1.1: Principles of Prehistoric Archaeology

Culture(begin with appearance of first species of genus homo around 2.4 mya-tool making man) (behaviour & belief acc. to Tylor) is a intangible reality which can’t be photographed ro hold hence the culture of past is identified & studed through the products of culture or antiquity (witness of behaviours)

Analystical types naming based on structure but can’t attribute function to it. ; tech + morphology → typology (function can’t be base of analysis)

Analysis behaviour with taking of behaviour → by Interpretation (objective analysis)

Terminology in Archeology

Prehistory – term to describe the period before written history so data provided by various natural & soical sciences like paleontology, biology, archaeology, geology, comparative linguistic, anthropology, molecular genetics & many other

End marked by appearance of written records

Egypt – 3200 BC
New Guinea – 1900 AD
India – 2500 BC but started Protohistory as records have not been deciphered till today

Evolution of Designation of Cultural Past

Paul Tournal – Coinded Pre-historique in 1830s (to describe findings of cave in Southern France)
Daniel Wilson – introduced in English in 1851
P.F. Suhm (1776) – Divided cultural stages into : Three Age System(named on respective predominant tool-making tech.)
1. Stone Age
2. Bronze Age
3. Iron Age
  - system is most apt in describing progression of European & Mediterranean Societies, tough used for others too
  - criticized for being technologically deterministic
Christian Jurgensen Thomsen(1836) used same in National Museum of Denmark
Lubbock(1865)– french scholar Divided stone age , based on stone tools ; in work Pre Historic Times in 1865
1. Paleolithic
2. Neolithic
Holder Westropp in 1866 introduced the intermediate period Mesolithic
Lartet (1870s) – advocated neolithic form recent human past compared to Palaeolithic ; Divided future into Upper, middle & lower
- it based on change in fauna in Palaeolithic industries; most widely used
Gabriel de Mortillet (1930) – criticised attempts to compartmentalisation of stages, advocated Chronological scheme of Cultural Sequence
Garod & Leakey (1952) – adovated use of Chronological ages , couldn’t be b/c neolithic & chalcolithic can’t be given any common & acceptable chronological definition worldwide
Thompson & Braidwood (1962) : advocated Economic Ages based on subsistence; however rejected – included present population in prehistorically
1. Food Gathering Period – Early Part of Palaeolithic
2. Food Collecting Period – later part P. of organised hunting & selective collection
3. Food Producing – Beginning of Agriculture

Irregularities outside Europe & Mediterranean to measure advancement by Three Age System

In some cultures, archaeological evidence made it necessary to intro copper age b/w neolithic & bronze age
Some Amazonian tribes in S.A remain in Neolithic till today
In SubSharan tribes tech innovation directly from stone to iron
Classic Period Maya Society had mathematic & astronomy in 1500 BC ; but were still technically a stone age Culture
Pre-Inca Cultures – metalworking in 1500 BC
Japanese pottery as early 10,000 BC, but didn’t begin bronze work or rice farming until 1000 to 500 BC

Chronology in Prehistory

order in which series of events happened, earth 4.5 bya & life appeared 3.5 bya & evolved through various forms

geologists & paleontologists → geological chronology of major events & along with change in life form → various eras & epochs

Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene
Miocene & Pliocene – imp to physical anthropologists – due to the existence of archaic apes & human ancestor
Pleistocene epoch – most imp from the viewpoint of man’s biological & cultural evolution. so its geo-climaticbackground imp.
- characterised by major climatic fluctuations;
  - Glaciation & inter glaciation in Europe & American;
  - Pluvial & Interpluvial in tropical region like South & East Africa
  - In India. Upper Palaeolithic period is Not as distinct as found in Europe ; but in recent excavation sites it emerged
- survival under such conditions imposed both biological & cultural selection on evolving hominid
  - cultural response – stone tool tech. & data by pa → ancestors in m & u became effective hunter of woolly mammoths & woolly rhinos (tundra)
- water loocked in ice sheets → exposed continental shelf → Land bridges (now under oceans) i.e Britin -Europe , Alaska-Siberia walk
  - Underwater excavations – may provide crucial evidence during P of human bio-cultural evolution.

Cultural chronology (about cultural evolution – animal ancestry to toolmaker onwards) – Prehistorian in collab with geologists, paleontologists, phyysicists, climatologist & other

Paleolithic, Mesolithic & Neolithic ref.
should be studied to understand the geo climatic background win which culture evolved.

Chrono-Cultural Ages

We use the same terminology as suggested by Lartet, but having stricter definitional controls on them

* Time period mentioned with reference to India

Palaeolithic :

Geological Time Period earliest of human culture began during late Pliocene Epoch

Climate – lasted through glacial advances & retreated of Pleistocene.

Economy – Subsistence type – Hunting & Gathering

Tool-Tech. – stone tools prepared with low expenditure of energy in mfg.

Tool Material – Quatrit (India)

Dwelling – Mobile lifestyle – caves, huts, tooth or skin hovels, mostly by rivers & lakes

Society – A band of edible plant gathers & hunters (25-100 )

Religion – belief in after life first appeared in upper paleolithic – burial rituals & ancestor worship

Subdivision – as cover such a long time span based on cultural features; no correlation with geological phases of Pliocene

Lower Paleolithic (500K-50k ) – Everything in cultural evolution that preceded Middle Paleolithic ; c
- core tools of medium to massive shape
- Tool Types – hand axe & cleaver
Middle Paleolithic (50k-40k)- state of human culture in Western Europe during Neanderthal times
- Flake tools with a preponderance of side scrapers
- Tool Types – Scrapers made of flakes, borers and blade-like tools.
Upper Paleolithic – Additionally definined has been defined as the time in which blade tools along with bone tools & art extension
- Homo sapiens came in
- long, thin stone tools with parallel sides & burins tools
- used to cut & shape wood & bone
- Tool Material: also started using Chert, Jasper along with Quartizite in case of India
- Tool-Tech: Flint Industry in case if India.
- Climate – relatively warmers & less humid; coincide with the last phase of ice age

Mesolithic (10k-6k)

The transition between Paleolithic culture & the first cultures having agriculture.

Geological Time Period – Earlies Holocene culture which shows no indication of change in economy from palaeolithic

Very short, in Europe it began about 8,000 to 10,000, while in India or Near East earlier (10k-6k)

Climate –

Economy – Subsistence type – Hunting & Gathering; In India in later phase started domesticating animals

Adamgargh (MP) & Bagor (Rajasthan) – earliest evidence of domestication of animals.

Dwelling – Mobile lifestyle – caves, huts, tooth or skin hovels, mostly by rivers & lakes

Society – Tribes & Bands

Tool-Tech. – Microlithization & Hafting of tools on organic handles. Composite Tools Mfg lead to specialisation in microlithic types

Tool Material – Agate(India)

Tool Types – microlithic

Neolithic (6k-4k)

last stage, which precedes the discovery of Metals – invention of agri to metalworking

Geological Time Period

Climate –

Economy – Neolithic Revolution : Food production through regular agriculture, Animal domestication,

Meharghar – Wheat & Cotton ; Mirzapur & Allahabad -Cultivation of rice.
Burzahom – Domestic dogs buried with their masters. (First Evidence of Burial)

Social Life – Sedantism Settled in smaller villages in circular or rectangular houses of Mud and reed &

Social Control mechanism to control conflict

Tool-Tech. – Polished Tools and Numerous weapons as tools of Bones (

only place which has yielded considerable bone implements in India is Chirand, Bihar

Tool Material – Dyke, Basalt,Dolomite

Pottery : First tym ; Burzahom – coarse grey pottery, hand made but in later period footwheel was used

included black-burnished ware, greyware & matpressed ware

Tool Types –

Bimbetka in MP, Belan Valley in UP and Narmada Valley have prehistoric art belonging to all the 3 phases.

Chalcolithic

Cultural period marked by emergence of metals like copper, gold & tech. like alloying & Metallurgical Knowledge & Stone tools continued to be used hence the name
Debate on identification: the mere presence of metal or knowledge of metallurgy

former is more accepted as metallurgical knowledge evidence can only be found in site of ore production & no archaeological record can demonstrate the existence of such knowledge

Dwelling – Farmsteads

How Climate impact?

Always played important part in determining – home & hunt
4 phases of glaciation in north(Europe & America) & pluviations(heavy rain fall) in the south punchuated by 3 phases of dry seasons

Why initiation of tool making so important ?

it was the first sign shaping the environment by learned patterns of behaviour, rather than just adapting to it biologically by primitive hominids or first sign of culture development→ through them we can know about their material culture

Paintings were the first time to know about their non-material culture – started around 20k or 30k back

Why tools? – Mostly involved in food getting & later on protection.

Tool Technology & Evolution

Tools were made by keeping one stone fixed and striking it with another stone. –

If the tools were made out of the larger leftover ‘core’, they were called core tools.
If made using the smaller piece of stone ‘flaked’ out, they were called flake tools.
Levno tech → fluting tech ->flute tech

Excavation Process : Site Finding

? From Kirna’s NTA

Archeological Remains

Are the material things people leave behind them & are retrieved by archeologist from the earth. May be collected from the surface of the sire or dug up.

“ Albert C. Spaulding– archeology can be defined in its essence, as the study of the interrelation of form, location in space, & location in time exhibited by artefacts.”

Generally, people live three kind of remains

Remains of Environment – cultural ecology ; plant life in site , art
Remains of their behaviour – artefacts → techniques of manufacture ; way of spending time, their rituals & possibly their religious practices.
Their own Skeletal Remains – skeletal remains
- Ralph Solecki, while excavating shanidar Cave in Iraq, – skeleton of Neanderthal
- Diseases leave their traces in people’s bones → so study also revealed group’s state of health

Analysing the Archaeological Remains – 3 fundamental task

Handling the Remains
- Preservation
- Repair
- Cleaning
- Inspection
- Description
Categorising the Remains – It is analytical, not merely descriptive
Dating Remains – Reconstruction of cultural Chronologies.

Dating Methods In Anthropology

The dating techniques deal with measurement of age of tangible (ancient) objects. The temporal studies are necessary to assess evolutionary change, cultural development & technological innovations.

The dating methods can be divided into 2 types

Relative Dating
Absolute Dating

Relative Dating

it refers to dating methods that determine whether one particular fossil, artefacts, fossil locality or site dates before or after another. I.e Comparative study is done before the archeological find is placed in a date sequence.

Even, Acc to wheeler (1956) – The relative chronology is the arrangement of the products of non-historic societies into a time relationship, which may not have any dates, but which has a sequence..”

These are very useful techniques despite the fact that dating is not done in absolute term but in relation to some other material.

Various methods of Relative Dating Include

Method	Introduction – discovery	Basis/Principle +Method	Limitations	Comments
Stratigraphy	Basic RDT; pioneered by Niels Stensen in the 17th C. The aim of stratigraphy is to reconstruct the history of deposition of site’s remain.	• Based on Law of superposition of Strata proposed by Stensen.• It states that , in any succession of rock layers, the lowest most have been there the longest & the upper layers have been in place for progressively shorter periods.”• Thus in an Ar site the evidences are usually deposited in chronological order – lower stratum – oldest ; upper most contain – most recent	• Most Robustrelative dating methods & among RDT most reliabletechnique • The paleo anthropologist / archeologist must ensure that there has been no disturbance of layers	• Geological stratigraphy & archeological stratigraphy are created by different process & must be interpreted separately. • the succession gets reversed if the depositional agency has the power of constantly getting lower in level thr time (e.g river banks – i.e river terraces or terrace stratigraphy don’t follow this principle b/c of the erosional activity of fluctuating water level.
Seriation ( Sequence Dating) aka Artifact Sequencing	• Prehistoric not strongly attached to sites → long cultural stratigraphic seq -rarity. Short seq rule. Which must be related by different methods Seriation. • It’s is RDT , used to date archeological objects / involves reconstructing the pattern of cultural dev. • invented by Egyptologist Sir William Flinders Petrie in 1899.	• Based on assumption that any particular artifact, attribute or style will appear gradually, increase in popularity until it reaches a peak, & then progressively decreases. ↠ • archeologist are able to place categories of artefacts in a relative chronological order / series based on +ne/-ne or frequencies of shared attributes.	• there’s no way to know which end of a serrated sequence of artifacts is the oldest unless it is determined by stratigraphic or chronometric methods. • I.e by itself is incomplete as reveals pattern of cultural change – but not direction of cultural change • Even, culture doesn’t alway change from simple to complex ; may be reverse or cycle too	• is used by James Deetz in studying & dating gravestones in New England. → indicate gradual emergence & replacement of several motives on grave stones which indicates the changes in local beliefs & trade pattern. • Gradually being replaced in archeological research by a quantitative method c/l correspondence analysis, which achieves the same end
Palaeontology/ Dating by using Animal Remain		• On, changed climate will bring about the occurrence of different animals & plant species.• with change in climate, some species become extinct• ex – high frequency of domesticated over wild ↠ +nce of animal husbandry • if found with particular animals , wooly mammoth 🦣 →	• this method provides approximate age of objects, if not accurate, b/c the compete species may not disappear at the same time. Some might live in isolated areas. • some live in wide range of climates • inference about climate tolerance of s, not changed over millennia – not safe.	E.g Evidence of Elephas antiquus (a forest elephant) indicates temperate climate & that of E. Primigenius (a steppe elephant) indicates a steppe / tundra env. • small species like rodents & birds, some molluscs & snails are very sensitive to climate change. Their +nce/-nce indicate climate change
Polynology or Pollen Analysis	• Palynology is the study of Pollen grains, – can be used ot reconstruct prehistoric climate & date of deposits. • Lenhar Von Post (of Sweden), developed this method in 1916. • a site or localitycan therefor be dated by determining what kind of pollen was found associated with it.	• have excellent preservative ability & are different for diff species ; • Thus level-wise microscopic studyof the ancient pollen samples obtained from a vertical section of prehistoric site helps to trace the past vegetation history. If combined with C-14 dating gives accurate date of time also	• majority – held that dry env don’t for preservation of pollen. • even when pollen a sample are found from the banks & streams as they are inorganic, can’t be dated unlike bogs (which are organic) • pollen f. May be distributed by remains of domesticated plant or by pollen brought by animals on their fur.	Types of soils in which pollen can be preserved• Peat bog deposits are ideal (e.g N Europe) • dry sites, sands & clay • acidic soils with ph less than 5.5 (G.w Dimbley’s study• inspite of these limitations, pollen analysis is useful as relative & absolute dating.
Collagen Analysis of Bones	Collage is substance that contains facts & proteins present in the bones. The older the bone is, the lesser the collagen content, & vice versa → help in identifying relative age	• Buried bones undergo fossilisation & start losing collagen at particular rate. • disintegration of collagen ∝ to Rate of fossilisation	Same as below Its application gave a date off 500 ± 100 yrs for the mandible, whereas for the skull a date of 620 ± 100 yrs was obtained. Led to the exposure of hoax	• Sinex & Faris in 1959 revised the laboratory methods to extract collagen from ancient bone• radio Carbon dating also possible on collage. KP Oakley applied it on Piltdown bones. ←
Florine analysis / Dating FUN TRIO – Flourine, Uranium & Nitrogen	This measure the relative age of bones from a given site based on measuring the fluorine content in fossil specimen ( in case of FUN TRIO – all three) Unlike other – N content ↓ with prolonged burial , due to disappearance of collagen in the bones (living bone contain 4% nitrogen)	• F & U are found natural in water in may regions & get gradually accumulate in bones & teeth by hydroxy apatite → fluorine apatite Oldest bone contain largest content ; also U remove Calcium from it • the amt of F content can be determined by chemical analysis or thr X-ray crystallographic method	• tech is included by local env factor. • applicable only to bones found in the same location • as rate of fluorine formation is not content but various from region to region • variables like temp & chemicals present in surrounding soil affect the rate at which N dissipates.	• comparing – bone of close proximity → reveal contemporary or not • useful in dating bone that can’t be ascribed with certainty to any particular stratum & can’t be dated according to stratigraphic method. • it played key role in exposing piltdown hoax / forgery in early 1950s
Patination	The amount of patina on the stone is an index of its age. A.J.H Goodwin studied different factors leading to patination (1960)	It indicates the chemical alternation of rock surface exposed to atmospheric conditions.		Different types of tools from river gravels, terraces of rivers or lack can be differentiated based on the relative amt of patina.
Rate of Accumulation of Cultural or Natural deposits.	It was one of the earliest methods of dating. Wheeler used it in Harappa	it involves rough estimation of time on the basis of thickness of the habitation deposits.	• rate of growth of any site is not constant & found to be subjected to factors such as ↑ /↓ in population, the use of serveral debris dumps , the lateral expansion of site etc	• wheeler applied this method in dating Harappan citadel excavations & stated that – thr this method is not absolutely useless, it is only of academic interest.
Cross dating	implies the tracing of relationships b/w different area with the help of culture sequences etc.	Shared similarities of Material remain found in an undated context with remains from a context of known age	Weak when used by itself ; best applied in conjunction with other dating methods	widely applied in archeological research, the logic of cross – dating is similar to that of Biostratigraphy

Absolute Dating Methods (Aka Chronometric Methods)

These dating methods give the absolute measures of age, often scaled in calendar years. Absolute dates refer to specific point in time & are noted on specific calendrical system. Eg it is a means to establish a connection b/w it & a universal time scale, that is , a regular sequence of events happens uniformly all over the world. Ex – origin of species was published in 1859

Features of Absolute Dating Methods

Dates are expressed in units of year such as year before present or A.D & B.C
Gives dates in absolute terms with range of plus or minus margin
It is based on solar years

Types

Radiometric Dating Methods
- C-14 dating
- K-Ar Dating
- Ar 40/ Ar 39
Dendrochronology or Tree – Ring Dating
Amino Acid Racemization

General Method of Radiometric Dating Methods

unstable radio active isotopes are used in absolute dating. The decay of these isotopes takes place at a set rate, regardless of env. Condition (e.g temp fluctuations, amt of ground water) Hence, gives accurate results.
The amount of decay is measured by mass spectrometer.
Based on decay the age of object can be calculated.

Types of Absolute Dating Methods

Method	Introduction – discovery	Basis/Principle +Method	Limitations	Comments
C-14 / Radiocarbon Dating	• By J.R Arnold & W.F Libby (60’s Nobel) • best known & most widely used ADT • Measures the C14/C12 ratio in samples of organic materials . P – method is based on decay of radio carbon that eventually decays into N. Conc of C-14 in a living org is comparable to that of surrounding atm & absorbed by the org as CO2. When org dies, the intake of CO2 cases & decay begins.	• solar radiation bombards in upper atm + N → C14 • C14/ C12 + 02 → CO2 ; Inhalation ; after death stopes • C-14 convert into C12 at constant rate ; Half life – 5568 yrs ; • so ratio of C14/C12 it contains demises• Since we know the rate of decline, we can measure this ratio in specimen , compare to ratio living org & compute the time it had died. • Age counted by counting the beta rays emitted by the remaining C14.	• can’t be used to date materials of millions of years ago. But for dealing with materials of more recent age C-14 dating is great importance • variation of ± 180 yrs in dating • as depends upon the rate at which C-14 produced in atm, which in turn fluctuates due to changes in earth’s magnetic field & alternation in solar activity.	• It is most widely used chronometric dating method• can be used to date organic matter, including the fragments of ancient wooden tools , charcoal from ancient fires & skeletal martial • Age of organic substance up to 5000 yrs old can be calculated adequately • Most effective dating method for sites dating b/w 50k to 2k year before present.
Potassium – Argon (K/Ar)	It is used only on sediments that have been superheated (usually volcanic deposits) P- Regular radioactive decay of potassium isotope	• Certain volcanic rock contain radioactive K (K40) as material cools K40 disintegrate into Ar 40 (half life 1.3 billion yrs)• by measuring the amt of K40 & Ar40 the age of fossil can be calculated	• can’t be used to find age of recent sites (i.e younger than .4 millionNo confirmation about assumption – sample at time of formation dint contain any Ar ; no added or lost after ; measuring technique are accurate	• can be used to date much older remains – millions of year old as half life is (1.3 billion year• Dating of Robust Australopithecusskull found by Mary & Louis Leakey at Olduvai George
Ar 40/ Ar 39 Dating	Works similar to above tech
Amino Acid Racemization	M – each AA is associated with a characteristic speed of racemisation at given temp. The ratios of D to L aspartic acid can be compared to ratio carbon dates of the same fossil, thus permitting various ratios to be calibrated with respect to known dates	AA acid found in to mirror form(L&D) ; L-AA is found in living forms ; when org dies L -AA turns slowly into the D – c/l Racemizaiton	• can’t be used in case of inorganic materials & for long periods like beyond 1mya. • result of this method is affected by local differences in temp & amt of water in ground.	• can be used to date material older than that which can be dated by C-14 method • much less of fossil material is needed for a determination of date than radio carbon determination
Dendrochronology or Tree Ring Dating	first time used by Reverend Manasseh Culterin late 18th C. Modern was pioneered by A.E Douglass in 20th c	• based on annular growth rings found in some species of tress. As each righ corresponds to an year, the age of tree can be determined by counting no of rings	• need to be cautious b/c it outer layer of tree is mission age can’t be determined as → can’t know how many are missing. • Direct archaeological applications limited to temperate regions	• although very imp for archeological dating in some parts of world (e.g American SW) its greatest general application is to calibrate radiocarbon age estimates, which greatly enhance their accuracy & precision
Electron Spin Resonance (ESR)		measurement (counting of accumulated trapped electrons)	age estimates can be biased by tooth enamel uptake of uranium ; best applied in conjunction with other dating method	widely applied in paleo anthropology to date fossil tooth enamel
Thermoluminescence (TL)	By Farmington Daniel’s, 1950	measures the accumulated radiation dose since the last hearing or sunlight exposure of an object	Yields the estimated age of the last heating event	widely used for dating ceramics, hearths & other artifacts that features that were subjected to extremes of heat
Obsidian Dating	obsidian (dark volcanic glass) absorb moisture at a fixed rate ;	based on how deeply moisture has penetrated into obsidian made tool in the interning period → age of formation of tool	Local env conditions such as temp & humidity affect the rate of absorption	hydration rate must be worked out independently for each area
Paleomagnetism		regular shits in earth’s geomagnetic pole ; evidence preserved in magnetically charged sediments	Requires precise excavation techniques ; both major & minor reversal occur & can easily confuse interpretation	Important corroboratory method in East & South Africa.
Varve Analysis	Oldest method used for dating prehistoric objects from excavation. It was described by Gerard D.E Geer in 1878. It demonstrate seasonal variations & also throws light on the climatic conditions of ancient time. (As during ice low sedimentation flow)	Varves are annual layers of sediments deposited at teh bottom of lakes by the run off from melting glacial ice. It is based on measurement of relative thickness of varves & their comparison to new section as in tree – ring analysis.	• varves only form near ice & so in most parts of the world there are no varves. • melting of ice doesn’t occur at uniform rates & may be deposited as varves Moore or less frequently than annually.	• successfully applied in Baltic area, North America, South America & Africa though the correlations of these sequences are not convincing.

There are no of other methods used for dating archaeological materials particularly depending on the context in which they are found. Ex

Few Archeological Works and Their Writer

Archeology : An Introduction	Kevin Greene
Archeology : A Brief Introduction	Brain M. Fagan
An Archeological Perspective	Lewis R. Binford
What happened in history	V. G. Childe

Different Branches of Archeology

Ethnoarchaeolgoy	is the ethnographic study of peoples

Complete from Page number UAE – 570