing stratified depositsAdvances in Methods
Understanding of the value of information beyond just the aesthetic quality of the artifacts
Provenance – where an artifact was recovered
Context – what type of deposits were the artifact recovered from
Association – what other materials were found with the artifact
Greater attention to notes and other records (watercolors of Halstatt burials in Austria, ca. 1850s)
19th Century Scientific Advances
depth of time
Geological principles of stratigraphy and uniformitarianism
The earth was old, not created in 4004 BC as calculated by Dr. John Lightfoot or Archbishop Ussher of Armagh
Greater depth of time for the development of the human species and human societies
19th Century Scientific Advances
antiquity of humankind
Jacques Boucher de Perthes (1788-1868) and the Somme River gravels
Perhaps one of the earliest archaeological site photos, an 1859 dagguerotype Acheulian handaxe in situ 3.4 meters below the modern surface in association with bones of extinct ice age fauna
Demonstrated great changes in the environment since the earliest human occupation of Europe
19th Century Scientific Advances
Evolution
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) developed the idea of evolution through natural selection in his book On the Origin of Species (1859)
Idea of progressive change through time from simple to complex formsChange shaped by adaptation to the environment
19th Century Scientific Advances Anthropology
Anthropology, the scientific study of human cultures, emerged as a discipline
Lewis Henry Morgan (1818-1881) was a Lawyer who worked with the Iroquois in New York
Developed the idea of unilineal evolution in his work Ancient Society (1877)
Believed human cultures had progressed through successive stages of development
savagery barbarism civilization
Changes based on differences in technology, economy, and social organization
Sponsored archaeological research for his book Houses and House-Life of the American Aborigines (1893)Pioneered studies of kinship and social organization
The Development of Scientific Archaeology
Schliemann and Troy
Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890) was a wealthy German businessman who was fascinated with the Iliad of Homer
Sought to identify the actual location of Troy through archaeological excavation
Schliemann and Troy
Schliemann applied scientific methods to his search for TroyMultiple working hypothesesHypotheses testable with empirical data
Data gathered in the fieldClassical historians had identified two ruins in Turkey that were possibly Troy
BurnarbashiHissarlik
Schliemann excavated at Hissarlik in the 1870s and found data to support the hypothesis that Hissarlik was Troy
Schliemann and Troy
Schliemann dug a broad trench through the ruins of Hissarlik, revealing occupation from the Bronze Age through the Roman Empire
While the scale of his excavations have been criticized in retrospect as destructive, the stratigraphic observations made by Schliemann were at the forefront of archaeological practice of the dayThe other Schliemann
Sophie was Greek and 20 years younger
Courted by Heinrich to be his ideal helpmate on the search for Troy
Responsible for most of the notes and records of the excavations
Shown wearing the “Treasure of Priam” recovered during their excavations Harvard Mission to Ireland: 1930s First Scientific Excavations
Explanatory Period
scientific method and ethnoarchaeology
Lewis Binford (1930- ) is generally acknowledged as the father of the “New Archaeology”
Seminal article in 1960 American Antiquity, “Archaeology as Anthropology”
Explicit use of the scientific method of hypothesis formulation and testing
Understand the inter-relationships between variables of cultural systems
Pioneer of ethnoarchaeology, especially with his studies of Nunumiut hunters in the arctic
Binford’s Nunumiut Ethnoarchaeology
Explanatory Period
systems theory
Systems theory borrowed from computer sciencePrehistoric cultures were systems that can be understood as composed of inter-related variables
Systems are adaptive, changes in one part of the system affects other partsHow do changes in technology, subsistence, or environment affect each other?
Flow chart of Great Basin subsistence scheduling developed by David Hurst Thomas
Explanatory Period
Processual
the “New Archaeology”Archaeology adopted more explicitly scientific methods
Hypothesis formulation and testing
Positivist, objective approach
Sought to answer anthropological questions
How and why did prehistoric cultures change?
Adopted a multi-disciplinary, team-oriented approach to archaeological investigations
Materialist orientation
Post-Processual Archaeology
Ian Hodder at Catal Hoyuk
Noted post-processual archaeologist Ian Hodder has returned with a multi-national team to further excavate Catal Hoyuk in Turkey
Site was excavated in 1960s and has been considered an example of an early farming village in the fertile crescent
Explanatory Period
Post-processual Post-modern archaeology
Relativist, subjective approachQuestions the authority of knowledge
What gives the archaeologist the authority to speak for the past?
Seeks to answer questions once thought beyond the ability of archaeologyIdeology, class, iconography, symbolism, genderExplanatory Period
Cultural Resource Management
Legislation to protect archaeological sites passed beginning in the 1930sProfessionalisation of archaeological managers and contractors