The process of excavation inherently entails destruction.
Power relationships in the past are often depicted pictorially.
Thanks to the efforts of dedicated aboriginal groups in Australia, some human remains
that were exhumed in the past by archaeologists without permission have been returned.
Traditionally, radiocarbon dating techniques required approximately 10-20 grams of
wood or charcoal. A few radiocarbon laboratories using the accelerator mass
spectrometry (AMS) are now able to work with samples as small as 5-10 milligrams.
One of the most useful techniques for dating early human (hominin) sites in Africa is
radiocarbon dating.
Archaeomagnetic (or, “paleomagnetic”) dating is based on the constantly changing
magnetic field of the earth.
The most traditional subsurface detection technique is the use of rods or borers to probe
the soil.
Archaeologists have shown that the Maya calendar was very precise: it was used to
record exact dates.
The short-term intentions of individuals can be referred to as agency.
“Preventative archaeology,” “rescue archaeology,” and “cultural resource management”
are terms that are used to describe various countries’ legal frameworks for public
archaeology.
Natural formation processes include such activities as plowing, building structures, or
making tools.
Although quite advanced, the Andean cultures of South America were particularly poor
at textile manufacture and never developed any advanced forms of weaving.
Ethnicity is quite easy to recognize in the archaeological record.
Soil marks may reveal the presence of buried ditches, banks or foundations through the
changes of subsoil color turned up by plowing.
As yet, there are no known cases of archaeological monuments being destroyed during
armed conflict.
Respect for the dead in Ancient Egypt was so great that the rich tombs of the Pharaohs
were not looted until modern times.
Etruria, where the sarcophagus of Seianti Hanunia Tlesnasa came from, is in modern
Greece.
In most modern surveys, areas selected for survey typically utilize either a grid system
or a series of transects.
We cannot assume that our distant ancestors had cognitive abilities like our own.
Archaeology and the study of the past is a serious business and should never be
considered a form of popular entertainment.
Cult or religion is clearly separated from everyday life and is very clear in the
archaeological record.
The New Archaeology is considered to be a challenge to Processual Archaeology
A major drawback of the 1906 Antiquities Act was that illicit digging and vandalism to
archaeological sites on federal land were not prohibited.
Unlike other forms of archaeology, landscape archaeology does not have a cognitive
dimension.
At the site of Pompeii archaeologists have been able to recover a significant amount of
information about individual meals.
Humans are often represented in the Paleolithic cave art of Europe.
Available evidence suggests that Lindow Man did not die naturally, but rather suffered a
very violent death.
The introduction of pottery in an area tends to correspond with the adoption of a
sedentary way of life.
The New Archaeology is sometimes referred to as processual archaeology.
There is no difference between Marxist and neo-Marxist thought in archaeology.
Crop marks were once thought to reflect ancient sub-surface remains, but are now
recognized to be pranks perpetrated by the local populace.
Archaeological information is always published well and quite quickly.
It is impossible to study any form of trade or exchange in non-literate societies.
A key point in archaeology is the idea of association. For example, if objects are found
in the same, sealed, archaeological deposit, it is probable that they were buried at the
same time. If one of these objects can later be given an absolute date, then it is possible
to assign that absolute date to the sealed deposit and the other objects associated with it
as well.
Fired clay, such as pottery or baked mud-brick, is virtually indestructible if well fired.
“Survival of the fittest”, a key mechanism in Darwin’s theory of evolution, is also
known as
a) natural selection
b) uniformitarianism
c) stratification
d) classification
e) ethnology
The study of human remains from sites is called
a) Zooarchaeology
b) Paleoethnobotany
c) Bioarchaeology
d) Archaeobotany
e) Anthropology
Later archaeological critiques of diffusionist explanations have shown that migrations
a) did not occur in the past and cannot be used to explain cultural change
b) are far more obvious in the archaeological record than once thought
c) did occur but are not as easy to detect in the archaeological record as once believed
d) are the only explanation for most cultural change
e) could account for most of the archaeological record
LIDAR provides archaeologists with these advantages over conventional aerial
photography:
a) tree canopies can be eliminated by switches off the “first return”, so the sensor can
see into woodland
b) the angle and azimuth of the sun can be moved to enable ground features to be
viewed under optimal lighting
c) features buried up to ten feet down can be detected through soil marks
d) a and b
e) a and c
Darwin’s work on evolution, in particular the mechanism of “natural selection,” served
as an important catalyst to the concept
a) that humans had emerged as part of the same process.
b) that living things do not really change
c) that human origins were much too early for archaeology to have any relevance
d) none of the above
e) all of the above
The theoretical position in archaeology that nearly all archaeologists believe in and
commands widespread respect is
a) diffusionism
b) The New Archaeology
c) post-Processualism
d) neo-Marxism
e) no theoretical position commands widespread respect
In order to understand the stratigraphy of sediment on the ocean floor, ships use a
___________ to extract a thin column of sediment for later laboratory analysis.
a) sounding drill
b) paleomagnetometer
c) piston-corer
d) varve corer
e) none of the above
Cannibalism in human remains can be determined by
a) the presence of human bones with marks of cutting, smashing, or burning
b) the presence of human bones mixed with animal bones
c) the presence of human teeth marks on human bones
d) a and b only
An emerging solution to the problems associated with the publication of archaeological
research is
a) imposing large fines on archaeologists who do not publish
b) not allowing academics to excavate anymore
c) online publication
d) not allowing private firms to excavate anymore
e) accept that most archaeological information will not be published
The use of the site of Gobekli Tepe in Turkey predates the development of_________ in
the area
a) farming
b) language
c) symbols
d) religion
e) stone tools
The fundamental complaint among proponents of the New Archaeology in the 1960s
was that traditional archaeological methods
a) were too focused on science
b) did not incorporate Indigenous or feminist voices
c) relied too heavily on sources such as the Bible
d) did not include enough focus on migration, typology, and classification
e) never seemed to explain anything
____________, which dominated the human toolkit around 10,000 years ago, are tiny
stone tools that were probably used as barbs on composite implements
a) Eoliths
b) Microliths
c) Cores
d) Phytoliths
e) Otoliths
___________________ is another term for tree-ring dating which is based on the
counting, measurement, and patterning of annual growth rings in known species of trees
a) Radiocarbon
b) Varve analysis
c) Botanical dating
d) Dendrochronology
e) Amino acid racemization
Experimental evidence suggests that the transition from wild to domestic plants could
have been complete within
a) only one seasonal cycle
b) the period before the last Ice Age
c) 5,000 to 10,000 years
d) only 20 to 200 years
e) a matter of days
When antiquities collectors buy looted archaeological objects they
a) are innocently perusing a hobby that doesn”t hurt anyone
b) are doing their part to help preserve the past
c) are indirectly funding the looting of archaeological sites
d) are indirectly preventing the looting of archaeological sites
e) none of the above
Microfauna (small animals) tend to be better indicators of climate and environmental
change because
a) they are sensitive to oscillations in climate and adapt relatively quickly
b) they accumulate naturally, so they reflect the immediate environment
c) they are accumulated at a site through human or animal predation
d) a and b are correct
e) none of the above
A massive amount of information about how commodities were traded in the
Mediterranean around 1300 came from the site of Uluburun which is a
a) barrow cemetery
b) location mentioned in the Iliad
c) volcano in the Andes
d) shipwreck
e) site preserved in volcanic ash
All of the following are examples of unaltered materials except
a) stone
b) wood
c) antler
d) copper
e) plant and animal fibers
The material immediately surrounding an artifact, usually some sediment such as
gravel, sand, or clay, is known as the
a) dirt
b) find spot
c) site
d) matrix
Results of surveys conducted over longer periods of time, covering the area repeatedly,
tend to be more reliable because
a) the visibility of sites and artifacts can vary widely from year to year
b) the visibility of sites and artifacts may vary according to seasonal variation
c) the accuracy of field crew observations may change through time
d) all of the above
e) none of the above
GIS systems are designed for the collection, storage, retrieval, analysis and display of
spatial data.
______________ archaeologists stress that human actions are guided by beliefs and
symbolic concepts, and that the proper object of study is the structures of thoughtthe
ideasof the human actors who made the artifacts and created the archaeological record
a) Marxist
b) Structuralist
c) Processual
d) Historiographic
e) Conservative
A good example of a symbol is
a) money
b) a soldier’s badge
c) a scale weight
d) a depiction of an animal painted on a cave wall
e) all of the above
Which of the following would lead archaeologists to the conclusion that a body was
deliberately buried?
a) the presence of an animal skeleton with the body
b) the presence of a prestige goods such as ivory spears with the body
c) indications that the body was placed in a dug grave
d) all of the above
e) b and c only
The reason that radiocarbon dating results must be calibrated is that, contrary to what
Libby assumed
a) the half-life of 14C samples from wet contexts is twice that of 14C samples from dry
contexts
b) the concentration of 14C in the atmosphere has actually remained the same over time
c) the concentration of 14C in the atmosphere has actually varied over time
d) the concentration of 14C in the atmosphere has nothing to do with radiocarbon
dating
e) the half-life of 14C has been seriously modified by pollution in the atmosphere
The official list of significant historic and cultural sites, structures and areas in the US is
called the
a) World Heritage List
b) Protected Monuments Schedule
c) Historic Places Trust
d) The Federal Compliance Site List
e) National Register of Historic Places
The site of atalhyk, an early farming site made famous by archaeologist Ian Hodders’s
use of interpretive archaeology approaches, is located in
a) England
b) Australia
c) Italy
d) Turkey
e) India
Archaeological sites may be defined quite simply as
a) places where the landscape has changed significantly over time
b) places that are recorded by ancient writers
c) places where significant traces of human activity are identified
d) places where excavated artifacts are displayed
e) none of the above
Robert Carneiro, a major proponent of ______________, emphasized the importance of
environmental constraints and territorial limitations to explain the origins of the state
a) ecological determinism
b) environmental circumscription
c) punctuated equilibria
d) structuralist approaches
e) systems thinking
We tend to forget that different societies value different goods. For example, while the
Conquistadors valued the gold of the New World, the Aztec valued __________ more
highly than metal
a) iron
b) cattle
c) wheat beer
d) chariots
e) feathers
The term cave art, also known as_________ art, designates art found on the walls of
caves and rockshelters, or on very large stone blocks
a) parietal
b) referential
c) mobiliary
d) iconic
e) vertical
_________, or conjoining, is the attempt to put stone tools, flakes, and cores back
together again, providing information on the stages in producing the tools and
reconstructing the process of the knapper’s craft.
a) Refitting
b) Annealing
c) Filigree
d) Microwear analysis
e) Alloying
Palynologists study ____________ which, when found preserved in lake or bog
sediments, allows them to understand both ancient environments and to use them as a
method of ________________ dating
a) fossils, absolute
b) pollen, relative
c) pollen, absolute
d) bog bodies, absolute
e) fauna, relative
A late 19th-century pioneer in organized, precise excavation and total recording
methods was
a) Mortimer Wheeler
b) Charles Darwin
c) Gordon Childe
d) General Pitt-Rivers
e) Alfred Kidder
Pseudoarchaeology is defined as
a) the practice of methodologically correct archaeology by amateurs
b) the use of archaeology to further the political goals of a state
c) a cross between archaeology and anthropology
d) the creation of extravagant and untrue stories about the past
e) the components of the process of archaeology that do not involve digging