Draft:Original research/Archaeology

Archaeology "studies human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, ecofacts, human remains, and landscapes."

It is the study of human activity in the past, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes (the archaeological record).

Because archaeology employs a wide range of different procedures, it can be considered to be both a science and a humanity.

Archaeology studies human history from the development of the first stone tools in eastern Africa 3.4 million years ago up until recent decades. (Archaeology does not include the discipline of paleontology.) It is of most importance for learning about prehistoric societies, when there are no written records for historians to study, making up over 99% of total human history, from the Palaeolithic until the advent of literacy in any given society.

Theoretical archaeology
Def. the "period of time that has already happened" is called the past.

Def. the "study of the past through material remains" is called archaeology, or archeology.

Entities
"[D]ominant groups create and control the meanings and uses of material culture. If other groups wish to be understood by the dominant group, they must express themselves through the goods controlled by the dominant group."

"But, the privilege afforded a certain dominant group of 'normal' archaeologists in terms of their ways of constructing the past influences all aspects of archaeological practice."

"However, some answers to these questions may emerge from a consideration of the dominant group, that is, the five institutions whose scholars published the most articles in the two periodicals."

Landscape archaeology
Def. an assemblage of surfaces that are a portion of land, region, or territory, observable in its entirety is called a landscape.

Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of [terrestrial ecoregion] land, including the physical elements of landforms such as (ice-capped) mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of land use, buildings and structures, and transitory elements such as lighting and weather conditions.

Landscape archaeology is the study of the ways in which people in the past constructed and used the environment around them. Landscape archaeology is inherently multidisciplinary in its approach to the study of culture, and is used by both pre-historical, classic, and historic archaeologists. The key feature that distinguishes landscape archaeology from other archaeological approaches to sites is that there is an explicit emphasis on the study of the relationships between material culture, human alteration of land/cultural modifications to landscape, and the natural environment.

Objects
Def. an "object, such as a tool, weapon or ornament, [ceramics or pottery,] structure or finding in an experiment or investigation ... made or shaped by some agent or intelligence, ... [as] a result of external action, the test arrangement, or an experimental error ... rather than an inherent element" is called an artifact, or artefact.

In June 2014, the Precolumbian Chiefdom Settlements with Stone Spheres of the Diquis was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

The spheres range in size from a few centimetres to over 2 m in diameter, and weigh up to 15 tons. Most are sculpted from gabbro.

The culture of the people who made them disappeared after the Spanish conquest.

The first scientific investigation of the spheres was undertaken shortly after their discovery and published in 1943 in American Antiquity, attracting the attention of Samuel Kirkland Lothrop of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University. In 1948, he and his wife attempted to excavate an unrelated archaeological site in the northern region of Costa Rica. In San José he met Doris Stone, who directed the group toward the Diquís Delta region in the southwest ("Valle de Diquís" refers to the valley of the lower Río Grande de Térraba, including the Osa Canton towns of Puerto Cortés, Palmar Norte, and Sierpe.

The Dropa stones or discs may be a series of at least 716 circular stone discs, dating back 12,000 years, on which tiny hieroglyph-like markings may be found. Each disc is claimed to measure up to 1 ft in diameter and carry two grooves, originating from a hole in their center, in the form of a double spiral.

Coppers
In "Serbia [are] the oldest copper implements in the world. Some 7000 years ago, tradesmen of great wealth flourished on the Balkan peninsula."

"The soil around Plonik is rich in copper - the metal in a pure state lays often directly at the surface."

The so-called "copper-violets" "are related to the Alpine violets, which we know in Germany from flower pots. But they grow only in a soil with a very high copper content. There - where the soil is too poisonous for the other plants, they blossom in wide carpets - and in so doing point to the presence of copper."

In "the late stone age people picked up the beautiful stones. For instance, malachite. The green-hued mineral belongs to the class of carbonates. Copper content: 57 percent. Our ancestors made experiments with different stones over the fire. From there, it was only a small step to jewels and to more practical objects."

On "the Black Sea Coast in today's Bulgaria, there flourished a prosperous, big city, quite close to today's Varna. Archaeologists have found the cemetary of this settlement. The graves were loaded with treasures: jewels - mostly gold, but also copper - sea shells from the Aegean and tools made of types of stone which must have come from far away."

"In the 5. Millennium BC people lived there in complex, centralized settlements of up to a thousand inhabitants. They invented a new ceramic oven with two chambers which was remarkably well suited to the extraction of metal. We must strongly surmise that there existed relations between the Balkans and Northern Mesopotamia."

"An enormous fire unleashed itself around 5000 BC in the city [of Plonik]. The earth carbonized. The houses collapsed and buried all the possessions of the inhabitants under their walls. When the flame died down, the city had ceased to exist."

Tools
In "the deep Southeast of Europe, near today's village of Plonik in Serbia, there existed 7000 years ago a major city. Its inhabitants lived in closely assembled huts and they melted copper to make jewels, tools and weapons."

"The age of the oldest pieces which they have found up to now in the settlement is up to 7300 years. That's a good 800 years older as any other copper implements which have been found anywhere on Earth to this day."

Weapons
"The people of the Balkan peninsula had a good knowledge of how they could create jewels, tools and weapons out of earth with a high copper content."

"In Plonik, excavators found hatchets of copper. And weapons: axes and maces. With them a new area began. The stone age was gone, the copper age - chalcolithic - had begun."

Jewelry
"From one grave, the excavator dug 1,516 K of gold jewelry. This is more gold than has been found in all the rest of the world for this particular epoch."

Materials
"In order to interpret archaeological ceramic assemblages in terms of social identities, a method was developed [that] consists in sorting the potsherds according to, successively, technical, techno-petrographic and morpho-stylistic criteria."

Heritage management
"Rare, though, is the country where ethnic groups balance each other in terms of numbers, wealth or political influence and, consequently, it is not uncommon for the dominant group to use its power to push its own heritage to the fore, minimizing or denying the significance of subordinate groups as it crafts a national identity in its own image."

Historical archaeology
Historical archaeology is a form of archaeology dealing with places, things, and issues from the past or present when written records and oral traditions can inform and contextualize cultural material. These records can both complement and conflict with the archaeological evidence found at a particular site. Studies focus on literate, historical-period societies as opposed to non-literate, prehistoric societies. While they may not have generated the records, the lives of people for whom there was little need for written records, such as the working class, slaves, indentured labourers, and children but who live in the historical period can also be the subject of study. The sites are found on land and underwater. Industrial archaeology, unless practiced at industrial sites from the prehistoric era, is a form of historical archaeology concentrating on the remains and products of industry and the Industrial era.

Maya civilization
In the image on the right, dense forest surrounds the city center of this Classic-era Maya site (top) Tikal. Laser mapping of the same view (bottom) reveals structures and causeways hidden by the jungle.

"Lidar (a type of airborne laser scanning) provides a powerful technique for three-dimensional mapping of topographic features."

"Lowland Maya civilization flourished from 1000 BCE to 1500 CE in and around the Yucatan Peninsula."

"In 2016, the Pacunam Lidar Initiative (PLI) undertook the largest lidar survey to date of the Maya region, mapping 2144 km2 of the Maya Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala."

"Analysis identified 61,480 ancient structures in the survey region, resulting in a density of 29 structures/km2. Controlling for a number of complex variables, we estimate an average density of ~80 to 120 persons/km2 at the height of the Late Classic period (650 to 800 CE). Extrapolation of this settlement density to the entire 95,000 km2 of the central lowlands produces a population range of 7 million to 11 million."

"Settlement distribution is not homogeneous, however; we found evidence of (i) rural areas with low overall density, (ii) periurban zones with small urban centers and dispersed populations, and (iii) urban zones where a single, large city integrated a wider population."

"The PLI survey revealed a landscape heavily modified for intensive agriculture, necessary to sustain populations on this scale. Lidar shows field systems in the low-lying wetlands and terraces in the upland areas. The scale of wetland systems and their association with dense populations suggest centralized planning, whereas upland terraces cluster around residences, implying local management. Analysis identified 362 km2 of deliberately modified agricultural terrain and another 952 km2 of unmodified uplands for potential swidden use. Approximately 106 km of causeways within and between sites constitute evidence of inter- and intracommunity connectivity. In contrast, sizable defensive features point to societal disconnection and large-scale conflict."

“The new lidar data show that interconnected Maya cities go back to at least 300 B.C.”

The largest structure in the lidar image on the lower right is the Mayan temple at Tikal. The second image down on the right shows the Mayan temple at Tikal from the front.

Prehistory
The prehistory period dates from around 7 x 106 b2k to about 7,000 b2k.

Def. the "history of human culture prior to written records" is called prehistory.

21st Century
"During an underwater expedition in 2000, divers saw a large stone head emerge from the murky dark waters [over Heracleion]. It was the head of the god Hapi, the personification of the Nile’s annual flood."

Heracleion, also known by its Egyptian name Thonis, and sometimes called Thonis-Heracleion, was an ancient Egyptian city located near the Canopic Mouth of the Nile, about 32 km northeast of Alexandria. Its ruins are located in Abu Qir Bay, currently 2.5 km off the coast, under 10 m of water. A stele found on the site indicates that it was one single city known by both its Egyptian and Greek names.

20th Century
"In 1933 British RAF Group-Captain Cull was flying his plane over Aboukir, a Royal Air Force base east of Alexandria in Egypt, when he glimpsed something in the water below him. From his vantage point, Cull could make out the outlines of structures beneath the water. Unbeknownst to him, Cull had located Heracleion, an important ancient Egyptian city that had lain hidden beneath the water for nearly 1500 years."

Heracleion is located at 31°18'15"N 30°06'02"E.

"According to legend, this lost metropolis had hosted its namesake, Heracles, and lovers Paris and Helen before they fled to Troy. Cleopatra, Egypt’s most famous queen, had even been crowned in one of the temples there."

"Before its discovery, Heracleion (which was also known in the ancient world by its Egyptian name, Thonis) was almost the stuff of mythology. Though it is now buried several miles off the coast, Thonis-Heracleion was once a thriving port city."

The ruins submerged in the sea were located and explored by the French underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio in 1999, after a five-year search.

19th Century
The Covered Bridge on the right was built in 1867 near the town of Cedarburg, Wisconsin.

"In 1866 Mahmoud Bey El-Falaki, the official astronomer to the Viceroy of Egypt, had published a map that located the nearby ancient town of [...] Canopus on the edge of the coastline."

18th Century
Taken from the observation platform at the top of the Jantar Mantar, the image on the right shows smaller architectural sundials. The Jantar Mantar is a collection of architectural astronomical instruments, built by Maharaja Jai Singh II at his then new capital of Jaipur between 1727 and 1733. The City Palace is behind then Govindji Temple. Nahargarh Fort is on the Hill.

17th Century
The Keplerian Telescope was invented by Johannes Kepler in 1611.

16th Century
The images on the right shows the sphere without sighting tubes or any device for observing astronomical objects and dates from 1547.

Angamuco "occupied 26 square kilometers of land instead of 13 square kilometers."

"That is a huge area with a lot of people and a lot of architectural foundations that are represented."

"If you do the maths, all of a sudden you are talking about 40,000 building foundations up there, which is [about] the same number of building foundations that are on the island of Manhattan."

Angamuco "had an unusual layout, with big structures like pyramids and open plazas situated around the edges rather than in the center."

"The Purépecha people existed at the same time as the Aztecs. While they are nowhere near as popular as their rivals, they were still a major civilization and had an imperial capital called Tzintzuntzan in western Mexico. Based on [...] LiDAR scans, though, Angamuco is even bigger Tzintzuntzan. It likely wasn't as densely populated, but [...] it's now the biggest city in western Mexico during that period that we know of."

"In I523 Cortes quietly appropriated for himself the great Tarascan-held silver district of Tamazula (Jalisco)."

Vázquez de Coronado set out from Compostela on February 23, 1540, at the head of a much larger expedition composed of about 400 European men-at-arms (mostly Spaniards), 1,300 to 2,000 Mexican Indian allies, four Franciscan friars (the most notable of whom were Juan de Padilla and the newly appointed provincial superior of the Franciscan order in the New World, Marcos de Niza), and several slaves, both natives and Africans.

15th Century
The image at the right dating from c. 1480 shows the sphere without sighting tube or any device for observing astronomical objects.

14th Century
The image at the left shows a sceptre dated to before 1380.

"According to written records, a steady succession of earthquakes, perhaps as many as 23, struck North Africa between A.D. 323-1303."

13th Century
The ruin tower on the right is apparently dated to the 13th Century and was built by the Anasazi.

12th Century
Romanesque apses and brick towers of the Church of San Tirso, Sahagún, are shown on the right, dated to the 12th Century.

11th Century
The star map on the right, which features a cylindrical projection, was published in 1092 and has a corrected position for the pole star using Shen Kuo's astronomical observations.

10th Century
Visby was founded in the 10th century, on the then independent Baltic Sea island of Gotland. The Hansaetic League formed it during ensuing centuries, during which it came to Denmark. In 1645, it came into Swedish occupation, in which it has remained until today.

There is more about lenses more recently from Visby, Gotland.

"What intrigues the researchers is that the lenses are of such high quality that they could have been used to make a telescope some 500 years before the first known crude telescopes were constructed in Europe in the last few years of the 16th century."

"Made from rock-crystal, the lenses have an accurate shape that betrays the work of a master craftsman. The best example of the lenses measures 50 mm (2 inches) in diameter and 30 mm (1 inch) thick at its centre."

"The [Visby] Gotland crystals provide the first evidence that sophisticated lens-making techniques were being used by craftsmen over a 1,000 years ago."

9th Century
There was an inscription which placed the foundation of the nilometer in 861.

Cobá is a former pre-Columbian Mayan city on the Yucatán Peninsula southeast of Valladolid located in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico.

In Cobá, the temple pyramid Nohoch-Mul (also known as Castillo, or the climbing pyramid shown on the left) is 42 meters high.

The city was founded shortly after the beginning of the year and expanded into a city state that peaked between 600 and 800 (1400 and 1200 b2k).

The Rök runestone is considered the first piece of written Swedish literature and thus it marks the beginning of the history of Swedish literature.

It was proposed that the inscription has nothing at all to do with the recording of heroic sagas and that it contains riddles which refer only to the making of the stone itself.

The Rök runestone inscription is not connected to heroic deeds in war. Instead it deals with the conflict between light and darkness, warmth and cold, life and death.

"The Rök runestone from central middle Sweden, dated to around 800 CE, [...] Combining perspectives and findings from semiotics, philology, archaeology, and history of religion, the study presents a completely new interpretation which follows a unified theme, showing how the monument can be understood in the socio-cultural and religious context of early Viking Age Scandinavia. The inscription consists, according to the pro­posed interpretation, of nine enigmatic questions. Five of the questions con­cern the sun, and four of them, it is argued, ask about issues related to the god Odin. A central finding is that there are relevant parallels to the inscription in early Scandinavian poetry, especially in the Eddic poem Vafþrúðnismál."

8th Century
The Dunhuang map from the Tang Dynasty of the North Polar region at right is thought to date from the reign of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang (705–710). Constellations of the three schools are distinguished with different colors: white, black and yellow for stars of Wu Xian, Gan De and Shi Shen respectively. The whole set of star maps contains 1,300 stars.

The Dunhuang Star Atlas, the last section of manuscript Or.8210/S.3326. It is "the oldest manuscript star atlas known today from any civilisation, probably dating from around AD 700. It shows a complete representation of the Chinese sky in 13 charts with over 1300 stars named and accurately presented."

"The Dunhuang Star Atlas [above center] forms the second part of a longer scroll (Or.8210/S.3326) that measures 210 cm long by 24.4 cm wide and is made of fine paper in thirteen separate panels."

"The first part of the scroll is a manual for divination based on the shape of clouds. The twelve charts showing different sections of the sky follow these. The stars are named and there is also explanatory text. The final chart is of the north-polar region. The chart is detailed, showing a total of 1345 stars in 257 clearly marked and named asterisms, or constellations, including all twenty-eight mansions."

"The importance of the chart lies in both its accuracy and graphic quality. The chart includes both bright and faint stars, visible to the naked eye from north central China".

7th Century
Sambor Pre Kuk, with its N16 Sanctuary imaged on the right, is an archaeological complex formed by the remains of the city of Isanapura, the capital of the kingdom of Chenla, an immediate predecessor of the Khmer Empire (pre-Angkorian).

This city was built during the reign of Isanavarman I (616-635). At this time, several constructions, clear predecessors of Khmer architecture, were erected in Angkor.

Cantona is a Mesoamerican archaeological site in the state of Puebla, Mexico. It was a fortified city with a high urbanization level at prehispanic times, probably founded by Olmec-Xicalanca groups towards the late Classical Period. It sat astride an old trading route between the Gulf Coast and the Central Highlands and was a prominent, if isolated, Mesoamerican city between 600 and 1000 CE. After Chichimec's invasions in the 11th century, Cantona was abandoned.

Cantona's inhabitants were mainly agricultural farmers and traders, particularly for obsidian, obtained from Oyameles-Zaragoza mountains surrounding the city. Additionally, they may have been supplying the lowlands with a derivative of the maguey plant, pulque. Cantona's population is estimated at about 80,000 inhabitants at its peak.

Cantona may well be the largest prehispanic city yet discovered in Mesoamerica. Limited archaeological work has been done at the site, and only about 10% of the site can be seen. The Pre-Columbian settlement area occupies approximately 12 km², distributed in three units, of which the largest is at the south, with a surface of 5 km². The site comprises a road network with over 500 cobblestone causeways, more than 3,000 individual patios, residences, and 24 ball courts - more than in any other mesoamerican site. It has an elevated Acropolis over the rest of the city in which the main buildings of the city were built. This was used for the ruling elite and priests, and was where the temples of the most important deities where located. These impressive buildings were constructed with carved stones (one atop the other) without any stucco or cement mortar. Cantona certainly was built with a definite urban design and walkways connecting each and every part of the city. The "First Avenue" is 563 meters in length.

6th Century
On the right is the Basilica Cistern in Constantinople, Turkey. It has been dated to the 6th century.

Dzibanche is an archaeological site which includes the Temple of the Owl pyramid. It is an ancient Maya site located in southern Quintana Roo, in the Yucatan Peninsula of southeastern Mexico.

Structures at Dzibanche include the Temple of the Captives, the Temple of the Lintels and the Temple of the Owl, on the left.

5th Century
Ancient India was an early leader in metallurgy, as evidenced by the wrought-iron Pillar of Delhi in the image on the right, dated to about 415 or 1585 b2k.

4th Century
The House of Peter in Capernaum, Israel, has been dated to the 4th century.

"The most severe [earthquake of North Africa] occurred in A.D. 365. The coastline fell and the cluster of cities that lay in the Canopic branch of the Nile vanished into the Mediterranean."

3rd Century
The last known celestial globe shown at the right dates from 1850 to 1780 b2k. The constellation illustrations from the Mainz celestial globe are shown at the left.

2nd Century
On the right is an image of the oldest extant diagram of Euclid's Elements, found at Oxyrhynchus and dated to c. 100 AD.

Hypotheses

 * 1) Archaeology of Scandinavia will eventually show it to have been occupied 40,000 b2k.