Artefacts and Ecofacts PDF

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Artefacts and Ecofacts Aims - introduce the idea of understanding the past through objects - some of the ways in which archaeologists use and think about artefacts and ecofacts and how information about the past can be extracted from them Artefact vs Ecofact Artefact – anything manufactured or significantly adapted by humans Ecofact – any naturally-occurring material that has been used or affected by humans  Slightly blurred lines at the edges of these definitions Disciplines used to investigate the past:  Archaeology - physical/material remains  History - written texts, inscriptions  historical record is dictated by most powerful groups, can’t always trust the sources  Historical linguistics (Palaeolinguistics) - modern languages  Oral history - unwritten stories and memories  can be modified, potential for bias  DNA - evolutionary/migration history recorded in genes History & Archaeology We (modern humans) are the most literate society that has ever existed. - modern global literacy rate for all people aged 15+ is 86.3%. - global literacy rate for males is 90.0% and for females is 82.7%. - rate varies throughout the world with developed nations having a rate of 99.2% (2013); Oceania 71.3%; South and West Asia 70.2% (2015) and sub-Saharan Africa 64.0% (2015). - Over 75% of the world's 781 million illiterate adults found in South Asia, West Asia and subSaharan Africa, women represent almost two-thirds of all illiterate adults globally.  

Powerful and wealthy groups always tended to control creation of historical record Many groups not included, e.g. women (even wealthy women), those from less economically developed areas, children, the sick, marginal groups etc.

Broader issue: Eurocentric history - Europeans created disproportionate proportion of the world historical record (due to recent domination) - tend to have an inflated view of their importance History of Indian Ocean trade - written by Europeans ignoring Asian merchants who kept no records

Archaeology

History - resolution often very poor; difficult to interpret + great resolution of detail; insight into the thoughts evidence; difficult to see individual humans and feelings of the people concerned + covers all human groups at all times (more or less - biases some groups over others (particularly powerful equally); now generating lots of new evidence: and wealthy); anecdotal (ie not systematic coverage); writers can lie; not possible to generate new evidence isotopes, C14 & TL dating, DNA and other scientific Writers can lie, objects tell the truth? approaches - would be foolish to focus on only high-value objects - lower value objects often provide the most information

Tucson Garbage Project, 1973 Dr. William Rathje - Groups of students knocked on doors of houses in Tucson, Arizona and asked what people ate, e.g. fast food, healthy/vegetables, beer while other groups went and looked in the rubbish bins - Contradiction between what people said and the evidence found

Structured deposit – term used to define deposits that are laid down with special care and meaning e.g. burials, cultic deposits - but it is problematic, even the way we throw away our rubbish or use the loo is culturally determined Materials most commonly found in the archaeological record:  Pottery/ceramic (including tile, brick etc.)  Stone  Base metal such as bronze, iron (including coins)  Glass

Materials rarely or never found in the archaeological record:  Wood  Cloth/textile  Leather Basketwork  Rope, string, cord  Gold

Humans – the tool-using animal - Australopithecus garhi 2.6-2.5 million years thought to be first tool-using hominid

Oldovan stone tools

Making objects tell their stories - Individual objects (a biography) - Assemblages Object Biographies

The Lewis Chess Pieces

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Collection of 12th-century figural and abstract gaming pieces found on the Isle of Lewis in the 19th century Now in National Museum of Scotland and British Museum A paper by Caldwell et al. takes a biographical approach using information from art history, archaeology and history

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Made of walrus ivory. Probably hunted in Norway/Greenland area, hunted on land and ice by specialist hunters

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Tusks would have been transferred to an ivory workshop for working (we know of a few – Nidaros, Bergen, Roskilde, Canterbury) – probably Nidaros near Trondheim in Norway

Area walrus was hunted Location of known ivory workshops   

Walrus ivory was difficult to obtain and expensive Possession would have enhanced the status of the owner – medieval ‘bling’ Carefully, skilfully carved, which informs us about the role of chess as an elite pastime and perhaps symbolic pursuit

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Bishop – new addition in 12th century – power and military role of bishops in medieval society Rooks are unmounted warriors and pawns as abstract shapes Carved according to the European stylistic repertoire of Romanesque art, while following the understood conventions of medieval chess Use of queen rather than vizier (male minister) used in Islamic world/India emphasises differences between European and Eastern medieval society

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Transported by sea, probably en route to a high-status context in Ireland or Hebrides Something happened which led to their being buried for safe keeping on Lewis

Careful study and the placing of the object within a broader cultural context can tell us a lot about the society of the time What sort of information might archaeologists get from artefacts? - Manufacturing technology - Date – based on style - Cultural connections – based on style or materials - Human activities – depending what the artefact was used for (eg eating, fighting etc) - Manufacture organisation – how was it produced, by an individual or in an organised workshop

Artefacts AND ecofacts (and in fact everything humans do) are full of cultural meaning Human sensitivity to objects – the meaning of objects - Fashion, status, identity, power etc. Three-age system:  Stone Age (2.6 million years to 3000 BC)  Bronze Age (3000 BC)  Iron Age (1200 BC) Developed by Danish archaeologist Christian JQrgensen Thomsen (1788–1865) ‘Village’ production vs ‘industrial’ production - Standardisation and quality might help us to identify more organised production systems - measure standardisation, only by comparing lots of artefacts to each other. - much more difficult to measure quality objectively - way in which production is organised might be a clue to the type of social organisation Artefacts contain information on past societies • Date • The technology and methods of manufacture • Organisation of production • Function of the artefacts • Style • Status • Trade • Burial/beliefs • Change

Ecofacts      

Wood Seeds and Vegetative remains = macrofossils - Leaves, stems, fibres Pollen, spores, phytoliths = microfossils Invertebrates Beetles, molluscs etc. Vertebrate bones Animal soft tissues

Summary  History v Archaeology (texts v objects)  Rubbish v high-value objects  Assemblages v individual objects Acheulean hand axe Homo Erectus, 1.8 million years

Neolithic polished stone axe Holocene (10,000 years)

Roman coin, exported to India and overstruck

Spear thrower

Terracotta bullae of Roman coins in India

Incense burner

Obsidian (naturally occurring volcanic glass) Roman amphora 1st AD

Greek red-figure kylix

Medieval uroscopy bottle...