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Chronometers and Units in Early Archaeology and Paleontology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

R. Lee Lyman  and
Michael J. O'Brien
R. Lee Lyman
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211
Michael J. O'Brien
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211
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Abstract

Early in the nineteenth century, geologist Charles Lyell reasoned that successively older faunas would contain progressively more extinct species and younger faunas relatively more extant species. The present, with one-hundred percent extant species, was the chronological anchor. In archaeology a similar notion underpins the direct historical approach: Successively older cultures will contain progressively fewer of the cultural traits found in extant cultures and relatively more prehistoric traits. As in Lyell’s scheme, the chronological anchor is the present. When A. L. Kroeber invented frequency seriation in the second decade of the twentieth century, he retained the present as a chronological anchor but reasoned that the oldest cultural manifestation would contain the highest percentage of a variant, or what came to be known as a "style," of an ancient trait, and successively younger cultural manifestations would have progressively lower percentages of that variant. The principle of overlapping permitted building sequences of fossils and artifacts, but differences in the units that allowed the chronometers to be operationalized reveal significant epistemological variation in how historical research is undertaken. This variation should be of considerable interest to paleobiologists and archaeologists alike, especially given recent archaeological interest in creating and explaining historical lineages of artifacts.

Resumen

Resumen

A principios del Siglo XIX, el gedlogo Charles Lyell propuso que, sucesivamente, las faunas más antiguas tendrían progresivamente más especies extintas, y las faunas más jóvenes más especies existentes. El presente, con cien por ciento de las especies existentes, era el ancla cronológica. En arqueología una noción similar corrobora el enfoque histórico directo: sucesivamente las culturas más antiguas contendrían progresivamente menos características culturales que las encontradas en culturas existentes, y relativamente más características prehistóricas. Según el esquema de Lyell, el ancla cronológica es el presente. Cuando A. L. Kroeber, en la segunda década del Siglo XX, inventó la seriación de frecuencia, él conservo el presente como un ancla cronologica, pero postulo que la manifestation cultural más antigua contendria el porcentaje más alto de una variante, lo que fue conocido como un "estilo" de una caracteristica antigua. Sucesivamente, las manifestaciones culturales más jovenes tendrían progresivamente porcentajes más bajos de esa variante. El principio de yuxtaposición (superposición) permitió construir secuencias de fósiles y artefactos, pero diferencias en las unidades que permitieron operara los cronómetros, revelan una variatión epistemológica signification en cuanto a cómo conducir la investigatión histórica. Esta variatión sería de considerable interés para arqueólogos y paleobiólogos, especialmente dado el reciente interés arqueológico de crear y explicar los linajes historicos de artefactos.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 65 , Issue 4 , October 2000 , pp. 691 - 707
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2000

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