In this chapter students will learn:

• the sequence of early civilizations around the world.
• explanations for the collapse of civilizations.
• North American prehistory from 5,000 years ago to CE 1500.
• that diversity in subsistence and political systems continues.
• why archaeologists work in areas for which written records exist.
• how archaeologists evaluate explanations.
• how archaeologists are involved with sustainability.
• about historic period archaeology and archaeology of the contemporary world.
• about pseudoarchaeology and how archaeologists evaluate competing explanations.

Introduction
This chapter provides an overview of (1) ancient civilizations, (2) population estimates, (3) the last 5,000 years of prehistory in North America, (4) archaeology of the historic period, (5) archaeology of the contemporary world, and (6) pseudoarchaeology.

Ancient Civilizations
Civilizations have at least one city, monumental architecture, agriculture, state political organization, and writing. Early civilizations include, but are not restricted to, the Sumerian, Egyptian, Minoan, Harappan, Shang, Maya, Aztec, and Inka. All civilizations collapse. Popular explanations include ecological, social/political, and ideological factors.

Population Estimates, Continued Colonization, and Maintaining Diversity
There are multiple ways of estimating prehistoric populations. There were probably about 10 million people on earth about 10,000 years ago. Most of the earth was colonized by 5,000 years ago. The eastern Arctic was colonized about 4,000 years ago, and much of Polynesia only within the last few thousand years. It is important to note that not every culture changed its subsistence, settlement patterns, and social and political systems.

The Last 5,000 Years in North America
There was a wide diversity of peoples and cultures prior to the arrival of Europeans, numbering several million people and speaking about 400 languages.

Archaeology of Recent Times, Excluding Civilizations
Many groups existed throughout the world over the last 5,000 years that are not considered to be part of a civilization.

World Heritage
UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) established the World Heritage List. It currently has more than 1,000 sites with World Heritage status.

Archaeology of the Contemporary World
Many archaeologists have turned their methods and theories toward studying the material record of contemporary times and have developed new subfields such as forensic archaeology, disaster archaeology, and contribute to sustainability studies.

Pseudoarchaeology
There are many ill-informed ideas about the human past. Archaeology has ways of evaluating explanations about the past, separating scientific from pseudoscientific.

1. What is the history of early civilizations around the world?

2. What are the principal explanations for the collapse of civilizations?

3. How do archaeologists make population estimates for settlements and regions, and what are the estimates for global populations in the past?

4. What are the principal cultural developments around the world over the last 5,000 years?

5. What are some examples of the archaeology of the contemporary world?

6. What is the World Heritage List?

7. How do archaeologists evaluate competing explanations?

1. Why do you think there are so few prehistoric World Heritage Sites in North America? Do you think it is the result of Eurocentric bias, historic bias, lack of significant sites, lack of features with high archaeological visibility, or something else?

2. Assume North American civilization collapses and all cities are abandoned within the next 100 years. What kinds of evidence will archaeologists have of twenty-first-century North America 5,000 years from now, and what might their interpretations of this evidence be?

Atlantis fictional land and civilization described by Plato, in which both the land and civilization are destroyed

city a settlement supporting a dense population with a centralized government, specialization, and socio-economic hierarchy

civilization a type of society characterized by a state-level of political organization, a system of writing, at least one city, and monumental architecture

COVID-19 the acronym given to the disease caused by a new coronavirus first identified in 2019; COVID-19 created a global pandemic

empire a kind of political system with one state being territorially expansive and exerting control over others, such as the Roman or Inka empires

garbology the study of contemporary garbage using the methods of archaeology

industrialism methods of producing food and goods using highly mechanized machinery and digital information

Inka ancient culture of the Peruvian Andes; the preferred spelling over “Inca” by modern scholars

Inuit Indigenous peoples inhabiting Arctic Canada, Alaska, and Greenland; in Alaska, the term Eskimo remains commonly used while in Canada and Greenland, it is a racial slur

Mesoamerica the term used in anthropology to describe the area now encompassing Mexico and Central America

Mesopotamia when referring to ancient times, the area around modern-day Iraq

Occam’s razor the notion that the simplest explanation is usually the best; also known as Occam’s Rule

pandemic an outbreak of disease that spreads over large portions of the globe and affects a significant proportion of the population

pseudoarchaeology the study of the human past, but not within the framework of science or scholarly archaeology

Rosetta Stone a slab of basalt with three different kinds of writing; provided key for deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics

terra cotta army approximately 8,000 life-size warriors made of terra cotta in China, presumably guarding the tomb of an emperor

World Heritage Sites a site of outstanding heritage value, designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

Crandall, B.D., & Stahl, P.W. (1995). Human digestive effects on a micromammalian skeleton. Journal of Archaeological Science 22 (6): 789-97.

Gould, R.A. (2007). Disaster Archaeology. Salt Lake City, UT: University of Utah Press.

Guttmann-Bond, E. (2010). Sustainability out of the past: How archaeology can save the planet. World Archaeology 42(3): 355-66.

Rathje, W.L. (2002). Garbology: The Archaeology of Fresh Garbage. In Barbara J. Little (Ed.), Public Benefits of Archaeology (pp 85-100). Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press.

University of Washington Garbology Project
uwgarbology.weebly.com

World Heritage List
whc.unesco.org/en/list

1. When discussing past civilizations, what do researchers mean when they discuss a “collapse”? Also, what are some of the prevalent explanations for the collapse of civilizations? Provide examples of each.

2. What is the World Heritage List? Provide some of the benefits and problems associated with this list.

3. What is pseudoarchaeology? Provide an example. How can pseudoarchaeology be avoided?

4. How has archaeology been used to study the contemporary world? Provide some outcomes of these studies.

5. How have archaeologists estimated past population levels? What are some assumptions made within these estimates? Given these assumptions, are estimations of past population levels still valuable?

6. What are the differences between a civilization and an empire?

7. Provide and explain three possible reasons contemporary North American civilization could collapse.

8. Why do archaeologists study periods of time from which written documents exist?

9. What are the benefits of experimental archaeology?

10. Describe the peoples who occupied North America at the time of arrival of the Europeans.

Answers

1. Your answer should discuss that “collapse” generally refers to the decline of urban populations and the abandonment of cities and not the entire elimination of a peoples. Some of the prevalent explanations include the following:

• Ecological explanations:
• Ecological catastrophe
• Climate change
• Diseases to crops
• Depletion of soil nutrients
• Social/Political explanations:
• Failure of trading networks
• Internal conflict
• Conflict with other groups
• Ideological explanations:
• Too many resources spent on religious activities

See pages 164-165 of your text.

2. The answer should state that the World Heritage List is a listing, maintained by UNESCO, of cultural and natural heritage sites that have outstanding universal value.

• Benefits include
• the popularization of the importance of heritage.
• providing public education about archaeology.
• providing assistance for the protection of sites.
• stimulating archaeo-tourism.
• Problems include
• a bias toward sites in Europe and Central America.
• a bias toward historic sites.
• a bias toward sites linked with Europe and colonialism.
• the fact that the list is not comprehensive. Some countries choose not to nominate sites for inclusion.

See pages 175-176 of your text.

3. The answer should describe pseudoarchaeology as the development of archaeological explanations that are not testable. This can include extraterrestrial or supernatural explanations, as well as explanations that are based on numerous assumptions. Pseudoarchaeology can be avoided by the development of research hypotheses that are testable, are compatible with the general understanding of the archaeological record, and limit the number of assumptions. Some examples could include the following:

• Aliens/supernatural beings constructing early monumental architecture.
• The initial colonization of North America by European peoples.

See pages 180-183 of your text.

4. This answer should discuss efforts made by archaeologists to study modern waste (garbology), the disposal of nuclear waste, trash in outer space, forensic archaeology, or disaster archaeology. Some outcomes could include the following:

• Garbology demonstrating that there is disconnect between what household members said they did and what they actually did in relation to trash.
• Studies of trash disposal at Capilano University have improved discard behaviors, reduced total waste produced, and increased campus sustainability
• Archaeologists have advised the US government how to best dispose of nuclear waste so that future peoples will recognize the dangers.
• Archaeologists have focused on orbital debris to document their existence and advocate for their protection from future space tourists.
• Forensic archaeologists apply archaeological understandings and methodologies to criminal investigations.
• Archaeologists who are on-scene shortly after natural and cultural disasters to identify and record human remains and important materials are referred to as “disaster archaeologists.”

See pages 177-180 of your text.

5. There are numerous methods that archaeologists have used to estimate past population levels. Your answer should list several examples, along with their assumptions, listed below. Your answer should also take a stance as to whether population estimates are still a valuable exercise despite these assumptions or if they should be abandoned. This argument should clearly articulate why or why not population estimates for the past should be continued.

• Based on the amount of space used per-person in a residential space (e.g., everyone uses 10 square meters of floor space, so a residential structure with 20 square meters of floor space would have been inhabited by two people). This estimate is based on a common use of space by all peoples. A similar argument is used for basing the population estimates on the number of middens, hearths, pots, etc.
• Based on ethnographic analogy. By studying how many contemporary people can survive in a particular environment with a specific subsistence strategy it is assumed that a similar result would be achieved in the past. This estimate is based on a similar carrying capacity between contemporary and past populations.
• Studying graves. The number of graves associated with a community can be used to provide an estimate of the number of people who lived in this area in the past. This estimate is based on the assumptions that all the graves were contemporaneous, all the graves survived from the past until the present, and that all the graves were recognized during the excavations.

See pages 166-168 of your text.

6. Your answer should define both a civilization and an empire, and include a comparison of the two. It should demonstrate that while these terms are related, they should not be conflated.

• A civilization usually has at least one city, monumental architecture, subsistence based on agriculture, a state-level political organization, and a system of writing.
• An empire is when one state dominates and exercises control over others. This is usually identified through the co-mingling of cultural traditions and inter-connecting road systems.

See page 162 of your text.

7. Your answer should provide an ecological, social/political, and ideological reason for collapse and explain the differences between each of them. Some examples could be the following:

• A major drought could collapse the North American agricultural system, causing large segments of the population to die of starvation. This would be an example of an ecological explanation.
• A decline in relations with the major oil-producing countries in the Middle East that would reduce the amount of oil available for North American consumers. This would halt much of the ongoing transportation of goods and foods across the continent and people would be forced to relocate to more prosperous areas or risk starvation. This would be an example of a social/political explanation.
• An elevated requirement on religious teachings for all children in schools, to the exclusion of science-based learning, would mean that fewer people would have the level of scientific education required to develop medical responses to new diseases. In this context, a virulent and deadly disease could decimate the population. This would be an example of an ideological explanation.

See pages 164-166 of your text.

8. Your answer should identify historic archaeology as the archaeology of areas where there are written records. Archaeology can address and correct biases or absences within the written record. This can provide a balance in the perspective of the past and provide a “voice to the voiceless.” Some examples would include the following:

• The archaeology of slavery. The written record represents the perspective and understandings of the slave owners and not the slaves themselves.
• The archaeology of Indigenous peoples or minorities. The written record represents the voice of the majority and rarely collects the understandings of the minority groups.

See page 174 of your text.

9. Your answer should identify experimental archaeology as contemporary experiments that can inform us of what may have happened in the past. Very often this can inform archaeologists about the series of events that created the archaeological pattern and suggest what elements may not have survived. For example, the experiment of eating a whole shrew demonstrated that only 28 of the 131 bones survived the digestion process. Therefore, we would not expect to see 131 shrew bones in a context where they would have been eaten.

See page 182 of your text.

10. Your answer should emphasize the large population numbers and the variability in the lifestyles in North America prior to European arrival. There were few characteristics that could be used to generalize the entire continent. Some examples of the variability include the following:

• Over 400 different languages were spoken.
• Many peoples practiced a generalized foraging lifestyle.
• Many in the northwest specialized in salmon harvesting that was supplemented with wild plants and animals.
• Some California groups specialized in acorn foraging.
• There were horticulturists that harvested maize, beans, and squash.

See pages 174-175 of your text.

1. The collapse of a civilization caused by depletion of soil nutrients would be an example of a(n)

• a) ecological explanation.
• b) colonial explanation.
• c) social/political explanation.
• d) ideological explanation.

2. Which of the following is a criteria for a civilization?

• a) A system of writing.
• b) A heredity-based leadership system.
• c) A subsistence strategy based on pastoralism.
• d) The use of iron tools.

3. “The simplest explanation is the one that requires the fewest assumptions” is a principle of

• a) pseudoarchaeology.
• b) Occam’s razor.
• c) academic archaeology.
• d) Garbology.

4. Garbology is the study of

• a) contemporary peoples’ relationship with trash.
• b) middens within the archaeological record.
• c) superstitious research topics, such as ancient aliens.
• d) the change in waste disposal over time.

5. Archaeology done in advance of construction projects is called

• a) garbology.
• b) disaster archaeology.
• c) historic archaeology.
• d) commercial archaeology.

6. Industrialization is

• a) the construction of large factories to produce goods.
• b) how one measures the potential carrying capacity of an area.
• c) an explanation for why most civilizations collapse.
• d) the mechanization of farming equipment.

7. Which statement is false about the North American Indigenous Peoples at the time of European contact?

• a) Over 400 languages were spoken.
• b) Many practiced a foraging subsistence strategy.
• c) Maize was a domesticated crop.
• d) There were no large settlements.

8. The Mayans were a

• a. Mesopotamian civilization that collapsed and went extinct.
• b. Mesoamerican civilization that collapsed and continues to exist today.
• c. A North American civilization that still exists and claims ownership of Kennewick Man.
• d. A South American civilization that still exists and controls much of Brazil.

9. Which statement is true about archaeology of the contemporary world?

• a. Archaeological sites must be at least 100 years old, so archaeology is not relevant to the contemporary world.
• b. Archaeological methodologies have been applied to numerous contemporary world issues.
• c. Archaeology of the contemporary world must involve ethnographic data and is considered cultural anthropology.
• d. Archaeology of the contemporary world is often considered to be pseudoarchaeology.

10. Which statement is true concerning the World Heritage List?

• a. It is mandatory for any significant archaeological site to be on this list.
• b. It is biased toward the historic period of Europe and colonialism.
• c. It is maintained by the United States Department of Culture and Heritage.
• d. It is generally not respected and ignored by archaeologists.

Answers

1. a

Feedback: As a depletion of soil nutrients is related to an environmental change, it would be an ecological explanation.

See page 165.

2. a

Feedback: The criteria for civilization is somewhat flexible, but the generally agreed characteristics that are required include: at least one city, monumental architecture, an agricultural subsistence system, a state-level political system, and a system of writing.

See page 162.

3. b

Feedback: Occam’s razor states that “the simplest explanation is usually the best and the simplest is the one that requires the fewest assumptions.”

See page 182.

4. a

Feedback: Garbology is the study of contemporary peoples’ relationship with trash through archaeological methods. It was popularized in the late 1900s and studies landfills in large North American cities.

See page 177 and Glossary.

5. d

Feedback: Commercial archaeology, or cultural resource management, is the archaeology done in advance of development projects and represents about 90 per cent of archaeological work done in North America.

See page 178.

6. d

Feedback: Industrialization is the mechanization of farming equipment and produces the majority of food in North America.

See page 170 and glossary.

7. d

Feedback: At the time of European contact, North American Indigenous peoples were diverse, spoke a variety of languages, and practiced diverse subsistence strategies that ranged from foraging to horticulture. Large settlements, such as Cahokia, were located throughout the continent.

See page 171.

8. b

Feedback: The Mayans were a Mesoamerican civilization that collapsed and its members are still present today as the Indigenous population of Mexico.

See page 167.

9. b

Feedback: Archaeological methodologies have been applied to numerous contemporary world issues. These include garbology, forensics, disaster archaeology, and the archaeology of space.

See pages 177-180.

10. b

Feedback: The World Heritage List is a voluntary group that is maintained by the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It includes sites from around the world, but it is biased toward historic period European sites and colonialism.

See pages 175-176.