# Archaeology/Anthropology Cliches **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 4, 2017, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaeology-anthropology-cliches/792776 "2017-08-04T14:58:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaeology-anthropology-cliches/792776/21 "2017-08-04T22:10:05Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > When no one knows why the site was abandoned, “climate change” will always be suggested before “people got bored and moved on.” > > I’m sure climate change did happen , but boredom and malaise happen too. Not ‘climate change’ in the modern sense. Prolonged drought was usually the cause, as was deforestation in the immediate area (fire and building material) or being driven out by a stronger tribe. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaeology-anthropology-cliches/792776/22 "2017-08-04T22:17:54Z")
Every single central building, or building if it is stand-alone, is a temple or has religious significance. Sorry, no. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaeology-anthropology-cliches/792776/23 "2017-08-04T22:19:49Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Not ‘climate change’ in the modern sense. Prolonged drought was usually the cause, as was deforestation in the immediate area (fire and building material) or being driven out by a stronger tribe. There’s also disease and depletion of resources. It’s very difficult to see boredom as a motivation. I suppose it is possible social changes could undo a unifying motivation and eventually the people of a settled area dispersed. It just seems unlikely for that to happen without any of the other factors already mentioned that directly motivate people to leave an established area. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2017, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaeology-anthropology-cliches/792776/24 "2017-08-04T22:20:37Z")
One of the great books on [archaeology](https://www.amazon.ca/Motel-Mysteries-David-Macaulay/dp/0395284252). ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2017, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaeology-anthropology-cliches/792776/25 "2017-08-05T03:41:26Z")
Although we only have this fragment of a tooth, we can extrapolate how this person/animal looked and behaved. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2017, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaeology-anthropology-cliches/792776/26 "2017-08-05T07:08:43Z")
This broken stone with 3 or 4 words carved in ancient Aramaic proves (or disproves ) the bible! ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2017, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaeology-anthropology-cliches/792776/27 "2017-08-05T12:04:51Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Although we only have this fragment of a tooth, we can extrapolate how this person/animal looked and behaved. Teeth are distinctive-- with a big enough part of a diagnostic tooth you can absolutely know what general type of animal it came from. You can also tell what kind of diet it probably had, because different shapes are used for different tasks (cutting, crushing, holding.) You can also use more modern instruments and tell something about what the animal ate, what the temperature was, and the age of the animal. If the tooth is recent enough and well preserved enough, you might be able to sequence the animal’s entire genome. The human subspecies the Denisovians was discovered by scientists sequencing the complete genome from a fragment of a child’s finger bone. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2017, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaeology-anthropology-cliches/792776/28 "2017-08-05T14:35:44Z")
Denisovans haven’t been assigned a species status yet, but if they end up being assigned as a subspecies of _H. sapiens_, we’re going to need to relook at the Neanderthal classification (currently _H. neanderthalensis_, not _H. sapiens neanderthalensis_). This is all really important stuff, because Nature needs to know which discrete box these population belong in! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2017, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaeology-anthropology-cliches/792776/29 "2017-08-05T14:49:45Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Denisovans haven’t been assigned a species status yet, but if they end up being assigned as a subspecies of _H. sapiens_, we’re going to need to relook at the Neanderthal classification (currently _H. neanderthalensis_, not _H. sapiens neanderthalensis_). > > This is all really important stuff, because Nature needs to know which discrete box these population belong in! 😉 Are you suggesting nature has Affirmative Action criteria? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2017, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaeology-anthropology-cliches/792776/30 "2017-08-05T19:15:52Z")
_heavy sigh from a guy with a degree in it_ Alas, all this is true, except for whole populations booking it because they were bored. Sure, maybe a family moved because Dad got itchy feet (Daniel Boone), but that was more likely to be because he got pissed at his in-laws. Entire populations need better reasons, most have already been noted. My entry: Everything that isn’t a tool, ritual object, or fertility symbol is a musical instrument. Wife took a class in which the prof showed some perforated objects that he surmised were parts of an instrument. Wife was experienced in the fabric arts and saw immediately that they made up a [card loom,](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dtD9LGLVEEk/TB7QUNzpgrI/AAAAAAAAAEc/DN-mqaK5g5Q/s1600/loom+long+view.JPG) and brought in some yarn to show how it worked. A lot of time these misinterpretations stem from the interpreter’s limited experience–when all you have is a hammer, etc. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2017, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaeology-anthropology-cliches/792776/31 "2017-08-05T20:01:50Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > My entry: Everything that isn’t a tool, ritual object, or fertility symbol is a musical instrument. Wife took a class in which the prof showed some perforated objects that he surmised were parts of an instrument. Wife was experienced in the fabric arts and saw immediately that they made up a [card loom,](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dtD9LGLVEEk/TB7QUNzpgrI/AAAAAAAAAEc/DN-mqaK5g5Q/s1600/loom+long+view.JPG) and brought in some yarn to show how it worked. A lot of time these misinterpretations stem from the interpreter’s limited experience–when all you have is a hammer, etc. I remembered that from a past thread but couldn’t find it. Glad you brought it up. Not as wrong as often as some of the others but every thin and pointed object is a sewing needle. Unless it bends around in the middle and then it’s a fish hook. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2017, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaeology-anthropology-cliches/792776/32 "2017-08-05T20:17:08Z")
I used to watch Time Team. A BBC archeology series. They’d get so excited about the smallest finds. A post stamp size piece of pottery. Or evidence of a wooden post in the ground. It might have been a fence post but it was always evidence of a building for them. Takes a lot of imagination to look at a bunch of dirt and visualize a large settlement. I never could make that connection from all that bare ground. I liked Phil on Time Team. He was a flintknapper. He could make an Arrowhead is a few seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2017, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaeology-anthropology-cliches/792776/33 "2017-08-05T20:39:07Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > My entry: Everything that isn’t a tool, ritual object, or fertility symbol is a musical instrument. Wife took a class in which the prof showed some perforated objects that he surmised were parts of an instrument. Wife was experienced in the fabric arts and saw immediately that they made up a [card loom,](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dtD9LGLVEEk/TB7QUNzpgrI/AAAAAAAAAEc/DN-mqaK5g5Q/s1600/loom+long+view.JPG) and brought in some yarn to show how it worked. A lot of time these misinterpretations stem from the interpreter’s limited experience–when all you have is a hammer, etc. Then there is [this](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3370859/Facebook-users-crack-6-month-Israel-antiquities-mystery.html). ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2017, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaeology-anthropology-cliches/792776/34 "2017-08-06T02:49:10Z")
I was wondering this just the other day. What if some dude had said, hey, let’s add an extra star to our picture of the night sky? For millennia afterword, books would be published about the missing star, and not one would ever speculate that was just a bit of astronomical paleo-humor. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2017, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaeology-anthropology-cliches/792776/35 "2017-08-06T03:02:42Z")
TLTE: The joke by the ancient would be taken as seriously by today’s astronomers, as Gilligans Island was taken by the gullible visitors in Galaxy Quest. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2017, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaeology-anthropology-cliches/792776/36 "2017-08-06T03:12:17Z")
OK, now that’s a good one, **Darren Garrison**. Despite the experts’ best guesses, the ancient implement really _was_ a ceremonial object… except it wasn’t ancient. One does still wonder who buried a thousand-dollar ceremonial object in a graveyard. As for fertility symbols, remember that “fertility symbol” is an archaeological code-word for “porn”. Sometimes a statue of a naked lady is just a statue of a naked lady. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2017, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaeology-anthropology-cliches/792776/37 "2017-08-06T03:14:24Z")
A statue of a naked lady is always porn for some teenage kid, somewhere. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2017, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaeology-anthropology-cliches/792776/38 "2017-08-06T03:18:27Z")
Oh, and about the astronomers: You could get much the same effect by picking some prominent star, and describing it as a completely different color. Like, say, several classical scholars describing Sirius as red, instead of as the slightly bluish white we see. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2017, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaeology-anthropology-cliches/792776/39 "2017-08-06T04:40:33Z")
Art depicting animals (cave paintings, pictographs, petroglyphs) are always/usually assumed to have been efforts to spiritually influence success for “the hunt.” It’s never supposed that an artistically inclined prehistoric person might have simply felt like creating beautiful art. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaeology-anthropology-cliches/792776/40 "2017-08-06T17:18:39Z")
'Cuz some of those cavemen really could paint! Entirely from memory, too, since there’s no dragging a horse a block into a cave. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaeology-anthropology-cliches/792776.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archaeology-anthropology-cliches/792776.md?page=3)