The typology of the French archaeologist Franois Bordes classified Mousterian tools
into 63 types which occurred in set frequencies, creating four fundamental patterns.
Bordes argued that these four patterns reflected four different cultural groups of
Neandertals. Bordes’ typology:
a. Assumed that the stone tools were in their final intended form, rather than in forms
that resulted from resharpening.
b. Was completely wrong, illustrating how poorly constructed typologies can lead a
researcher astray.
c. Has stood the test of time; different “tribes” of Neandertals are still thought to have
been responsible for the different patterns of Mousterian artifacts.
d. Categorized morphological variation improperly; proper categorization would have
resulted in a correct interpretation of the assemblages.
The “irrigation hypothesis” argues that large-scale irrigation was directly responsible
for the origin of archaic states. This hypothesis was suggested by:
a. Karl Wittfogel, who argued that irrigation inherently calls for regulation of water use
and an extraordinary level of coordination above the individual farmer.
b. Robert Carneiro, who argued that irrigation would lead to fights over land rights.
c. Karl Wittfogel, who argued that irrigation would lead to fights over land rights.
d. Robert Carneiro, who argued that irrigation inherently calls for regulation of water
use and an extraordinary level of coordination above the individual farmer.
Analogies justified by similarities in the formal attributes of archaeological and
ethnographic objects and features are known as:
a. Formal analogies.
b. Relational analogies.
c. Middle-range analogies.
d. Uniformitarian analogies.
The best bone for determining stature from human skeletal material is:
a. The tibia.
b. The femur.
c. The ulna.
d. The radius.
Which of the following is true of Thomas Jefferson?
a. He was the third president of the United States, as well as an architect, inventor,
scholar, diplomat, and archaeologist.
b. He had a slave force numbering 200 people at times, and he knew that without
slavery the agrarian economy of the time would collapse.
c. He probably fathered six children with one of his house slaves, Sally Hemings.
d. All of the above.
The occurrence of the Upper Paleolithic in Europe is marked by the appearance of:
a. A complex technology of stone, bone, and antler as well as art.
b. Animal domestication.
c. Agriculture.
d. All of the above.
A forensic archaeologist might be involved in:
a. Using archaeological methods and techniques to help solve crimes.
b. Training law enforcement personnel in basic archaeological principles.
c. Documenting human rights violations by excavating mass grave sites.
d. All of the above
The principles of archaeological typology include:
a. creating groups based on one or more attributes that maximize differences within
each group.
b. creating groups based on one or more attributes that minimize differences within
each group.
c. using subjective and nonreplicable processes.
d. being “correct.”
The NHPA requires that the government inventory federal lands for archaeological and
historic sites. As a result
a. many archaeologists cannot find jobs.
b. many archeologist now work in Bureau of Land Management offices or the National
Park Service.
c. agencies have been able to enumerate all of the holdings on federal lands.
d. agencies cannot work with college or university research programs.
In the future it will be most important for archeology to show that
a. Information can be gathered using state-of-the- art digital technology
b. How different environmental and historical circumstances work together to create
diversity of human societies
c. Racist assumptions have basis in material data
d. Modern garbage holds the key to understanding our past
Which of the following is true of the interpretation of Upper Paleolithic cave art?
a. Most archaeologists agree that cave art represents sympathetic magic, or rituals in
which doing something to an image produces the desired effect in the real object (e.g.,
drawing pregnant bison ensures fertility, or killing a stylized animal on the cave wall
guarantees hunting success).
b. Most archaeologists agree that cave art should be interpreted within the structuralist
paradigm, where all symbols define binary oppositions such as male and female.
c. Because we lack any associated ethnographic data for the Upper Paleolithic, it is very
difficult to securely interpret the meaning of symbols used in this art.
d. Upper Paleolithic cave art represents the earliest beginnings of the human ability to
appreciate art for its own aesthetic properties; it is thus “art-for-art’s-sake”, and animals
drawn had no particular symbolic meaning.
Which of the following is true of iron deficiency anemia?
a. It can be induced by a lack of red meat in the diet, chronic diarrhea, or parasites.
b. It can cause porotic hyperostosis, which results in the surface of the skull taking on a
spongy appearance.
c. It can cause cibra orbitalia, which results in the bone of the upper eye sockets taking
on a spongy appearance.
d. All of the above.
The following contributed to the support and discovery of deep time:
a. Charles Darwin publishes his influential book On the Origin of Species.
b. James Ussher concludes that Creation began at sunset on Saturday, October 22, 4004
BC.
c. Jacques Bocher de Crevecoeur de Perthes found ancient axe heads in the gravels of
the Somme River.
d. A and C
How does sediment generally enter rockshelters?
a. Rocks fall from the shelter’s ceiling and dripline.
b. Colluvial sediments enter the shelter from the surrounding hillside.
c. Fine eolian dust from nearby or distant sources blows into the shelter.
d. All of the above.
By recording the provenience of all artifacts encountered in situ during Gatecliff’s
excavations, the archaeologists were trying to:
a. document differences in artifact sequences through time.
b. obtain information that would allow them to reconstruct the activities that took place
on discrete living floors.
c. determine the depth of time represented by the deposits in the rockshelter.
d. speed up the excavation process without losing important information.
The contribution of women to the development of archaeology is best summed up by
which statement?
a. Women contributed nothing; it wasn”t until the 1960s during the fight for civil rights
that any women were accepted into the archaeological community and allowed to
conduct archaeological research.
b. Women contributed very little; archaeological research was completely dominated by
men throughout the development of archaeology, and is still heavily dominated by men
today.
c. Although women did contribute to the development of archaeology, their
contributions are less well-known than those of men because they were excluded from
traditional communication networks.
d. Throughout the development of archaeology, the contributions of men and women
have been roughly equal, and these contributions are equally as well known today; this
is a testament to the early development of women’s rights in America.
Eburnation is:
a. A symptom of iron deficiency anemia in which the skull takes on a porous
appearance.
b. A horizontal linear defect in tooth enamel indicating an episode of physiological
stress.
c. A sign of osteoarthritis in which the epiphyses of long bones are worn smooth,
causing them to take on a varnish-like appearance.
d. A sign of osteoarthritis in which bones develop a distinct “lipping” at the point of
articulation.
The purpose of heat-treating stone tool raw material was to:
a. Create stone tools by subjecting the raw material to heat, which would cause the
material to fracture into usable pieces.
b. Make it more difficult for the raw material to be flaked and shaped.
c. Improve the flintknapping properties of the raw material.
d. Have hot stones that could be used for cooking (e.g., dropped into ceramic vessels).
Ethnographic research has turned up evidence of hunters and gatherers who know about
_______________but who continue to _____________________.
a. Social complexity/remain archaic
b. Fishing/farm
c. Agriculture/hunt and gather
d. Hunting/fish
Which of the following sourcing studies are not used to demonstrate the geographic
scale of an economic and/or political organization?
a. Obsidian
b. Clay
c. Temper
d. Soil
A technique used to determine the source of pottery by identifying the trace element
composition of the clay or temper used to manufacture the pot is:
a. Petrographic analysis.
b. Instrumental neutron activation analysis.
c. Energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence.
d. Any or all of the above.
To create relevant bridging arguments, archaeologists must
a. Contact several other archaeologists for their interpretations.
b. Observe the workings of a culture in its systemic context.
c. Research the literature.
d. Consult with a geologist.
Why was it so difficult for Europeans during the early 19th century to accept the fact
that Native Americans had built the mounds?
a. Believing that a superior race had built the mounds fit nicely into the social and
political context of the times, helping to justify colonialism.
b. Archaeological and historical evidence to suggest that Native Americans had built the
mounds was completely lacking.
c. It was a conscious effort on the part of racist archaeologists to steal Native American
land; everyone really knew that the Native Americans had built the mounds.
d. Westward expansion had not yet begun; European colonists were therefore unfamiliar
with how similar the mounds really were to the mounds actively being constructed by
living Native Americans.
Ichtucknee Blue on White ceramics were manufactured from AD 1600 to 1650.
Excavating a historic site in Georgia, you find bits of broken Ichtucknee Blue on White
plates. Therefore, you know that the terminus post quem date on this site is:
a. AD 1650.
b. AD 1625.
c. AD 1600.
d. sometime after AD 1650.
Jens Jacob Asmussen Worssae was considered to be:
a. An historian who studied Anglo-Saxon law and writings.
b. An antiquarian who was interested in collecting objects rather than learning about
them.
c. The first professional archaeologist.
d. The originator of the new archaeology movement of the 1960’s.
Speculation as to the origin of the first people in the New World included:
a. That Native Americans were one of the Lost Tribes of Israel.
b. That Indians came from Atlantis.
c. That they were voyaging Egyptians, Vikings, Chinese, or Phoenicians.
d. All of the above.
The period during which people began using ground stone tools, manufacturing
ceramics, and relying on domesticated plants and animals is known in the Near East as
the:
a. Natufian.
b. Upper Paleolithic.
c. Neolithic.
d. Younger Dryas.
What was archaeological investigation of the battlefield at Little Bighorn able to
conclude about the nature of the battle?
a. Virtually no evidence of formal tactics such as skirmish lines, supporting Indian
accounts of chaos and hand-to-hand fighting.
b. Evidence of abundant skirmish lines, supporting settler accounts of Custer and his
men fighting in a calm and controlled manner.
c. Custer’s personal movements could be tracked by the presence of brass cartridges, as
he had the only weapon on the battlefield that used them; his movements indicate that
he maintained control of the battle until his death.
d. The battle lasted for days, with control of the battle switching frequently from
Custer’s army to the Indians, and back again before Custer’s troops were finally
completely subdued.
The Stillwater burial population was not an ideal candidate for a paleodemographic
study because:
a. The Stillwater burial population consisted almost entirely of adults; because children
were not represented, little could be said about the paleodemography of the population.
b. Paleodemography works best with skeletal samples derived from different biological
populations, and the Stillwater burials represented only one biological population.
c. Paleodemography works best with a skeletal sample representing only a few years or
decades, and the Stillwater burials dated to a time period of 600 years or longer.
d. Most of the individuals in the Stillwater burial population were older than 50 years
old, and so younger adults were not represented.
You are excavating a Native American human burial site which contains both males and
females. After obtaining permission from current Native American tribes believed to
have descended from these people, you analyze the bones. You notice a higher rate of
osteoarthritis in the lumbar vertebrae of the female skeletons in comparison to the male
skeletons. What might you conclude from this evidence?
a. That females were doing more intense walking than the males, traveling far distances
to gather plants.
b. That females were putting more stress on their backs, perhaps from grinding corn or
carrying children.
c. That females did not have access to the same amount of high quality food as males,
and were thus suffering from malnutrition.
d. All of the above.
All of the following characterize the rise of archaic states, except:
a. Monumental architecture.
b. Warfare.
c. Hunting and gathering.
d. Market economies.
A good typology will:
a. Minimize differences within each created type and maximize differences between
each type.
b. Maximize differences within each created type and minimize differences between
each type.
c. Result in abundant overlap between types.
d. Only be replicable by the archaeologist who created it.
Why do historical archaeology if we already have the historical records?
a. Historical records are personal opinions written at the time and are all considered to
be not only biased, but wrong.
b. Historical sources can be biased, intentionally or not.
c. Historical archaeologists like current history.
d. Historical archaeologists do not like very old archaeological evidence.
A settlement pattern is:
a. The distribution of archaeological sites across a region.
b. The movements and activities of a prehistoric population, inferred from the
distribution of archaeological sites across a region.
c. The same thing as a seasonal round.
d. The pattern of artifacts within an archaeological site that results from the settlement
of a prehistoric population at that site.
Archaeologists must balance the need for development with the need to protect precious
archaeological resources. In the example of Machu Picchu
a. tourist dollars are a source of income; archaeologists support the tourism to help the
nation of Peru, even if it destroys the site.
b. archaeologists want people to know about the site and are willing to see some of the
value and beauty destroyed.
c. archaeologists support making tourism viable in a way that maintains the site’s
integrity and scientific value.
d. archaeologists are, by profession, required to maintain a non-political, hands-off
policy.