ANTH 3023: Lecture Notes: History of Archaeology

Professor Kenneth L. Kvamme

Lecture Dates: F, Jan 16 - F, Jan 23

Contents:

1. History of Archaeology 1
2. Discovery of Tutankhamon’s Tomb, Egypt
   
3. History of Archaeology 2
4. Speculative Phase 1
5. Speculative Phase 2
6. Speculative Phase 3
7. First Excavations 1
8. First Excavations 2
9. Revolutionary Geological Ideas
10. Revolutionary Discoveries 1
11. Revolutionary Discoveries 2
12. Concept of Evolution
13. Antiquity of Humanity
14. The 3 Age System
15. 3 Conceptual Advances
16. Cultural Evolution
17. Unilinear Evolution
18. Great Discoveries 1
19. Great Discoveries 2
20. Great Discoveries 3: New World
21. Advances in Methods 1
22. Advances in Methods 2: Concepts
23. Descriptive Archaeology
24. Theoretical Developments 1
25. Theoretical Developments 2
26. The “New” Archaeology
27. Postprocessual Archaeology

1. History of Archaeology 1

• Common view: history of great discoveries
  • King Tutankhamun (Egypt)
  • Lost Maya Cities (Mexico)
  • Painted Caves of Old Stone Age (France)
  • Ancient ancestors of humanity (Africa)

2. Discovery of Tutankhamon’s Tomb, Egypt

Lord Carnarvon: “Can you see anything”

Howard Carter (after a long pause): “Yes, wonderful things”

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3. History of Archaeology 2

• A more important perspective :
  • How we came to look with fresh eyes at material evidence of the human past and our antiquity?
• Only 150 years ago Western world believed :
  • 1 - the Earth was created relatively recently
    • Specifically, the night of October 23, 4004 B.C.--
      a decision by Archbishop James Ussher (17th century) based on biblical genealogies
    • Only 6000 years of human history!
  • 2 – Knowledge of distant past could only be gleaned from ancient writings: Greece, Rome, Egypt, Near East
  • 3 – No possibility of history before development of writing

4. Speculative Phase 1

• Ancient:
  • Ancient Greek poet Hesiod (800 BC) – 5 ages of past
  • Pharoah Thutmose IV (15th cent. BC) – excavated sphinx
  • Aztecs in Mexico (16th cent. AD) – venerated Teotihuacan, ancient site that preceded their civilization
  • King Nabonidus (Babylon, 555 BC) excavated temple -- already 2200 years old!

5. Speculative Phase 2

• Renaissance (revival of learning in Europe):
  • Interest in antiquities & Classical art
  • Wealthy begin to collect, recover sculptures
• Term: ANTIQUARIAN, applies to these people
  • Not generally for profit, but for preservation
  • Did great damage to sites, but knowledge was gained

6. Speculative Phase 3

• William Camden (1587) produced Britannia, first directory of British antiquities
• William Dugdate (17th cent.) collected stone hand-axes, claiming:
  • “Weapons used by the Britons before the art of making arms of brass or iron was known” --A revolutionary idea!
• Conyers (1690, London) found stone hand axes with extinct elephant bones
• Antiquarians raise questions about biblical chronology

7. First Excavations 1

• Antiquarians loot Pompeii, Italy, ancient Roman city buried by volcanic ash in A.D. 79
  • Fantastic finds, even bodies of Romans!

8. First Excavations 2

• Thomas Jefferson: first scientific excavations, 1784
  • Interested in who built the many mysterious mounds in the eastern U.S.?
  • Based on real evidence
  • First recoding of stratigraphic layers & context

9. Revolutionary Geological Ideas

• William “Strata” Smith (late 1700s) shows continuity and change in fossils seen in stratigraphy
• James Hutton Theory of the Earth (book, 1784): Earth formed entirely by natural processes that continue today
• Charles Lyell Principles of Geology (book, 1833) ancient geological conditions were uniform with today’s
• Principle of Uniformitarianism
• Collectively, thes views create an uproar:
  • against dogma of the church
  • Previously: floods, catastrophes, extinction of species caused by DIVINE INTERVENTION
  • Challenged Bishop Ussher’s 6000 year old chronology
• Antiquarians begin to ask whether people had been around a long time!

10. Revolutionary Discoveries 1

• Jacques de Perthes (1830s, France) discovered & publicized assemblage of stone axes that occurred with bones of extinct animals
  • Suggested human existence long before time of biblical flood
  • Initially ridiculed: Believers called ANTEDILUVIANS(before the great flood of the Bible)

11. Revolutionary Discoveries 2

• In 1856 fossil human bones were found in Neander Valley of Germany
• Was this primitive looking Neanderthal an early form of human or a pathological idiot?

12. Concept of Evolution

• In this climate ideas of Charles Darwin & biological evolution broke out
  • 1831-36 on HMS Beagle witnessed incredible biological diversity around world
  • Aware of uniformitarianism principle & time depth they implied
  • Developed theory of natural selection
    • Environmentally better adapted individuals of a species have a greater probability of survival than less well adapted members. They will pass on these traits to their offspring, gradually causing a species to change and the emergence of new species.
  • Not published until 1859: On the Origin of Species (book)
  • Accounted for changes seen in fossils

13. Antiquity of Humanity

• Also in 1859:
• Antiquarian John Evans & geologist Joseph Prestwich visit Jacques de Perthe in France:
  • they pull indisputable human artifacts from ground in context with extinct faunas!
  • “it appears established beyond doubt that in a period of antiquity remote beyond any which we have hitherto found traces, this portion of the globe was peopled by man”
• These ideas were only possible with concepts of uniformitarianism, time-depth & evolutionary change(from Hutton, Lyell, Darwin & others)
• Very different from ridicule of 1830s

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14. The 3 Age System

• Mid 1800s:
  • Scholars work to classify & order antiquarian’s finds
• Christian Thomsen (National Museum of Copenhagen, 1836) organizes confusing collections into 3 groups:
  • Stone
  • Bronze
  • Iron
• Published in English, 1848, Guide to Northern Antiquities (book)
• J. Worsaae (Denmark) proves stratigraphic validity of system

15. Three Conceptual Advances

1. Antiquity of human kind
2. Darwin’s principles of evolution
3. The 3 Age System

• Provide framework for study of past

16. Cultural Evolution

• Theories of biological evolution give rise to ideas of cultural evolution
  • Idea of human progress very importantin 19th century
  • Natural selection seems plausible mechanism for social evolution
  • Europeans view cultures discovered in “Age of Exploration” much as Darwin examined biological diversity through eyes of natural selection

17. Unilinear Evolution

• “All cultures go through similar stages” (an early perspective)
  • Herbert Spencer (Sociologist, 1850s)
    • Humans constantly adapt to become more perfect
    • Success of some cultures due to innate superiority
    • Coined phrase “survival of fittest”
  • Lewis Henry Morgan (American anthropologist, 1870s)
    • All cultures evolve in a parallel fashion through formal stages
      • Savagery (hunting)
      • Barbarism (farming)
      • Civilization (highest form of society)
  • Book: Ancient Society (1877)
  • Edward Tyler (British Anthropologist, contemporary) published similar views in Primitive Culture, 1871 (book)

18. Great Discoveries 1

• At same time as revolutionary theories occuring, new discoveries continue…
• Splendors of Egyptian Civilization brought to attention of European public by Napoleon’s expedition (1798-1800)
  • One of his soldiers discovers theRosetta Stone: key to translation of hieroglyphic writing (deciphered 1822)

19. Great Discoveries 2

• Heinrich Schliemann (German businessman, 1870s)
  • Sets out to discover ancient Troy and Mycenae of the Illiad, and does. Fabulous finds of gold!
• Arthur Evans (late 1800s)
  • Discovers ancient Minoan Civilization on Crete
• Leonard Woolley (early 1900s)
  • Excavates royal city of Ur, place of biblical Abraham’s birth; documents Sumerian Civilization

20. Great Discoveries 3: New World

• John Stephens (American) & Frederick Catherwood (English) travel jungles of Yucatan in 1840s
  • Reveal ancient Maya Civilization
• In USA: The Moundbuilder Controversy: Who built them?
  • Many crazy theories: Lost Tribes, Egyptians, Scythians
  • 1848, Squier & Davis publish popularbook on Eastern Mounds
  • 1856, Samuel Haven, describes them in book: Archaeology of the United States
  • 1880s RESOLUTION OF CONTROVERSY
    • John Wesley Powell, Director of US Geological Survey & Bureau of American Ethnology: directed & funded by US Congress to “Solve the Problem”
    • Hires Cyrus Thomas who investigates 1000s of mounds with careful controlled work
    • ESTABLISHES THAT MOUNDS BUILT BY AMERICAN INDIANS

21. Advances in Methods 1

• Early antiquarians used very poor methods. Literally “ripped” materials from ground
• Sir Mortimer Wheeler (British, late 1800s)
  • Emphasized precision in excavation
  • Pushes the grid square system
• General Pitt-Rivers (British, late 1800s)
  • Emphasized precision, well-ordered excavations
  • Used plans, sections & models
  • Recorded exact coordinates of ALL objects (not just best)
  • Insisted on publication of finds
• Alfred Kidder (American, 1915-30s)
  • First to use specialists for analysis
  • Emphasized reconnaissance survey
  • Sought criteria for ranking sites chronologically
  • Focused on seriation
  • Stratigraphic excavation

22. Advances in Methods 2: Concepts

• Franz Boaz (founder of American Anthropology)
  • Influenced all archaeology, 1920s-1950s
  • Emphasized data collection, description
  • Initiates “Descriptive Period” of archaeology
  • Develops more precise methods for collecting & classifying artifacts
  • Formed vast collections to define range of variation in regions
• V. Gordon Childe (Australian, 1930s-50s)
  • Sets out to describe & organize European prehistory into cultures
  • Classifies cultures by traits: pot types, house form, artifacts
  • Maps cultures in space & time
  • Describes the Neolithic - farming revolution
  • Describes the Urban Revolution
    • Both were great inventions reflected by technological change

23. Descriptive Archaeology

• GOAL: Amassing, describing & organizing collections of artifacts by culture AND mapping these cultures in SPACE and TIME
  • Influenced by Boaz & Childe
  • Lasted from 1930s – 1960s
  • KEY PROBLEM: Assigning hard dates to cultures & periods
  • BREAKTHROUGHS:
    • 1929 Tree ring dates, A.E. Douglas, American Southwest
    • 1949 Radiocarbon dating, W.F. Libby
  • 1950s – 60s: A period of dating relative chronologies
• Direct Historical Approach (American)
  • Archaeologists worked backwards from living Native American tribes
  • Trace artifact & house form backwards to better understand function
    • Best example: Pawnee Earthlodges in Kansas (Waldo Wedel)

24. Theoretical Developments 1

• 1958 Gordon Willey & Philip Phillips (book): Method and Theory in American Archaeology
  • Emphasizes regular stages that cultures of the Americas exhibit RATHER than chronology:
    • Lithic, Archaic, Formative, Classic, Post-classic
• New Ideas About Evolution (Leslie White, Julian Steward, American Anthropologists, 1950s-60s)
  • Multilinear evolution: cultures NOT fixed to go through same stages (unlike Unilinear evolution)
  • Cultures develop in various ways depending on conditions & environment
• Cultural Ecology (Julian Steward, American Anthropologist 1930s-60s)
  • Culture area concept at background
  • Similar cultural adaptations in similar environments
  • Environment a cause of culture change BUT in context of technology, social organization, ideology
• CULTURE AREA CONCEPT: Environmental & physiographic provinces of the Americas correspond approximately with areas of similar cultural type & adaptation

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25. Theoretical Developments 2

• W.W. Taylor (book): A Study of Archaeology (1948), a devastating critique of culture historical pursuits in American archaeology
• Lewis R. Binford (American theorist, 1960s-1990s)Major proponent of change. Called for:
  • Study of Culture Process
  • Firm linkage with Anthropology
  • Employ scientific research designs:Ask specific questions of archaeologicaldata; form hypotheses that can be formally tested
  • Causes a revolution (1960s): The NEW Archaeology

26. The “New” Archaeology

• Also referred to as: “Processual Archaeology” – a goal of contributing to a social science of humanity
• CONTRIBUTIONS:
  • Explanatory vs Descriptive
  • Culture Process vs Culture History
  • Deductive vs Inductive
  • Testing vs Authority
  • Research design vs Data accumulation
  • Quantitative/analytical vs qualitative/verbal
  • Optimism vs Pessimism About Archaeological Record
• NEW FIELDS:
  • Ethnoarchaeology
  • Experimental archaeology
  • Formation processes
  • Statistics/Computers

27. Postprocessual Archaeology

• Also called "Cognitive Archaeology"; a more humanistic approach than science-based focus on materials & function of processual archaeology
• A reaction to BOTH culture history & culture process schools
  • Processual school too focused on environment; ignores social factors & individual; testing of hypotheses is reductionist
• Large postmodern elements: denial of science, political activism, “archaeology of the other”
• Many schools & approaches: neo-Marxist, post-positivist, hermeneutical (interpretive, rejects generalization), phenomenological (focus on individual)
• Major proponent: Ian Hodder (British, 1980s-2000s)
  • Pioneer in postprocessual movement
  • A Contextual Archaeology: “forms &changes in behavior & its material expression in pottery styles, burialpractices, or house form can be understood only in context of a particular set of cultural values, attitudes & other beliefs.”