Which of the following is true of archaeological types?
a. Archaeological types are assigned with the goal in mind of classifying objects in the
same way that prehistoric populations would have classified them.
b. Archaeological types are abstractions; the same object could be classified in many
different ways.
c. The most useful archaeological types are based on similarities in morphology.
d. The most useful archaeological types are based on similarities in function.
Professional archeologists have joined investigatory teams to
a. Recover MIAs in Vietnam
b. Excavate mass graves of missing persons in Central America
c. Stop illegal slave trade
d. A & B
What did Hill suggest accounted for the comparative abundance of bison limb bones
relative to other bison bones at the Agate Basin site?
a. Bison long bones contain little in the way of meat and marrow, making them
undesirable for transport back to camp.
b. Bison are large animals that would be extremely difficult to carry whole; long bones
would be preferentially transported because of their high-utility (meat and marrow).
c. Carnivore activity resulted in the natural accumulation of limb bones at the site;
limbs are the easiest part of the skeleton for carnivores to remove.
d. The limb bones were the only bones to remain after carnivores scavenged the rest of
the axial and appendicular skeletons.
Nicolaus Steno argued in his Preliminary Discourse to a Dissertation on a Solid Body
Naturally Contained within a Solid (1669) that fossils came to be laid down inside solid
rock because:
a. The fossils had grown inside the rock, a common opinion of the time.
b. The fossils were older; the rock was originally laid down as a liquid, solidifying
around the fossils.
c. The fossils were younger; they became trapped inside the rock after the rock had
already solidified from its liquid state.
d. The fossils and the rock were the same age, both forming together at the same time.
“Archaic” in relation to states is used to
a. Distinguish ancient social forms from modern industrial states.
b. Distinguish ancient forms of society with elected officials and prime ministers.
c. Distinguish outdated forms of society.
d. Distinguish states with small, declining population numbers.
Which of the following measurements could provide useful information about an
artifact’s size?
a. Length.
b. Width.
c. Weight.
d. All of the above.
If an archaeologist is analyzing tiny silica particles that were originally contained in
plants, he or she is analyzing:
a. Macrobotanical remains.
b. Phytoliths.
c. Coprolites.
d. Lipids.
The river basin survey program of the mid-20th century was important because:
a. It stopped 1000s of archaeological sites from being flooded.
b. In it, the federal government recognized its responsibility for the effects of federal
projects on archaeological sites.
c. It led to the passing of Archaeological Resources Protection Act, which was
implemented just in time to save many archaeological sites from the destruction caused
by dam construction.
d. All of the above.
In landscape archeology, the term “landscape” means
a. Topographic features.
b. Material manifestations of the relation between humans and their environments.
c. Plant remains.
d. Geological formations.
The abbreviation “AD” referring to age in an archaeological or historic context means:
a. in the year of the lord.
b. after death.
c. approximate death.
d. nothing; there is no literal translation.
What makes an anthropologist an anthropologist?
a. Studying native people
b. Studying fossils
c. Studying chimpanzees
d. Using a global, comparative and holistic approach
The following items are necessary in the excavator’s tool kit, all except
a. toilet paper.
b. root clippers.
c. toothpicks.
d. CD player.
Which of the following Great Basin projectile point series are arranged in the correct
chronological order from youngest to oldest?
a. Desert Side-notched, Rosegate series, Elko Corner-notched, Gatecliff Contracting
Stem.
b. Rosegate series, Elko Corner-notched, Gatecliff Contracting Stem, Cottonwood
Triangular.
c. Gatecliff Contracting Stem, Elko Corner-notched, Desert Side-notched, Rosegate
series.
d. Cottonwood Triangular, Elko Corner-notched, Rosegate series, Desert Side-notched.
According to Hastorf and Johannessen’s findings, what accounted for change in Wanka
II times?
a. Inka took over and restructured the location of the production system.
b. Cultivation was chosen to alleviate the fuel shortage.
c. Tree taxa begin to show up that were absent before.
d. Ideology associated with planting of certain trees was a factor.
Which of the following do we know to be true about Desert Side-notched points and
Cottonwood Triangular points?
a. They both post-date AD 1300.
b. Desert Side-notched points were designed for hunting bighorn sheep, while
Cottonwood Triangular points were designed for hunting rabbits.
c. Cottonwood Triangular points were unfinished, intended to be later notched, while
Desert Side-notched points were already finished.
d. Each represents a different cultural group living side by side at Gatecliff.
Electron spin resonance is a trapped charge dating method primarily used to date:
a. Bone organic matter.
b. Tooth enamel.
c. Volcanic ash.
d. The last time sediments were exposed to light.
The word taphonomy refers to
a. The fossil record.
b. Faunal remains in the archaeological record.
c. How organisms become part of the fossil record.
d. Fossil organisms.
If stable isotope analysis is conducted on a human skeleton that during life consumed a
diet rich in C4 plants such as maize and very little meat, then the isotopic ratios of the
bones would show:
a. A high ratio of 12C to 13C.
b. A high ratio of 13C to 12C.
c. A high ratio of 15N to 14N.
d. A high ratio of 13C to 15N.
An egalitarian society:
a. Is a society in which people generally have equal access to critical, life-sustaining
resources.
b. Contains roughly as many valued positions as there are persons capable of filling
them.
c. Recognizes status on the basis of gender and age.
d. All of the above.
Which carbon isotope is the rarest?
a. 12C
b. 13C
c. 14C
d. None of the above; carbon isotopes exist in the same proportions.
The radiocarbon date 2850 +/- 40 BP suggests that there is a 66% chance that the true
age:
a. Lies between 2810 and 2890 BP.
b. Is 2830 BP.
c. Lies between 2810 and 2850 BP.
d. Lies between 2850 and 2890 BP.
The application of archaeological and bioarchaeological knowledge for legal purposes
is:
a. Bioarchaeology.
b. Applied science.
c. Forensic archaeology.
d. Forensic science.
A difference between optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and
thermoluminescence (TL) is:
a. OSL dates the last time sediment was exposed to light, while TL dates the last time
artifacts were heated.
b. OSL dates the last time artifacts were heated, while TL dates the last time sediment
was exposed to light.
c. OSL relies on radiocarbon dating while TL is a trapped charge dating method.
d. OSL is a trapped charge dating method while TL relies on radiocarbon dating.
Clusters of residences among the Mikea people in Madagascar reflect:
a. Matrilineal descent groups, with clusters of families consisting of older women,
sisters, and their husbands.
b. Patrilineal descent groups, with clusters of families consisting of older men, brothers,
and their wives
c. A mixture of descent groups, with an equal chance of members belonging to a
patrilineage or a matrilineage
d. Status differences, with groups at the north end of a settlement having higher status
than those at the south end.
Which of the following laws apply to archaeological resources on private land?
a. Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA).
b. Antiquities Act.
c. National Historic Preservation Act.
d. None of the above.
The appendicular skeleton refers to
a. Head, mandibles
b. Vertebrae, ribs
c. Sacrum
d. Everything else other than head, mandibles, vertebrae, ribs, and sacrum.
It is important that archaeologists devote attention to public education because:
a. It is ultimately the public that financially supports archaeological research.
b. Members of an educated public are far less likely to loot or vandalize archaeological
sites.
c. Both A and B.
d. None of the above; it is the archaeologist’s job to conduct research, not waste
valuable time and money talking to an uninformed public.
After excavating a hearth feature you submit organic material from the hearth for a
conventional radiocarbon date. The result comes back as follows: Beta-33003, 3500+/-
100 radiocarbon years BP. You know that:
a. Beta represents the Laboratory.
b. 3500 represents the years before present.
c. +/- 100 represents the standard error.
d. All of the above.
When excavated several hundred graves and thousands of associated artifacts
from Kodiak Island in the 1930s and sent them to the Smithsonian Institution:
a. He made sure to obtain the permission of the living descendants first.
b. He saw no need to consult with the local community, viewing the bones and artifacts
from a strictly scientific perspective.
c. He was able to do so without concern for the wishes of any descendants because the
island was unoccupied at the time of excavation.
d. He was met with many volunteers from the local community who were eager to
assist in his excavations so that they could learn more about their own history.
Imbrication is a process that results in:
a. An extremely well-preserved archaeological record that directly reflects human
behavior.
b. Clay-rich soils pushing artifacts upward as the sediment swells and then moves them
down as cracks form during dry cycles.
c. Stones in a riverbed lying with their upstream ends slightly higher than their
downstream ends.
d. Stones in a riverbed lying with their upstream ends slightly lower than their
downstream ends.
An individual’s age under 25 can be determined by
a. Tooth eruption patterns.
b. Tooth wear.
c. Patterns of bone wear.
d. Bone fusion.
A relative date is:
a. A date expressed as a specific unit of scientific measurement, such as days, years,
centuries, or millennia.
b. A date expressed relative to another (e.g., earlier, later, more recent, etc.) rather than
in absolute terms.
c. A date based on the occurrence of distinctive fossil assemblages in distinct strata.
d. No longer useful for archaeology; absolute dates are necessary in order to provide a
meaningful interpretation of an assemblage.
Studying how a large animal carcass decomposes on an African savannah to determine
how long it takes the carcass to disarticulate in different seasons and which bones are
carried away by carnivores is an example of:
a. Ethnoarchaeology.
b. Taphonomy.
c. Experimental archaeology.
d. Geoarchaeology.
A major goal of critical theory is:
a. Social change.
b. Justification of contemporary class-based ideologies.
c. Generating sound scientific hypotheses.
d. To remain politically neutral.
The concept of culture areas
a. has roots in the late nineteenth century.
b. is ushered in with New Archaeology in the “60s.
c. was first outlined in Phillips’ influential book, Method and Theory in American
Archaeology (1958).
d. is based on the understanding of Cottonwood Triangular points.