The Society for Georgia Archaeology » anthropological theory

Is religion an adaptive behavior?

sammy — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 10:00:45 +0000

Nicholas Wade, in his 2009 book, The Faith Instinct: How Religion Evolved and Why It Endures, argues that behaviors we describe as religious conferred a survival advantage on early humans, and thus were adaptive and favored by natural selection. The benefits he ascribes to religious beliefs and practices include emotions like trust and loyalty, which support cooperation and empathy, improve group cohesion, and improve the survival rate of groups.

What was the New World like in 1491?

sammy — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 10:00:01 +0000

In 2005, Charles C. Mann's 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus appeared on bookstore shelves, and still is selling well in a paperback edition with a new afterword. Mann's book focuses on what the New World was like prior to the arrival of the Columbus expedition in 1492. Mann offers enough information for you to envision what you would have seen if you could have flown over the Western Hemisphere in AD 1000. What he writes about may be a bit (or a lot) different from what you learned in school about his subject.

Origins of agriculture discussed in detail

sammy — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 09:00:33 +0000

The origins of agriculture is one of the major topics of the field of archaeology. The journal Current Anthropology has just published an issue dedicated to this topic, called The Origins of Agriculture: New Data, New Ideas. The issue's twenty-two articles can be accessed for free. An article by Bruce D. Smith considers the origins of agriculture in eastern North America, in particular the seed plants squash (Cucurbita pepo), sunflower, sumpweed (Iva annua), and lambsquarters/pigweed (Chenopodium berlandieri).

Social science > anthropology > archaeology

sammy — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 09:00:48 +0000

Archaeologists think of human society as very complex. Other social scientists prioritize certain aspects of human social life. For example, political scientists look at political behavior, of individuals and the groups they form. We consider an example offered by anthropologist Thomas Barfield in which he observes that Afghani society prioritizes group interests (e.g., honor), whereas modern Americans, as a society, prioritize individual interests (e.g., household wealth).

Collective learning, baseball caps, and Clovis points

sammy — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 09:00:48 +0000

Humans are adept at collective learning. We share information with our peers and information is learned from our elders and passed along to the next generation. This means that we don’t have to expend as much energy learning something that another person already learned. How can this be seen archaeologically? Baseball caps and Clovis points are touched on in the full discussion.

Reconstruct, stabilize, or ???

sammy — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 09:00:36 +0000

Archaeologists and managers of archaeological resources, including those on public lands, must make a choice. Basically, those archaeological remains can be ignored, stabilized, or reconstructed—along with perhaps subtle choices on the continuum between each of these. If you were the owner or manager of an archaeological resource, which would you choose? What would you consider in making your choice?

Considering household wealth: residential architecture

sammy — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 09:00:05 +0000

Archaeology is a comparative science. How can we compare houses cross-culturally? How do houses reflect variable wealth among their owners and residents? How do their size and layout reflect the activities they are designed to accommodate? How does our concept of the house affect how we think about the residential living areas of ancient peoples? These issues are touched on in the full article….

Natural disasters and history

sammy — Fri, 27 May 2011 11:00:41 +0000

When we consider the long tale of our human past, how important are major disasters? Consider the recent earthquake/tsunami in Japan. Consider the impact of the 2005 hurricane season on the Gulf of Mexico, especially Hurricane’s Katrina and Rita. Also, consider a hinterland place like Georgia’s own Sapelo Island, and the hurricane of 1898. What choices do people face after a disaster? What are their options if they emigrate? What must they do to stay?

Consequences of travel to human history

sammy — Fri, 20 May 2011 09:00:32 +0000

Do you think that, as a species, people are mobile, and move around? What are the consequences to history of being more mobile or more sedentary? Consider the economic and religious motivations to being mobile—or not—and the implications for our human past—and future.

Archaeological remains of weddings?

sammy — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 09:00:26 +0000

What archaeological remains do weddings leave? Obviously, even what constitutes a wedding varies greatly cross-culturally. What will be the archaeological remains of the huge, well-attended wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton? What are the archaeological remains of weddings in your community or that you’ve attended? What about weddings in other cultures?

LR Binford on cultural evolution

sammy — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 09:00:27 +0000

In April 2011, archaeologist Lewis R. Binford (b. 1931) died. His 2001 book Constructing Frames of Reference presents cross-cultural data on hunting-and-gathering peoples who lived similar to Paleoindian peoples of Georgia. One issue commonly discussed in archaeology and addressed by Dr. Binford in his book is the transition away from hunting and gathering to more sedentary ways of life.

Order Frontiers in the Soil now!

sammy — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 20:57:37 +0000

Frontiers in the Soil is a classic in archaeological literature that should be useful to everyone. Using easy-to-read text by Roy S. Dickens, Jr., and creative color cartoon illustrations by James L. McKinley, Frontiers interprets Georgia’s past with humor in over 100-pages of delightful reading. Click here to download the order form for Frontiers in the Soil.

Archaeology and chronology

sammy — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 09:00:21 +0000

Archaeologists seek to understand past ways of life. The science of archaeology is about far more than objects (aka artifacts, including arrowheads, pottery, metal scraps, and the like)—and it's definitely not about finding treasure. Read more about the goals of archaeologists in the full story.

Ca. 1800 Georgia illuminated in Creek ethnohistory

sammy — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 09:00:41 +0000

Ethnohistorian Robbie Ethridge, in Creek Country: The Creek Indians and Their World (2003: University of North Carolina Press) describes “a distant, lost world—the world of the Creek Indians at the close of the eighteenth century.” She unites archaeological and historical data to illuminate this largely overlooked period. Read Dr. Ethridge’s book and you will understand Georgia’s early history anew.

“Big things” in archaeology: cliodynamics and chiefdoms

sammy — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 10:00:35 +0000

Archaeologists consider little things and big things. A little thing would be studying the soot on the outside of a pottery fragment to discover what species of firewood was used—and little things do have big implications. Cliodynamics is a new field that generates mathematical models of long-term social processes. The full story briefly examines cliodynamical modeling of late prehistoric Native American political units before the arrival of Europeans.

CW Ceram on archaeology

sammy — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 10:00:27 +0000

CW Ceram's Gods, Graves, and Scholars: The Story of Archaeology is a famous but dated book on archaeology, that for years was one of the few serious books on the subject that many people had read. Ceram thought that the practice of archaeology was both romantic and scholarly. In fact he wrote, "Yet in truth no science is more adventurous than archaeology…". Contemplate this and more that Ceram wrote….

Cemeteries are constructed for the deceased but hold insights into the beliefs of the living

Kelly — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 09:00:00 +0000

The Flat Rock Cemetery in Lithonia displays the widespread rural African-American custom of burying the dead with simple fieldstones placed at the head and foot of the interment. Belief did not place significant importance on elaborate decoration of gravestones, as seen in formal cemeteries generally associated with white populations; but, instead placed emphasis on being buried in the cemetery as a community member and simple grave markers were used as a symbol of mutual aid reflected within the community.

How do we decode the past?

sammy — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:00:46 +0000

The long version of this story introduces a multipage online presentation by the Smithsonian Institution called "Decoding the Past: The Work of Archaeologists" (with lesson plans). This raises issues of how to envision the past so that you can reveal patterns, rhythms, and cycles that it encompasses. French historian Fernand Braudel's tri-partite division of the rhythms of the past are introduced.

Linguistics is archaeology’s cousin

sammy — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 09:00:47 +0000

Archaeology is a sub-field of anthropology. So is linguistics. Just what is linguistics and how does it relate to anthropology? Why is language so important to anthropologists? And just how is language important to our human species? Do you agree with Roy Rappaport that: "Flexibility is central to adaptive processes, and the enormous flexibility of the human species rests, of course, largely upon a property universal to and unique to humanity, namely language"?

Examining the built environment

sammy — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 09:00:13 +0000

In ancient times, humans lived their lives in the outdoors, although perhaps they spent some time in a cave or rockshelter. Now, the majority of people live in towns and cities. This process of urbanization has myriad implications for archaeologists. This Weekly Ponder considers the concept of the built environment.

Read the latest from scientists on the topic of human evolution

sammy — Fri, 21 May 2010 22:03:44 +0000

Read summaries of the latest scientific studies and analysis of human evolution. Over a dozen papers are now available for free online from the December 2009 Arthur M. Sackler Colloquium titled In the Light of Evolution IV: The human condition. Topics range from genetics to language capacity to morality—and more. The papers are published in a supplementary issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, dated 11 May 2010.

Models in archaeology

sammy — Fri, 21 May 2010 09:00:01 +0000

Archaeologists use models in their work. These models are simplifications of reality—not well-dressed, beautiful people! Scientific models simplify reality, yet accomodate known data. Maps are models. Social scientists model human relationships and other behavioral situations. One well-known model is of cultural evolution sometimes called the band-tribe-chiefdom-state model. This model has four stages, and each stage is itself a model! Read the full story to explore this fascinating topic.

What’s in a name?

sammy — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 09:00:48 +0000

Humans habitually categorize things they think about. This includes time, which we divide into segments such as pre- and post-war, the Mississippian period, etc. Several geologists argue that we should refer to the Epoch we're living in now as the Anthropocene, to highlight the changes the world is undergoing that are introduced and exacerbated by human behavior.

Online symposium: “the hardest unsolved problems in social science”

sammy — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 13:00:59 +0000

On Saturday, April 10th 2010, Harvard University will host a symposium with three panels of experts discussing "what they believe to be the hardest unsolved problems in the social sciences." Archaeologists rely on the social sciences, especially anthropology, for the theory that underpins their understanding of ancient societies. The symposium will be webcast live from 10AM to 5PM, and the webcast will be streaming after the symposium concludes so you can participate in post-symposium discussions online.

2010 SAA Electronic Symposium papers available

sammy — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 12:25:45 +0000

Lately, the Society for American Archaeology has included an Electronic Symposium as part of its annual meeting. This year's Electronic Symposium is "The Canvas of Space: Method and Theory of Spatial Investigations in the 21st Century." Eleven papers are posted online, which means that anyone who can get online can download and read them.

Terminology: What do archaeologists mean by “symbol”?

sammy — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 09:00:43 +0000

The Museum of Modern Art in New York City has acquired a ubiquitous modern symbol: the @ symbol. Consider what makes a symbol a symbol and what symbols you are familiar with in the modern world, and what symbols you have seen in books or museum displays. Go to the full story for a lengthier discussion….

Archaeogenetics summarized in Current Biology

sammy — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:00:57 +0000

Global Genetic History of Homo sapiens is the title of a new special issue of Current Biology, with eight papers available free online. This topic is also called archaeogenetics. There's an introductory and a summary article, which bracket six articles that focus on human migration in specific geographic areas, including the New World.

Are historical records true?

sammy — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:00:18 +0000

Historical archaeologists can use data from archival records, which are unavailable to archaeologists working with prehistoric data. How does that make a difference? This issue is examined using notes made by French historian Alexis de Tocqueville in 1831 in a letter to his mother, which has only recently been published in English translation.

How important was cooking in human evolution?

sammy — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 10:00:52 +0000

Published in spring 2009, Richard Wrangham's book Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human (Basic Books) argues that the ability to use fire for cooking foodstuffs allowed the changes that have made humans a distinct species. What do you think of this argument? Read more about the book and Wrangham's hypothesis in the full story.

What is “Old Europe”?

sammy — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:00:42 +0000

Archaeologists, like specialists of all persuasions, employ jargon, or a specialized vocabulary. Sometimes the jargon clarifies matters, and sometimes it conveys a particular bias. Those not familiar with the jargon may not recognize the implied meaning inherent in certain terms. This story examines the phrase "Old Europe," recently used to title an exhibit at New York University. [Photo by Marius Amarie and published by the New York Times here. Figure is referred to as 'Thinker' and came from Hamangia, Cernavodă, and dates to 5000-4600 B.C. Its curation number is 15906 at the National History Museum of Romania in Bucharest.]