Archaeological Anthropology and Prehistory: Methods, Dating and Cultural Sequences
Archaeological anthropology tests how archaeologists reconstruct past behavior from material remains and how they place finds in time. Prehistory covers the period before written records; in India it includes Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Iron Age sequences.
Core methods
- Survey locates sites; excavation records provenience, stratigraphy, and context. Context is essential because an object out of context loses much meaning.
- Typology classifies artifacts by form; seriation orders assemblages by changing style; taphonomy studies post-depositional processes.
- Relative dating includes stratigraphy, typology, and seriation. Absolute dating includes radiocarbon for organic material, potassium-argon for volcanic rocks, dendrochronology for wood, and thermoluminescence or OSL for ceramics and sediments.
- Indian sequence: Lower Paleolithic (Oldowan-like and Acheulean), Middle Paleolithic, Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Iron Age. In Odisha, Golbai Sasan is a Neolithic site and Sisupalgarh an Early Historic site.
Worked example
A hearth in layer 3 yields charcoal dated by radiocarbon to about 3000 BCE; pottery appears in layer 2 above it. Stratigraphy shows layer 2 is later. The date applies directly to the charcoal and, by association, to the hearth, but not automatically to every artifact in the site. The reasoning separates direct dates from associated dates and uses superposition to order the layers.
Traps
Radiocarbon cannot directly date pottery or stone tools. Association is not the same as direct dating, and old wood can make a date too early. Neolithic means farming and settled life, not simply polished stone tools. An archaeological culture is a recurring assemblage, not a race or a named people.