Archaeological Anthropology
Unit 2. Prehistoric cultures and how they are dated.
About this unit
Archaeological anthropology studies past human cultures through the material remains they left behind: tools, pottery, bones, houses and settlements. Since most of human history happened before writing, these remains are our main evidence for how early people lived, what they ate and how their technology changed. This unit covers the Stone Age, the Metal Age, the methods used to date sites and some key Indian sites.
Key ideas
- The Three Age system: Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age.
- Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age), Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) and Neolithic (New Stone Age).
- Tool types: choppers, hand axes, cleavers, scrapers, blades, microliths and polished celts.
- Pottery and agriculture as markers of settled Neolithic life.
- Stratigraphy and relative dating; absolute dating by carbon-14 and potassium-argon.
- Indian sites such as Sohan valley, Burzahom, Nevasa and the cities of the Indus Valley Civilisation.
How to prepare
Make a chart of each period with its typical tools, economy and an Indian site. Learn the law of superposition and the useful range of each dating method. Questions often ask you to match tools, periods and sites, or to reason about which dating method suits a given sample.
Topics in this chapter
Stone Age cultures
Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic cultures.
5 questionsTool typology and technology
Choppers, hand axes, scrapers, blade tools, microliths and celts; unifacial and bifacial tools; pottery.
5 questionsMetal Age
Discovery and use of bronze and iron.
5 questionsStratigraphy and dating
Relative and absolute dating, including carbon-14 and potassium-argon methods.
5 questionsImportant archaeological sites
Sohan, Burzahom, Nevasa and the Indus Valley Civilisation.
5 questions