The site of Cahokia consists of 22 mounds, including the huge Monk s Mound. ʹ
Radiocarbon dating can only be used on organic materials, such as charcoal and bone.
Paleoanthropologists study past human societies.
DNA recovered from Neanderthal fossils indicates that Neanderthal DNA is
significantly different from the DNA of any living human.
From bones, osteoarchaeologists can find out about diet, disease, growth, behavior and
lifestyles of people.
The widespread introduction of pottery into the Southwest happened at the beginning of
the Formative period.
The global climate record, as revealed by the oxygen isotope curve has been
remarkably stable for the past 100,000 years.
The impact of the adoption of agriculture on societies in Mexico, the Southwest, and
eastern United States was remarkably similar across time and space.
It has been suggested that social power flowed from the centrality of Chaco Canyon in
raiding and pillaging.
Unlike the Middle Paleolithic in Europe, artwork has been found at Middle Stone Age
sites such as Blombos Cave.
On domesticated plants, the rachis is selected to be brittle so that it can be more easily
harvested.
The Pacific coastal region of the Andes is tropical forest environment with abundant
rainfall.
Australopithecus afarensis footprints at Laetoli indicate that this species walked
quadrapedally.
The son, who became the new ruler after the emperor died, inherited all of his father’s
property.
The Natufian was the period where plants and animals were finally domesticated.
Domestication refers to changes in plants and animals that allow them to survive better
in the wild.
Geophysics creates detailed pictures of archaeological sites and exactly what is under
the ground.
Optimal foraging theory is based on the assumption that choices people make reflect
altruistic impulses to benefit others.
Wet screening is used to recover items from submerged sites.
The Jomon were a Japanese agricultural society with elaborate pottery.
Inca roads could be up to 4 meters wide, and involved ingenious bridges for people and
animals to use.
The Pleistocene is characterized by the frequent buildup and retreat of continental ice
sheets.
The first true agriculture in the Middle East developed during the Kebaran Period.
Anthropogenic deposits are the result of insect disturbances on an archaeological site.
The earliest known member of genus Homo is habilis.
The Florentine Codex, compiled by friar Bartolome de las Casas, is a major source of
information on the Aztecs.
Like the mounds, Hopewell domestic settlements are numerous and are easily found by
archaeologists.
The hominin Homo antecessor is intermediate between Neanderthals and modern
humans.
Excavation profiles can be represented schematically by using the Harris Matrix.
In egalitarian societies, there are no differences in status at all.
The Late Neolithic site of __________ in Central Turkey includes rooms decorated
with frescoes and bulls horns.
a. Jerf el Ahmar
b. atalhyk
c. Netiv Hagdud
d. Lepinski Vir
This Late Archaic site in Louisiana is characterized by a series of six concentric
mounds.
a. Stalling Island
b. Poverty Point
c. Indian Knoll
d. Adena
Which of these was an important feature for establishing the power of rulers in early
Chinese states?
a. religion
b. ritual
c. artwork
d. warfare
Artifacts that are found in the place where they were originally deposited are said to be
__________.
a. in situ
b. commonplace
c. ex post facto
d. geologically stable
Which of these statements best describes the law of superposition?
a. Sediments will be deposited in horizontal layers.
b. In any undisturbed sedimentary deposits, each layer is younger than the layer beneath
it.
c. In any undisturbed sedimentary deposits, each layer is older than the layer beneath it.
d. The uppermost sediments are the most important for archaeological analysis.
The concept of heterarchy is based on __________.
a. the relation of unranked elements
b. space inter-syntax
c. oracle bone writing
d. standardized bricks and rations
Which of these is a tool industry of the Upper Paleolithic?
a. Olduwan
b. Aurignacian
c Mousterian
d. Acheulian
Where was the oldest fossil that can clearly be classified as Neanderthal (175,000 years
ago) discovered?
a. Biache-Saint-Vaast
b. Le Moustier
c. Mezmaiska Cave
d. Shanidar Cave
Which of the following phrases best describes dendrochronology?
a. It uses tree ring growth to measure time.
b. It uses animal dens to map storage pits.
c. It can only be used in arid environments.
d. It is a method of remote sensing.
The Neolithic and the Paleolithic were defined by whom?
a. Christian Thomsen
b. John Frere
c. John Lubbock
d. Heinrich Schliemann
__________ stressed the importance of the actions of the individual living in past
society.
a. Lewis Binford s writingsʹ
b. Feminist archaeology
c. Processual archaeology
d. Agency theory
The first capital of a unified Egypt was in this Upper Egyptian city.
a. Cairo
b. Giza
c. Hierakonpolis
d. Memphis
Beginning in the __________ Period, burials of individuals or groups are found with
rich ornamentation.
a. Auregnacian
b. Magdalenean
c. Gravettian
d. Solutrean
What is the oldest city in Mesoamerica?
a. Monte Albn
b. Teotihuacn
c. La Venta
d. Aguateca
Which city was part of the alliance that formed the basis of Aztec expansion?
a. Teotihuacn
b. Cusco
c. Texcoco
d. Aztln
Hominins of the genus Paranthropus were the first to disperse out of Africa.
Toward the end of the Natufian there was a reduction in the number and size of sites.
This reduction has been correlated with the __________, a global climatic event known
as “the Little Ice Age.”
a. Pleistocene
b. Older Dryas
c. Elder Glaciation
d. Younger Dryas
Evidence for controlled use of fire during the Lower Paleolithic ________.
a. has been tentatively identified at Koobi Fora and Chesowanja
b. is a well-established fact
c. is found only outside of Africa
d. consists of piles of fire-cracked rock
Which of the following is a pre-Clovis site?
a. Meadowcroft Rockshelter, Pennsylvania
b. Ngandong, Indonesia
c. Nauwalabila I, Australia
d. Pedra Furada, Brazil
Excavations at __________ in Mali show that urban centers predate external contact in
West Africa.
a. Axum
b. Timbuktu
c. Songhay
d. Jenne-Jeno
The earliest evidence of emerging political complexity in Mesoamerica is found on
________ sites.
a. Maya
b. Toltec
c. Aztec
d. Olmec
Which of the following scholars helped establish the antiquity of humanity?
a. Charles Lyell
b. John Frere
c. Lewis Binford
d. Ian Hodder
Which of these sites is located in modern-day Vietnam?
a. Yingpan
b. Noen U-Loke
c. Oc Eo
d. Angkor Borei
Which late refugia site has yielded relatively recent Neanderthal remains?
a. Shanidar Cave, Iraq
b. Vindija Cave, Croatia
c. St. Cesaire, France
d. Arcy-sur-Cure, France
Two pieces of incised ochre and a collection of pierced shells, which may be some of
the earliest examples of art, were found at what Middle Stone Age site?
a. Klasies River Mouth
b. Border Cave
c. Chauvet Cave
d. Blombos Cave
What evidence for agriculture was found at the Kuk Swamp site in New Guinea?
a. the ancient field system (canals and mounds)
b. post holes indicating garden boundaries
c. preserved seeds of domestic crops
d. written record of planting schedules
Elaborate burial mounds found in Ohio dating to the Woodland Period can be related to
the __________ culture.
a. Late Prehistoric
b. Hopewell
c. Mississippian
d. Poverty Point
One characteristic of domesticated plants is a tough __________, which holds the seed
to the stalk until harvested.
a. rachis
b. flower pod
c. spikelet
d. rindos
What is the boundary that separates Sunda and Sahul called?
a. the Marianas Trench
b. the Wallace Line
c. Arnhem Land
d. Beringia
Egyptian kingly power was tied to the concept of __________, which combines the
virtues of balance and justice.
a. karma
b. Saqqara
c. ma”at
d. destiny
_________ refers to an ecological event causing a massive decline in marine resources
along the Andean coast.
a. Global warming
b. El Nio
c. Tsunami
d. La Pinta
The discovery of footprints at __________indicated that Australopithecus afarensis was
bipedal.
a. Olduvai Gorge
b. Koobi fora
c. Hadar
d. Laetoli
Who was discovered in Tomb 15 at Yingpan?
a. the first emperor of Japan
b. a woman decorated in elaborate jewelry
c. a sacrificed child
d. a tall, 30-year-old man
How does Prentice introduce the concept of agency into the process of plant
domestication?
What have excavations at Mound 51 at Cahokia revealed?
What is lithic analysis?
What was the Lower Paleolithic?
What happened to Inca rulers after their deaths?
What were the functions of the stone enclosures at Great Zimbabwe?
What evidence is there for use of fire among early hominins?
How can an archaeologist get an accurate quantitative picture of the relative frequency
of different animals in the faunal assemblage?
How was Raymond Dart sʺkiller apeʺhypothesis called into question? ʹ
What are the major areas of biological analysis and what do they describe?
What is the advantage of accelerator mass spectrometry over conventional radiocarbon
dating?
How did domestication in the Andes region differ from other regions in the world?
What happened at the end of the Middle Stone Age/Paleolithic that led to the
elaboration of the Upper Paleolithic?
What has excavation at the Templo Mayor revealed?
What technological innovations occurred during the Late Neolithic?
What is the Frison Effect?
Why is the site of Monte Verde significant?
What general characterizations can be made about domestication around the world?
How can chimpanzees be used as an analogy for hominin hunting activity?