Archaeology Wordsmith

Results for evolution:

Broad Spectrum Revolution: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Kebaran Complex, Natufian
CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A theory that there was a subsistence change in western Asia to a wide range of foodstuffs, including small mammals, invertebrates, aquatic resources, and plants in the Late Pleistocene -- a prelude to the 'Neolithic revolution'.
coevolution: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: coevolutionary perspective
CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The recent theory that life and climate interact and that they have mutually altered each other over geologic history. The term was coined by the American biologists Paul R. Ehrlich and Peter H. Raven to describe the process whereby two or more species depend on the interactions between them. The coevolution of life and climate during the past 4,000,000,000 years of the Earth's history is an expression for the complex mixture of forces causing climatic change. The theory suggests that changes in social systems are best understood as mutual selection among components rather than a linear cause-and-effect sequence. For example, it has been argued that the origins of agriculture can best be understood by exploring the evolutionary forces affecting the development of domestication systems. Viewed this way, domestication is not seen as an evolutionary stage, but rather as a process and is the result of coevolutionary interactions between humans and plants.
convergence: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: convergent evolution; antonym: diffusion
CATEGORY: term; technique
DEFINITION: Term used to describe the appearance of similar traits in different areas or at different times or in different contexts, as a result of parallel or converging evolution. For example, rocker pattern was used for decorating pottery in widely separated contexts.
cultural evolution: CATEGORY: related field
DEFINITION: A subdiscipline of anthropology that emphasizes the systematic change of cultural systems through time. The theory is that societal change can be understood by analogy with the processes underlying the biological evolution of species, which argues that human cultures change gradually throughout time as a result of a number of cultural processes.
evolution: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A theory of biology about the gradual or rapid change of the form of living organisms throughout time that reflects adaptive change; it is the theory that all forms of life derive from a process of change via natural selection. Its great exponent was Charles Darwin, whose The Origin of Species" appeared in 1859. It had an immediate impact on prehistory and the question of the antiquity of man. The Darwinian idea -- of species generally over-reproducing themselves and only the better-fitted surviving to pass on their superior adaptation to the next generation -- has been modified and amplified in the 20th century by new knowledge of genetics and especially of mutation and re-combination of genes. The newer view is often called Neo-Darwinism. Darwin's work laid the foundations for the study of artifact typology pioneered by such scholars as Pitt-Rivers and Montelius. The idea that the animals and plants of today originated from ancestors of a different kind goes back at least to early Greek philosophers"
evolutionary archaeology: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: An explanatory framework for the past that accounts for structure and change in the archaeological record in much the same way as biological evolution.
food-producing revolution: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Neolithic Revolution
CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A term used to describe the development of farming and animal husbandry and the beginning of settled village life. The first indications of the beginning of the revolution from food-gathering to food producing are found in approximately 9000 BC. The change is associated with great improvements in making stone tools. Digging sticks and the first crude plows, stone sickles, querns that ground grain by friction between two stones and irrigation techniques for keeping the ground watered and fertile -- all these became well established in the great subtropical river valleys of Egypt and Mesopotamia before 3000 BC. The coming of the Iron Age to southern Africa almost 2,000 years ago brought with it the food-producing revolution. Agriculture combined with pastoralism supported much larger settled communities than had been possible and enabled more complex social and political organizations to develop.
general evolution: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The long-term progressive" change characteristic of human culture in general as opposed to the short-term localized social and ecological adjustments that cause specific cultures to differ from one another as they adapt to their own unique environments (specific evolution). It is the overall advance or progression stage by stage as measured in absolute terms; the evolution from heterogeneity toward homogeneity."
law of evolutionary potential: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The group with the more generalized adaptation which has more potential for change than does the group with the more highly specialized adaptation.
multilinear cultural evolution: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A theory of cultural evolution that sees each human culture evolving in its own way by adaptation to diverse environments. It is sometimes divided into four broad stages of evolving of social organization: band, tribe, chiefdom, and state-organized society. It is often defined by these four general levels of complexity rather than seeing all societies as pursuing a single course.
Neolithic Revolution: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Neolithization
CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A term coined by V.G. Childe to describe the origin and consequences of farming -- the development of stock raising and agriculture -- allowing the widespread development of settled village life (c 9000-6000 BC in Asia). This group of cultural processes marked the transition from an economy based on hunting and gathering to an agricultural economy. These processes were linked with development of village life, the beginning of firing techniques, and production of artifacts such as pottery and weaving.
Secondary Products Revolution: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: In the Late Neolithic, a series of changes in the culture and subsistence data which has been interpreted as a shift from floodplain horticulture to a greater reliance on domestic livestock, particularly their secondary products"."
specific evolution: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The localized social and ecological adjustments that cause specific cultures to differ from one another as they adapt to their own unique environments. The increasing adaptive specializations that improve the chances for survival of species, cultures, or individuals.
unilinear cultural evolution: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: unilinear evolution
CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A 19th-century evolutionary theory holding that all human cultures pass through the same sequence of evolutionary changes or stages, from simple hunting and gathering to literate civilization. Lewis H. Morgan described seven stages, or ethnical periods, from lower savagery, barbarism, to civilization.
urban revolution: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Urban Revolution
CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A term applied to a sociocultural type or stage of human development. V. Gordon Childe proposed that the criteria for the urban revolution are: (1) cities, or large, dense settlements; (2) the differentiation of the population into specialized occupational groups; (3) social classes, including a ruling stratum exempt from primary subsistence tasks; (4) mechanisms for extracting a social surplus such as taxes or tribute; (5) monumental public buildings and other enterprises; and (6) writing.
adaptation: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: The process of microevolutionary change in a species enabling it to become better fitted to survive within changing environmental conditions or other external stimuli.
anthropology: CATEGORY: related field
DEFINITION: The study of humankind, its culture and evolution, both extant and extinct. It consists of the subdisciplines physical anthropology, archaeology, anthropological linguistics, cultural anthropology, and social anthropology. Archaeology is sometimes regarded as a separate science rather than as a branch of anthropology. Social anthropology concentrates on patterns of behavior and institutions. Physical anthropology studies the physical (biological) characteristics as animals.
Athens: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Athínai (modern Greek), Athenai (ancient Greek)
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Important classical Greek city-state with evidence for continuous occupation from the Late Neolithic, but because of its continuous occupation and the resulting disturbance of the earlier levels, its history is told from the time of the Mycenaeans in the Late Bronze Age. The citadel on the Acropolis was walled early in its history. It is the capital of Greece and generally considered to be the birthplace of Western civilization. Athens is best known for its temples and public buildings of antiquity. The Parthenon, a columned, rectangular temple built for the city's patron goddess, Athena, is considered to be the culmination of the Doric order of classical Greek architecture. Also located on the Acropolis are the Erechtheum, originally the temple of both Athena and Poseidon, and the Propylaea, the entrance of which is through the wall of the Acropolis. At the foot of the Acropolis, to the south, are the theaters of Herodes and Dionysus, while to the northwest is the Agora, the ancient marketplace of the city. The Kerameikos cemetery documents the city's Iron Age (c 11-8 BC), after which archaeology and history combine to tell of its brilliance through the classical period. It supposedly rivaled Knossos and later resisted successive waves of Dorian invaders. It is still not clear how far Athens, perhaps the base of the very early Ionian colonies, managed to ride out the 'dark age' that followed the collapse of Mycenaean civilization. There is evidence of a cultural and commercial renaissance in the 7th and 6th centuries BC. A major component of this socioeconomic revolution was the borrowing of the Phoenician alphabet for the writing of Greek. Commercial success brought rapid economic growth and a population explosion. New ideas were imported and political upheaval led to experiments in government, such as democracy. Athens resisted Persian invaders and developed a prestige which allowed the establishment of the Delian League and the extension of her political power -- the Athenian empire. In the years 447-431 BC, under Pericles, vast sums were spent on public works, such as the new group of buildings on the Acropolis including the Parthenon. Pericles would not grant the Hellenes the freedom requested by Sparta, which led to the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) after which Athens was a dependent of Sparta. Escape from Spartan imperialism in the 4th century BC was threatened by Philip of Macedon and Alexander the Great. By the end of the century, Macedon dominated and Athens did not achieve independence until 228 BC. Rome then intruded in the 2nd and 1st centuries and Athens was sieged and plundered by Sulla. During the Imperial period, Athens was confined to a role as a cultural center and seat of learning for the rich -- which lasted into the 6th century AD, when the edict of Justinian in 529 closed down the schools of philosophy. By the Byzantine period, Athens had become a modest provincial town. Athens' ruins will be difficult to protect from the corrosive atmosphere and millions of visiting tourists.
Avebury, Lord (formerly Sir John Lubbock) (1834-1913): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: British archaeologist whose book Prehistoric Times" (7 editions between 1865-1913) achieved bestseller status. An early convert to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution Lord Avebury popularized prehistory both as a term and a subject. He introduced the words "Palaeolithic" (old) and "Neolithic" (new) thereby expanding the three-age system (Thomsen and Worsaae) to a four-age system dividing the Stone Age into old and new periods. He also interpreted cultural change as evidence of invasion from the east and the development of society as the result of economic advance."
Bayeux Tapestry: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A medieval embroidery depicting the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, which is considered a remarkable work of art and important as a source for 11th-century history. It consists of a roll of unbleached linen worked in colored worsted with illustrations and is about 70 m long and 50 cm deep. The work was probably commissioned by Bishop Odo of Bayeux, a half-brother of William the Conquerer, and took about two years to complete. It was likely finished no later than 1092. The tapestry depicts the events leading up to the invasion of England by William Duke of Normandy and the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, when the English King Harold was defeated and killed. Though not proven, the tapestry appears to have been designed and embroidered in England. The themes are enacted much like that of a feudal drama or chanson de geste. The technical detail and iconography of the Bayeux Tapestry are of great importance. For instance, the 33 buildings depicted offer a look at the contemporary churches, castles, towers and motte and bailey castles. The battle scenes give details on the infantry and cavalry formations, Norman armor and weapons, and the clothing and hairstyles of the time. The invasion fleet is 'Viking double enders' (clinker-built long boats, propelled by oars and a single mast). The tapestry was discovered" in the nave of Bayeux Cathedral in France by French antiquarian and scholar Bernard de Montfaucon who published the earliest complete reproduction of it in 1730. It narrowly escaped destruction during the French Revolution was exhibited in Paris at Napoleon's wish in 1803-04 and thereafter kept in the Bayeux public library."
Bergen: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: Port city of southwestern Norway, originally called Bjørgvin, and founded in 1070 AD by King Olaf III. About 1100, a castle was built on the northern edge of the Vågen harbor, and Bergen became commercially and politically important; it was Norway's capital in the 12th and 13th centuries. Excavations in the Bryggen, the harbor area, have revealed a sequence of levels that illustrate the area's evolution from the 11th century onwards. The levels have been accurately dated by a series of fires which occurred at various stages of Bergen's history. Waterlogged conditions have preserved many of the timber buildings, streets, and quays. The 11th-century houses and warehouses were on piles and had sills at ground level, while jetties became popular in the Hanseatic period (14th and 15th centuries). The excavations revealed a remarkable collection of imported pottery from all over Europe as well as quantities of leather and wooden objects. Parts of three trading ships or freighters were also found, their timbers having been re-used in the buildings.
biological anthropology: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: physical anthropology
CATEGORY: branch
DEFINITION: A subfield of anthropology dealing with the issues of human evolution and variation.
Boucher (de Crèvecoeur) de Perthes, Jacques (1788-1868): SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Boucher de Perthes
CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: French archaeologist and writer who was the first to develop the idea that prehistory could be measured on the basis of periods of geological time. In 1837, in the Somme Valley, he discovered flint hand axes and other stone tools along with the bones of extinct mammals in deposits of the Pleistocene Epoch (or Ice Age, ending about 10,000 years ago). Boucher de Perthes was the first to draw attention to the Stone Age's revolutionary significance, because at the time, 4004 BC was still believed to be the year of the creation. His claims that these objects were the tools of ancient man and that they occurred in association with the bones of extinct animals were ridiculed. In 1859, Boucher de Perthes's conclusions were finally upheld by a group of eminent British scientists, including Charles Lyell, Hugh Falconer, John Preswich, and John Evans, who visited the excavated sites. His archaeological writings include De la Création: essai sur l'origine et la progression des êtres" (1838-41) and "Antiquités Celtiques et Antédiluviennes" (1847-64)."
Cape Krusenstern: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The site of a national monument on the coast of the Chukchi Sea with a horizontal stratigraphy covering the whole of north Alaskan prehistory. Located on 114 ridges along ancient beach lines, the monument's remarkable archaeological sites illustrate the cultural evolution of the Arctic people, dating back some 4,000 years and continuing to modern Eskimos. There are campsites of 10 successive cultures, beginning with the Denbigh Flint Complex, followed by the Old Whaling culture, then by the Eskimo cultures known as Trails Creek-Chloris, Chloris, Norton, Near Ipiutak, Ipiutak, Birnirk, Western Thule, and late prehistoric. On the terrace behind the beaches were two more phases (Palisades I and II) which go back to c 8000 BC. The stratigraphy is visible as a sequence of strips, roughly parallel to the shoreline, with the oldest, Denbigh, being furthest from the present-day shoreline. This horizontal sequence, in combination with the vertical stratigraphy of Onion Portage, forms the most reliable chronological framework in Western Arctic prehistory.
centralization: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: Evolutionary process whereby wealth, power, political decision making, and social prestige are concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer subgroups or individuals within a society.
chariot: CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A light vehicle of war, usually carrying two people, a warrior, and a driver. Examples have been found from the Uruk period in Mesopotamia and the chariot was on the standard of Ur. It first appeared in the Near East in the 17 century BC, associated with the immigrant peoples who became the Hyksos, Kassites, and Hurri. Its arrival in Egypt can be fairly reliably dated to the Second Intermediate Period (1650-1550 BC). The Aryans carried it to India, and in China it formed the core of the Shang army. The Mycenaeans introduced it to Europe, where it spread widely and rapidly. It revolutionized warfare by allowing warriors to be transferred rapidly from one part of a battlefield to another. It was mainly for aristocrats, which explains its popularity as a funeral offering. Burials of complete chariots with horses and charioteers have been excavated in Shang China (1200 BC), in Cyprus from the 7th century BC, and among the La Tène Celts. The earliest Celt chariot burials are in the Rhineland and eastern France with dates around 500 BC, and later burials are in east Yorkshire and Europe as far east as Hungary, Bulgaria, and southern Russia. The chariot was replaced by the mounted warrior or knight when horses of sufficient strength had been bred in the late and post-Roman periods.
chronometric dating: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: absolute dating; chronometry
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: Any technique of dating that relies on chronological measurement such as calendars, radiocarbon dates, etc. and which give the result in calendar years before the present, or B.P. Most of these techniques produce results with a standard deviation, but they have a relationship to the calendar which relative dating techniques do not. Among the most useful chronometric dating techniques are radiocarbon dating, potassium argon dating, and thermoluminescence dating. Dendrochronology, the relationship of dated ancient trees with live trees has no standard deviation and is the most accurate of all, though not universally applicable. Chronometric dating has developed in the last 30 years and has revolutionized archaeology.
Coalbrookdale: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: The site of the first cast-iron bridge, spanning the River Severn at Coalbrookdale, Shropshire, England, now a British national monument and considered the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. Abraham Darby pioneered the smelting of iron with coke here in 1709 and the bridge was by Thomas Pritchard and erected by John Wilkinson and Abraham Darby in 1777-1779.
cultivation: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The raising of plants by man for his use; deliberate propagation of a species primarily for its fruit, seed, leaf, or fiber. Cultivation greatly increased and stabilized man's food supply. The change from food gathering to food production has been called the Neolithic Revolution, and was one of the most important advances in human development. The first among Old World crops were wheat and barley, developed as cultivated species c 7th millennium BC. To these were added oats and rye in Europe, millet in Asia, and sorghum in Africa. In the Americas, the process was equally slow. First crops included beans, cotton, gourds, maize, manioc, potatoes, and squashes.
cultural processual approach: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: cultural process
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A deductive approach to archaeological research that is designed to study the changes and interactions in cultural systems and the processes by which human cultures change throughout time. A cultural process is the cumulative cause-and-effect of the mechanisms and interactions within a culture that produce stability and/or change. The delineation of cultural process is one of the goals of archaeological research. Processual archaeologists use both descriptive and explanatory models based on functional, ecological, or multilinear cultural evolutionary concepts of culture.
cultural selection: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The process that leads to the acceptance of some cultural traits and innovations that make a culture more adaptive to its environment; somewhat akin to natural selection in biological evolution. The process leads to differential retention of cultural traits that increase a society's potential for successful cultural adaptation, while eliminating maladaptive traits.
Darwin, Charles (1809-1882): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: The founder of modern evolutionary biology and of the theory of the origin of species by means of natural selection. His Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life" was published in 1859. His theory explained the origin of plant and animal species through a process of natural selection that tends to perpetuate adaptive variations. Its relevance for archaeology was to further the acceptance of the antiquity of man. In his book "The Descent of Man" (1871) he speculated that our closest relatives in the animal world were chimpanzee and gorilla and that Africa was our likely homeland."
DNA: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: deoxyribonucleic acid
CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The basic material of chromosomes, which carries the hereditary instructions (the blueprint") which determine the formation of all living organisms. Genes the organizers of inheritance are composed of DNA. Analysis of the DNA of different primate groups has been used to determine the evolutionary line of modern humans. DNA techniques have also been used to show how long various regional human populations have been separated from each other. DNA analysis of blood residue both human and animal on prehistoric tools and weapons may provide information on the evolutionary relationships of a range of animal species and between prehistoric and modern humans."
Dubois, Eugène (1858-1940): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: A Dutch palaeoanthropologist and anatomist who discovered Java man, the first known fossil of Homo erectus, in 1891. Dubois named the fossils Pithecanthropus erectus to indicate an intermediate phase in the evolution then believed to proceed from simian ancestors having the upright posture of modern man. For years there was much controversy over his finds, until reexamined in 1923.
ethnoarchaeology: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: ethnoarchaeological studies
CATEGORY: branch
DEFINITION: The study of contemporary cultures with a view to understanding the behavioral relationships which underlie the production of material culture. It is the use of archaeological techniques and data to study these living cultures and the use of ethnographic data to inform the examination of the archaeological record. It is a relatively new branch of the discipline, followed particularly in America. It seeks to compare the patterns recognized in the material culture from archaeological contexts with patterns yielded through the study of living societies. The ethnoarchaeologist is particularly concerned with the manufacture, distribution, and use of artifacts, the remains of various processes that might be expected to survive, and the interpretation of archaeological material in the light of the ethnographic information. Less materially oriented questions such as technological development, subsistence strategies, and social evolution are also compared in archaeology and ethnology under the general heading of ethnographic analogy. Lewis Binford's study of the Nunamiut Eskimo is one of the best known studies in ethnoarchaeology.
faunal dating: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A method of relative dating based on observing the evolutionary changes in particular species of mammals, so as to form a rough chronological sequence.
fishing: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The catching of fish as a source of food did not become important until quite late in man's evolution. Some fish remains are found on early Palaeolithic sites, such as Olduvai. Fish and other seafood were more important for coastal peoples and closer to the poles. In the Mesolithic, from c 6000 BC on, fish hooks and nets were made and boats are likely to have come into general use.
foramen magnum: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A large oval opening in the base of the skull through which the medulla oblongata passes, linking the spinal cord and brain. Its position is an indication of posture. If the foramen magnum is far forward on the skull base, it indicates an upright posture, like that of humans, with the head balanced on top of the spine. In four-footed animals, the head hangs from the end of the vertebral column, and the foramen magnum is placed posteriorly. In apes, with the assumption of semierect posture, the foramen had moved partially downward and forward. In human evolution, the foramen magnum has continued to move forward as an aspect of adaptation to walking on two legs, until the head became balanced vertically on top of the vertebral column.
Garrod, Dorothy A. E. (1892-1968): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: A British archaeologist known for work on the Palaeolithic of England and Gibraltar and for extensive excavations at Mount Carmel, Palestine, uncovering skeletal remains of primary importance to the study of human evolution. Some authorities believe that these remains represent an intermediate stage between Neanderthal man and modern man. F She and Dorothy Bate found a long sequence of Lower Palaeolithic to Epipalaeolithic cultures in several caves. Garrod also work in southern Kurdistan, Bulgaria, France, and southern Lebanon. She was the first woman professor at Cambridge University.
Great Tradition: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: Set of elite values and behaviors that emerge from folk traditions during the evolution of complex societies and that are expressed in distinctive rituals, art, writing, or other symbolic forms.
habiline / habilis: CATEGORY: culture; fauna
DEFINITION: An early member of the genus Homo, including Homo habilis, known from fossils in Africa dating from 2 million to about 1.5 million years ago. There is much disagreement concerning the evolutionary place of this species, but H. habilis is generally accepted as the earliest member of the genus Homo, following Australopithecus and preceding Homo erectus. Habilines made crude stone tools. They were first discovered in 1959-1960 in northern Tanzania.
heddle loom: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: heald loom
CATEGORY: artifact
DEFINITION: A specialized loom that lifts some of the warp (lengthwise) threads so that the weft (crosswise) threads can be passed through the warp easily and quickly. The heddles are short lengths of wire or flat steel strips used to deflect the warp to either side of the main sheet of fabric. Originally heddles were movable rods, but later cords, wires, or steel bands were used. They are supported by the loom's harness, and each has an eyelet through which the warp threads pass. The heddle is considered to be the most important single advance in the evolution of looms in general.
homology: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A type of reasoning by analogy, where two phenomena separated in time are similar because of an historic or genetic connection. In biology, similarity of the structure, physiology, or development of different species of organisms based upon their descent from a common evolutionary ancestor. Homology is contrasted with analogy, which is a functional similarity of structure based not upon common evolutionary origins but upon mere similarity of use.
industrial archaeology: CATEGORY: branch
DEFINITION: The archaeological study of the period and sites of the Industrial Revolution and later. It involves the discovery, recording, and study of the material remains of past industrial activities, covering ways of making, transporting and distributing things.
Kayenta: CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: A regional variation of the Anasazi people, located in northeast Arizona, especially in the Pueblo II stage of c 1250-1300 AD. Kayenta has specific pottery types and architectural techniques. As seen at the Navajo National Monument, the principal dwellings of the Kayenta, the construction of the cliff dwellings was apparently the result of their evolution from hunters and gatherers to sedentary farmers. They probably moved to the mesas to the south because of climatic changes involving erosion and water shortages, which made farming impossible.
Leakey, Louis Seymour Bazett (1903-1972): SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: L.S.B. Leakey
CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: Kenyan-born British archaeologist and anthropologist whose brilliant career was devoted to the recovery and interpretation of the bones and tools of early man and his forebears in East Africa. His name is particularly associated with Olduvai Gorge and Homo habilis, and his work was extended and continued by his wife Mary and son Richard. As a geologist and paleontologist, he clarified the paleoclimatic scale of the Pleistocene. His intensive early Hominid research in East Africa included finds of Australopithecus boisei (Zinjanthropus) and Homo habilis, dating to c 1.75 million years ago. These discoveries proved that man was far older than had previously been believed and that human evolution was centered in Africa, rather than in Asia, as earlier discoveries had suggested. Leakey was also noted for his controversial interpretations of these archaeological finds. He was also instrumental in persuading Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey to undertake their pioneering long-term studies of chimpanzees and gorillas, respectively, in those animals' natural habitats. Leakey wrote Adam's Ancestors" (1934; rev. ed. 1953) "Stone-Age Africa" (1936) "White African" (1937) "Olduvai Gorge" (1952) "Mau Mau and the Kikuyu" (1952) "Olduvai Gorge 1951-61" (1965) "Unveiling Man's Origins" (1969; with Jane Goodall) and "Animals of East Africa" (1969)."
leptolithic: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: Describing industries with many blades and blade tools, especially end scrapers, burins, and backed blades, typical of the Upper Palaeolithic. The term leptolithic, literally 'of small stones', has sometimes been used specifically to refer to this type of stone technology, without any dating connotation or evolutionary position.
Lund, Peter W. (1801-1880): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: Danish naturalist who excavated more than 800 caves in Brazil. His finds of fossilized animals were used by Darwin in his evolution research. The discovery of human bones in association with animal remains from the Pleistocene led him to suggest in 1844 that these animals might have been contemporary with an antediluvian" man."
Lyell, Sir Charles (1797-1875): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: Scottish geologist largely responsible for the general acceptance of the view that all features of the Earth's surface are produced by physical, chemical, and biological processes over long periods of geological time (uniformitarianism). Lyell's achievements laid the foundations for evolutionary biology as well as for an understanding of the Earth's development. His work had a bearing on the development of archaeology at two points. His Principles of Geology" (1830-1833) established the view that the earth had been in existence for very much longer than the 6000 years allowed by the biblical chronology and laid open the way for the later acceptance of the antiquity of man. In 1859 publication of Darwin's "Origin of Species" gave new impetus to Lyell's work. Lyell's "The Geological Evidence of the Antiquity of Man" (1863) tentatively accepted evolution by natural selection."
MacNeish, Richard Scotty (1918- ): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: American archaeologist who pioneered research on the evolution of agriculture and who studied the study of the earliest human migrations into the New World. He suggested a human presence as early as 15,000 BC in the Ayacucho Basin, which would correspond to the traditional ""first wave"" of immigrants into the New World.
MacNeish, Richard Scotty" (1918- )": CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: American archaeologist who pioneered research on the evolution of agriculture and who studied the study of the earliest human migrations into the New World. He suggested a human presence as early as 15,000 BC in the Ayacucho Basin, which would correspond to the traditional first wave" of immigrants into the New World."
modified diffusionism: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A form of diffusionist theory, espoused by V. Gordon Childe and others, that allowed for some local cultural evolution.
molecular clock: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A method of tracing evolutionary lines based on the changes in the protein structure and DNA of living organisms that take place over long periods of time. By establishing the degree of difference between the proteins of two species, it is possible to calculate how long ago they shared a common ancestor. Studies of molecular evolution rates have led to the proposition that macromolecules may serve as evolutionary clocks. If the rate of evolution of a protein or gene were approximately the same in the evolutionary lineages leading to different species, proteins and DNA sequences would provide a molecular clock of evolution. The sequences could then be used not only to reconstruct the topology of a phylogeny (the sequence of branching events) but also the time when the various events occurred.
Montelius, Oscar (1843-1921): SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Gustav Oscar Augustin Montelius
CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: Swedish archaeologist who constructed a chronology for prehistoric Europe and who developed typological schemes for the European Neolithic and Bronze Age. He divided European prehistory into numbered periods (four for the Neolithic, five for the Bronze Age) and to these periods he gave absolute dates by extending cross-dating from Egypt across Europe. Montelius believed in the diffusionist view (called ex oriente lux) that all European culture in later prehistoric times was derived from the ancient civilizations of Egypt and the Near East. Still controversial is his theory, the Swedish typology suggesting that material culture and biological life develop through essentially the same kind of evolutionary process. He published Om tidsbestämming inom ronsåldern" (1885; "On Determining the Periods Within the Bronze Age") "The Civilization of Sweden in Heathen Times" (1888) and "Die älteren Kulturperioden in Orient und in Europa" (1903-23; "The Older Cultural Periods in the Orient and Europe")."
Morgan, Lewis Henry (1818-1881): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: A founder of American anthropology (scientific anthropology), known especially for establishing the study of kinship systems and for his comprehensive theory of social evolution. He put forth the scheme of development as being savagery to barbarism to civilization. His work directly affected the application of the theory of evolution to the discipline of anthropology. Morgan's theory of cultural evolution was published in Ancient Society or Researches in the Lines of Human Progress from Savagery through Barbarism to Civilization" (1877). This was the first major scientific account of the origin and evolution of civilization with illustrations of developmental stages drawn from various cultures."
Mount Carmel: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A group of Palaeolithic caves in Israel, on biblical Mount Carmel, which have between them yielded a long stratigraphy. The most important of these sites are el Wad, es Skhul, Tabun, and Nahal Oren. The sequence begins with coarse flake tools of Tayacian type, followed by Acheulian handax industries. Associated (and perhaps interstratified) with the final Acheulian were Jabrudian artifacts and eventually blade tools of Amudian type. The next industry, the Levalloiso-Mousterian, was represented at two caves, Tabun and es Skhul, and was associated with human remains whose evolutionary position is controversial. The sequence continues with the so-called Emiran industry, followed by the Palestine Aurignacian (also called Antelian), by a blade/scraper/burin industry (the Atlitian), and finally by Natufian. The el Wad has a sequence of Upper Palaeolithic deposits with important Natufian levels at the top and on the plateau outside and numerous associated burials.
Nefertiti (c 1380-1340 BC): SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Nefertiit, Nofretete
CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: The principal wife of the 18th Dynasty ruler Akhenaten (1352-1336 BC) during the 'Amarna period' and Queen of Egypt. She may also have been daughter of Ay (1327-1323 BC), who later succeeded Tutankhamun (1336-1327 BC) on the throne. She supported her husband's religious revolution and is thought by some to have adhered to the new cult of the sun god Aton even after the king began to compromise with the upholders of the old order. Nefertiti is best known for her portrait bust, found at Tell el-Amarna (ancient Akhetaton), the king's new capital. She also appears prominently at her husband's side in reliefs found at Tell el-Amarna. Nefertiti had six daughters, two of whom became queens of Egypt. In the 12th year of Akhenaton's reign, or possibly later, Nefertiti either retired after losing favor with the king or, less likely, died. Objects belonging to her have been found at the northern palace in Amarna, suggesting that she may have retired there. However, some scholars associate her with the monarch named Smenkhare who briefly succeeded Akhenaten.
Neolithic: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: neolithic, New Stone Age
CATEGORY: chronology
DEFINITION: The period of prehistory when people began to use ground stone tools, cultivate plants, and domesticate livestock but before the use of metal for tools. It is the technical name for the New Stone Age in the Old World following the Mesolithic. In the Neolithic, villages were established, pottery and weaving appeared, and farming began. The Neolithic began about 8000-7000 BC in the Middle East and about 4000-3000 BC in Europe. It was followed by the Bronze Age, which began about 3500-3000 BC in the Middle East and about 2000-1500 BC in Europe. The criteria for defining" the Neolithic has become progressively more difficult to apply as both food production and metalworking took a long time to develop. In Britain the Neolithic has other more specific characteristics: the use of pottery and of ground stone (beside the long-employed flaked stone) and the appearance of construction works like the long barrow causewayed camp and megalithic tomb. Elsewhere however some Mesolithic cultures made use of pottery in Japan for example; and certain so-called pre-pottery Neolithic groups had none as at Jericho. If the term Neolithic is to be retained at all it must be based on the appearance of food production (especially cereal grains) sometimes called the Neolithic revolution commencing in southwest Asia 9000-6000 BC. This might be considered the most important single advance ever made by man since it allowed him to settle permanently in one spot. This in turn encouraged the accumulation of material possessions stimulated trade and by giving a storable surplus of food allowed a larger population and craft specialization. All these were prerequisite to further human progress. The Neolithic was followed by the Mesolithic period the Chalcolithic or the Bronze Age depending on the terminology used in different areas and the nature of the archaeological sequence itself. The Neolithic followed the Paleolithic Period."
neoteny: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The retention of juvenile or fetal features into adult life. Neoteny entails the maturation of a larva's reproductive capabilities without the accompanying development of its external morphological features. This phenomenon occurs in some aquatic salamanders and is due to delayed somatic development. It is thought to be an important mechanism in evolution, having facilitated certain crucial changes such as the emergence of the first chordates. Modern man has a number of features which seem to be neotenous, at least in relation to the apes and to the kind of common apelike ancestor we are thought to have. Neoteny is one possible mechanism to explain the emergence of modern morphology, perhaps from a Neanderthal-like ancestor.
new archaeology: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: New Archaeology; processual archaeology
CATEGORY: branch
DEFINITION: A movement which began in America in the 1960s, aimed at making archaeology more scientific, now more often called processual archaeology. It was suggested that explanations be based on carefully designed models of human behavior and emphasized the importance of understanding underlying cultural processes. This new approach was controversial and is commonly associated with Lewis R. Binford and his students. Binford's New Perspectives in Archaeology" in 1968 stressed the following ideas: the use of new techniques such as the computer for statistical and matrix analyses of data and concept of the ecosystem for the understanding of the economic and subsistence bases of prehistoric societies; an evolutionary view of culture; the use of models of cultures viewed as systems incorporating the evolutionary view of culture and a close relationship between archaeology and anthropology. Although the proponents of the new archaeology have been criticized by more traditionally minded scholars their basic principles are now widely accepted."
numerical taxonomy: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: cluster analysis; taximetrics
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A set of mathematical procedures for grouping individual items into classes. The technique used is cluster analysis, which produces groupings of items based on their degree of similarity. There are different ways of measuring the similarity between items, and different techniques of producing clusters from such measurements. Agglomerative techniques start with the most similar items and repeatedly add new members to existing clusters as the standard of similarity is lowered; divisive methods, on the other hand, start with the entire collection to be classified and repeatedly subdivide into smaller groups on the basis of certain attributes. The results of the analyses can be shown in the form of a dendrogram, but the interpretation of the groupings produced will depend on a detailed assessment of the archaeological data itself. Numerical taxonomy is also the multivariate analysis of many measurable features (taxonomic characters) to produce a biological classification. Because of the complexity of the analysis, the use of a computer is virtually mandatory. No attempt is made, as in evolutionary taxonomy, to weight characters on the basis of their presumed roles in natural selection. For this reason, numerical taxonomy produces a classification that reflects phenetic distances i.e., degrees of similarity. Such classifications are rejected by many conventional taxonomists who feel that the relationships expressed in a classification should be strictly evolutionary. The numerical evaluation of the affinity or similarity between taxonomic units and the ordering of these units into taxa on the basis of their affinities is used often in archaeology.
Obre: CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A complex of Neolithic settlements on the Bosnia River near Sarajevo, Bosnia. Obre I comprises four occupation horizons, the first with Starcevo pottery, dating c 4500-4200 BC. It has rectangular houses similar to those at Karanovo I and Anza, and arranged in rows. Obre II represents the most complete development of the Butmir culture yet discovered, with nine habitation horizons in three main periods (dated c 4250-3950 BC, c 3900 BC, and c 3800 BC). This 1300-year cut through the Bosnian Neolithic sequence provides details on the evolution of timber-framed architecture, subsistence economy, and exchange systems. The pottery is interpreted as reflecting possible transhumant pastoralism.
Olduvai: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Olduvai Gorge
CATEGORY: site
DEFINITION: A site in northern Tanzania which is one of the most important sites for the understanding of both human evolution and the development of the earliest tools. The gorge is 30 miles long, located on the volcanic belt of the Great Rift Valley. Louis and Mary Leakey uncovered numerous Hominid remains, animal bones, and stone artifacts from c 1.9 million years to less than 10,000 years ago. Living floors and camp sites with pebble tools, choppers, and a few artifacts made on flakes go back to the earliest date as do the bones of two primitive forms of hominid, Homo habilis and Australopithecus robustus (Zinjanthropus). Crude handaxes have been dated to c 1.2-0.5 million years ago and are accompanied by several hominid fossils of Homo erectus and Homo sapiens. Acheulian tools are found with Neanderthal remains and later beds contained a Kenya Capsian industry. No site in the world has produced a longer sequence of stone tool assemblages and of hominid fossils.
optimal foraging theory: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: The theory that an animal's efficient foraging behavior should maximize an animal's net rate of food intake. It is a theoretical perspective used in evolutionary biology that attempts to develop a set of models to apply to a broad range of animal species based on theories of optimal net rates of energy gain.
paleoanthropology: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: human paleontology; palaeoanthropology
CATEGORY: related field
DEFINITION: The study of human origins and evolution as revealed by fossil remains; the study of the archaeology of the earliest human beings. Fossils are assessed by the techniques of physical anthropology, comparative anatomy, and the theory of evolution. It is a branch of anthropology.
paleontology: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: palaeontology
CATEGORY: related field
DEFINITION: The study of the forms of life existing in former geologic periods, as represented by their fossils. It is the science of life of the geologic past that involves examination of the remains, origin, and evolution of plant and animal fossils. Fossils may provide palaeoenvironmental information. Human paleontology is the study of the origins of man himself.
paradigmatic view: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A belief that science develops from a set of assumptions (paradigm) and that revolutionary science ends with the acceptance of a new paradigm which ushers in a period of normal science.
particularism: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: historical particularism
CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: An interpretative framework that characterized American archaeology in the early 1900s, whereby individual cultures were documented without comparative reference to others. This school of anthropological thought is associated with Franz Boas and his students (including Margaret Mead and A.L. Kroeber), whose studies of culture emphasized the integrated way of life distinctive of a people. Boas concentrated on describing the particular characteristics of a given culture with a view toward reconstructing the historical events that led to its present structure. Hypotheses regarding evolutionary development and the influence of one culture on another were considered secondary to the study of particular societies. Boas urged the historical method, based on the description of particular culture traits and elements, and rejected the assumption of a single standard of rationality to which all cultures could be compared.
Pengelly, William (1812-1894): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: A British geologist and archaeologist who did cave excavation and demonstrated the antiquity of Palaeolithic artifacts by showing that stone tools made by humans were contemporary with remains of extinct animals. At Kent's Cavern, he was able to confirm the conclusions of Reverend J. MacEnery that flint tools were associated with the bones of extinct animals. Though this association was not widely accepted, he continued to find further proof with work at Windmill Cave, Brixham (Devon). He gained academic support and, in 1859, John Evans and several of Britain's leading geologists joined him in contradicting the 4004 BC date as the Creation of man. The discoveries of Jacques Boucher de Perthes in the Somme Valley in France corroborated Pengelly's findings and were used to demonstrate the antiquity of man in 1859, the same year that saw the publication of Darwin's revolutionary Origin of Species"."
phylogeny: CATEGORY: typology
DEFINITION: The evolutionary history of an individual or group.
physical anthropology: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: biological anthropology
CATEGORY: related field
DEFINITION: A subdiscipline of anthropology that views humans as biological organisms, studying human biological or physical characteristics and their evolution. Study includes fossil human beings, genetics, primates, and blood groups. It is one of the two major subdivisions of anthropology.
Piltdown Man: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Piltdown
CATEGORY: culture
DEFINITION: A set of skull fragments presented in 1913 to be an apelike jaw and claiming to be the missing evolutionary link between ancient and modern humans, but revealed to be an elaborate hoax. Supposedly found at a site near Lewes in Sussex. In 1953, analysis by fluorine test and other methods showed that the skull was indeed of Homo sapiens combined with the jaw of a modern orangutan. Between 1953 and 1955 it was shown that these objects were mostly doctored fakes, and had all been introduced to the site.
Pitt-Rivers, General Augustus Lane-Fox (1827-1900): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: British scholar and pioneer in archaeological excavation and recording, working on prehistoric and Romano-British sites in England. His large-scale excavations unearthed villages, camps, cemeteries, and barrows at sites such as Woodcutts, Rotherley, South Lodge, Bokerly Dyke, and Wansdyke. From his study of firearms, he realized that something analogous to evolution can be traced in artifacts as well as in living organisms, with the same gradual developments and occasional degenerations. He assembled an ethnographical collection arranged by use rather than by provenance, a practical example of typology. He helped to advance excavation to a scientific technique with precise work, total excavation of sites, meticulous recording of detail, and full and rapid publication. His work on his own estate, Cranborne Chase, was published in five volumes entitled Excavations in Cranborne Chase" (1887-1903). He stressed stratigraphy and precise recording of all finds and is often called the "father of British archaeology". "
polished tool: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: ground stone tool
CATEGORY: lithics
DEFINITION: Any artifact made by the pecking or grinding of hard stones. The Neolithic Period was the first widespread used of polished rock tools, notably axes, with the adoption of a new technique of stoneworking. The revolutionary method used to create polished tools was essentially a finishing process that slicked a chipped tool by rubbing it on or with an abrasive rock to remove the scars of the chipping process that had produced the rough tool. Not only was the edge keener, but the smooth sides of the edge also promoted deeper penetration, with the added advantage of easier tool extraction from a deep wedged cut.
procurement: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: Any process by which materials are obtained from the environment, such as the collecting of plant foods. Much of animal evolution involves adaptation for the procurement of food
protein sequencing: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: The analysis of the sequence of the amino acids that make up a protein. Comparison of the sequences in different species is one way of working out their degrees of interrelationship. Protein sequencing is one of several molecular methods developed for estimating genetic change during evolution.
punctuated equilibria: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A principal feature of the evolutionary theory propounded by Niles Eldredge and Stephen J. Gould, in which species' change is represented as a form of Darwinian gradualism, punctuated" by periods of rapid evolutionary change. It is a revision of Darwinian theory proposing that the creation of new species through evolutionary change occurs not at slow constant rates over millions of years but rather in rapid bursts over periods as short as thousands of years which are then followed by long periods of stability during which organisms undergo little further change."
redistribution: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: redistributive exchange
CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A mode of primitive exchange in which the operation was directed and controlled by some central organizing authority; a complex process that was a critical part of the evolution of civilization. Goods are received or appropriated by the central authority and subsequently some of them are sent by that authority to other locations. It might involve the physical collection and pooling of locally produced items and their subsequent reallocation, or merely control the flow without central collection. Storage facilities and a system of record-keeping are often associated with the central power. The goods exchanged may be local products, which would permit some degree of craft specialization, since the specialists will be able to depend on the central authority for the supply of all necessities. The products received in return for these exports may be treated as prestige items and made available to only a restricted number of the local people in the upper levels of the social hierarchy. Redistribution is often associated with societies organized as chiefdoms with a central authority and marked differences in social ranking.
seriation: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: A relative dating technique in which artifacts or features are organized into a sequence according to changes over time in their attributes or frequency of appearance. The technique shows how these items have changed over time and it is a way to establish chronology. Archaeological material, such as assemblages of pottery or the grave goods deposited with burials, are arranged into chronological order. The types that comprise the assemblages to be ordered in this way must be from the same archaeological tradition, and from a single region or locality. Once the variations in a particular object have been classified by typology, it can often be shown that they fall into a developmental series, sometimes in a single line, sometimes in branching lines more as in a family tree. The order produced is theoretically chronological, but will need archaeological assessment. Outside evidence, such as dating of two or more stages in the development, may be needed to determine which is the first and which the last member of the series. There are several types of seriation: frequency seriation, contextual seriation, evolutionary seriation, and similarity / stylistic seriation -- based on different changes. A seriation technique, called sequence dating, based on shared typological features, enabled Sir Flinders Petrie to establish the temporal order of a large number of Egyptian graves.
state: SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: state-organized society
CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: A form of social organization characterized by a strong central government, socio-economic class divisions, and a market economy; the most complex form of social organization. Leadership is not based on kinship affiliation, though it may be. States are frequently marked by an armed force and a bureaucracy for recordkeeping. They often have very large populations, have cities and monumental architecture. Such a society retains many chiefdom characteristics in elaborated form, but also includes true political power sanctioned by legitimate force, and social integration through concepts of nationality and citizenship usually defined by territorial boundaries. A distinction can be drawn between primary states, those whose origin is independent of any contact with previously existing states, and secondary states, which arise from influences emanating from already established states. In cultural evolutionist models, it ranks second only to the empire as the most complex societal developmental stage.
Steward, Julian Haynes (1902-1972): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: American anthropologist and archaeologist who influenced archaeological theory, emphasizing that the goals of both disciplines were the same: understanding of cultural change and the plotting of that change on spatial and temporal planes. His best-known book was Theory of Culture Change: the Methodology of Multilinear Evolution" (1955) and he also wrote "Handbook of South American Indians" (1946-1950) and "Irrigation Civilizations" (1955). He carried out fieldwork in the Great Basin British Columbia and the Andes planned and helped establish the Virú Valley project. He worked for the use of evolutionary and ecological thought in anthropology and archaeology; he is known as the as the founder of the theory of cultural ecology."
systems-ecological approach: CATEGORY: technique
DEFINITION: An approach to archaeology that involves three models of cultural change: systems models, cultural ecology, and multilinear evolution.
technology: CATEGORY: term
DEFINITION: One of the three basic components of culture; the systematic study of techniques for making and doing things. It is the means by which humans have developed things to help them adapt to and exploit their environment. By virtue of his nature as a toolmaker, man has been a technologist from the beginning, and the history of technology encompasses the whole evolution of man.
Tertiary: CATEGORY: chronology
DEFINITION: The geological period following the Mesozoic (Secondary) era, constituting the first of two periods of the Cenozoic Era, the second being the Quaternary. It comprises the epochs Palaeocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, and Pliocene. It extended from the end of the Cretaceous to the beginning of the Quaternary, from 66.4-1.6 million years ago. The Miocene and Pliocene epochs were important in Hominid Evolution. Some prefer not to use the term Tertiary and instead divide the interval into two periods, the Paleogene Period (66.4-23.7 mya) and the Neogene Period (23.7-1.6 mya). Most of the existing mountain belts and ranges, notably the Andes, the Rockies, the Alps, the Himalayas, and the Atlas Mountains, were formed either partly or wholly during the Tertiary. The emergence and submergence of land bridges between continents, especially between North and South America, Eurasia and Africa, and Asia and North America, critically affected the migration of faunas and floras. The earliest generally accepted hominid fossils, those of Australopithecus, come from rocks of Pliocene age (5.3-1.6 mya) in eastern Africa.
vault: CATEGORY: structure
DEFINITION: A type of roofing in stone or brick using the principle of gravity to lock the materials together. The barrel vault is continuous and of semicircular section; in the rib vault, the weight of the roof is carried by ribs. The evolution of the vault begins with the discovery of the arch, because the basic barrel" form which appeared first in ancient Egypt and the Near East is simply a deep or three-dimensional arch."
Wheeler, Sir Robert Eric Mortimer (1890-1976): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: English archaeologist who revolutionized excavation standards and invented the stratigraphic grid system technique. Adopting and developing further the methods of General Pitt-Rivers, Wheeler emphasized the vertical site record and its importance in reconstructing the history of a site. He founded Britain's Institute of Archaeology of London University and similar institutions in other countries, especially reorganizing Indian and Pakistani archaeology. He worked at Verulamium, Maiden Castle, Harappa, Arikamedu, St. Albans, Colchester, Stanwick, Taxila, Charsada, Mohenjo-Daro, and Brahmagiri and was the director-general of the Archaeological Survey of India. His most important contribution was in popularizing archaeology, through his writings and especially through television programs.
White, Leslie Alvin (1900-1975): CATEGORY: person
DEFINITION: American anthropologist best known for his theories of the evolution of culture and for the scientific study of culture that he called culturology" (the study of culture as an independent entity). His views were important to the development of processual archaeology -- seeing culture as a system and the evolutionary development of societies for the capture of greater amounts of energy which was facilitated by technological development."

Another Dictionary Search