Today, most archaeologists feel more comfortable using the following abbreviation
when providing a date:
a. BC
b. BP
c. AD
d. BCE
_______________ evidence usually provides dates for historical sites.
a. Geomorphological
b. Faunal
c. Documentary
d. Floral
The current sourcing method used to fingerprint obsidian, and used by Richard Hughes
to verify James Griffin’s determination that obsidian in the Ohio Hopewell mounds had
come from Obsidian Cliff in Yellowstone National Park some 2400 kilometers away is:
a. Instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA).
b. Petrographic analysis.
c. Microscopic observation of thin sections.
d. X-ray fluorescence (XRF).
In more humid conditions, plant remains generally are preserved
a. Only when they have been buried.
b. Only when they have been burned.
c. Only when they have been soaked in water.
d. Not at all.
The raw number of identified bones per taxon in an archaeofauna is known as the:
a. OSL.
b. MNI.
c. NISP.
d. AMS.
A social system in which positions of status are limited, and thus where not everyone of
talent may achieve high status or prestige is called a(n):
a. Ranked society.
b. Egalitarian society.
c. Nonresidential group.
d. Residential group.
By assuming that the treatment of people in death reflects their status and roles in life,
the data from more than 3000 burials at Moundville indicates that:
a. Moundville society was egalitarian.
b. Moundville society was ranked, most likely a chiefdom.
c. House structures as well as burials were unrelated to the status of people at
Moundville.
d. Moundville society was matrilineal; females were buried with many more grave
goods than males.
Organic substances such as fats, oils, and waxes that resist mixing with water and are
found in both plant and animal tissues are called:
a. Lipids.
b. Coprolites.
c. Phytoliths.
d. Bioderms.
Gertrude Caton-Thompson made significant contributions to archaeology because:
a. She felt that archaeologists should focus their research on the artifacts found in tombs
and temples, and spent her entire career devoted to their study.
b. She felt that much could be learned by studying settlements and was the first
archaeologist to excavate a village site in Egypt.
c. She believed that archaeologists were responsible for protecting themselves in the
field and slept with a revolver beside her pillow.
d. None of the above.
Zooarchaeology brings an historical perspective to decisions as to which species to
save. One way is to
a. Demonstrate how past human predation and landscape alteration affected animal
populations.
b. Demonstrate how present human populations are destroying ancient species.
c. Demonstrate how ancient species fed ancient populations.
d. Foster conservation efforts to protect endangered species.
Which of the following activities would an applied anthropologist be least likely to be
involved in?
a. Evaluating domestic social programs looking for ways to improve them.
b. Helping corporations improve corporate working conditions.
c. Conducting research to better understand how and why the major social institutions
evolved.
d. Helping to develop culturally appropriate methods of delivering health care.
Experimental archaeology has been used to determine how stone tools were used in the
past. This research has shown:
a. That different kinds of use produce different kinds of microflakes on different parts
of the tools.
b. That stone tool edge damage varied with the type of material being worked (soft
materials versus hard materials).
c. That different kinds of use result in different kinds of stone tool polish.
d. All of the above.
Typology is/are
a. the systematic arrangement of material culture into types.
b. the catalogued artifacts in a museum.
c. another term for stone artifacts.
d. a form of conservation technique.
What could account for chronologically older artifacts being found above younger
artifacts in a stratigraphic sequence?
a. Faunalturbation (e.g., rodent burrows).
b. Cultural disturbance (e.g., prehistoric digging of a hearth or pit).
c. Graviturbation.
d. All of the above.
The law of superposition gives us the information that the “story” of the past
a. begins at the surface, with succeeding “chapters” lying below.
b. begins at the bottom, with succeeding “chapters” lying above.
c. cannot be read merely from the strata of the earth.
d. is interpreted only through the patient work of the archaeologist.
A class of archaeological artifacts defined by a consistent clustering of characteristics is
a(n):
a. Type.
b. Attribute.
c. Component.
d. Phase.
Participant observation is:
a. An archaeological teaching strategy where students are introduced to excavation
techniques by participating in real archaeological digs.
b. A research strategy employed by linguistic anthropologists to help revive dying
languages.
c. The primary strategy of cultural anthropologists in which data are gathered by
questioning and observing people while the observer lives in their society.
d. A research strategy mostly employed by biological anthropologists while studying
human biological variation.
As investigators came to recognize considerable continuities between the unknown
prehistoric past and the native American population of the historic period
a. Scholars saw that living Native Americans were relevant to the interpretation of
archaeological remains.
b. The differences between European and American archaeology disappeared.
c. Speculation arose that Native Americans were one of the Lost Tribes of Israel.
d. The study of American Indians was no longer an important domain in Western
scholarship.
Georeferenced means
a. Data is input to a GIS database using a common mapping reference.
b. Data is mapped by hand using topographic maps.
c. Data is mapped in relationship to geological features.
d. Data is scanned using ground penetrating radar (GPR).
Archaeological “site formation” refers to:
a. The human actions responsible for the creation of an archaeological site.
b. The natural actions responsible for the creation of an archaeological site.
c. The human and natural actions responsible for the creation of an archaeological site.
d. None of the above.
The “New Archaeology” of the 1960s:
a. Was actually not new at all; it marked a continuation of the same way archaeology
had been practiced for many decades, and provides only an arbitrary temporal division
in the history of archaeology.
b. Was an approach that emphasized the understanding of underlying cultural processes
and the use of the scientific method.
c. Is sometimes called processual archaeology today.
d. Both B and C
An artificial mound of stones, deliberately constructed in order to aid navigation, as a
memorial, or to mark the location of a grave is a:
a. Medicine wheel.
b. Trail marker.
c. Cairn.
d. Spiritual site.
Kelly conducted ethnoarchaeological research among the Mikea of Madagascar to
answer which of the following questions?
a. Are different lengths of stay in different types of settlements reflected in the material
remains left behind at Mikea sites?
b. What are the long-term effects of Mikea slash-and-burn horticulture on soil nutrients?
c. Are different subsistence practices reflected in the material remains left behind at
Mikea sites?
d. All of the above.
Provenience is essential to an artifact’s
a. material.
b. age.
c. context.
d. value.
What was revolutionary about Nelson’s 1914 excavation methodology at San Cristobal
Pueblo in New Mexico?
a. Nelson was aware of the effect of screen mesh size on artifact recovery, and adjusted
his screening methods accordingly.
b. Nelson used the newly discovered radiocarbon dating technique to provide an
absolute date for the occupation of the pueblo.
c. Nelson was the first to use dendrochronology, and was able to obtain absolute dates
for the construction of the pueblo.
d. Nelson excavated in arbitrary stratigraphic levels and developed a master ceramic
sequence which allowed for chronological control through the index fossil method.
The antiquity of humans in the New World was established by the Folsom site. Why?
a. The dry desert environment of northeastern New Mexico allowed for the best
preservation.
b. Careful provenience that recorded context: the association of a spear point with the
skeleton of an extinct form of bison.
c. The age of the site, established by radiocarbon dating charred corn recovered during
excavation.
d. All of the above.
The difference between gender roles and gender ideologies is:
a. Gender roles are the culturally prescribed behaviors associated with men and women,
while gender ideologies are the culturally prescribed values assigned to the tasks and
status of men and women.
b. Gender roles are highly variable among cultures, while gender ideologies are
constant among all cultures.
c. Gender roles are constant among all cultures, while gender ideologies are highly
variable.
d. None of the above; the terms are interchangeable.
Middle- level theory in archaeology:
a. Is a logical ordering of cultures through time, based on analysis and classification of
artifact types.
b. Links a modern culture to an ancient one.
c. Is a logical statement linking observations on the static archaeological record to the
dynamic behavior or natural processes that produced it.
d. Links the concept of culture to artifact types.
Archaeologists are often involved with the general public because:
a. Archaeology is of tremendous public interest; the public wants to know about the
past.
b. Archaeology depends on public support for its livelihood, and so consequently it
owes something back to the public.
c. Both A and B.
d. None of the above; archaeologists avoid the public because the public might loot
their sites.
If you want to build something on Federal property or modify that landscape, or if you
want to construct something that requires federal funding, licenses, or permits,
regardless of whose property you will build it on, then you must
a. make certain to be careful that you do the least amount of harm to the properties
involved.
b. determine if the undertaking will cause negative feelings among the neighboring
population.
c. consider the effects to future wildlife species.
d. determine whether the project will adversely affect any sites “included or eligible
for” the National Register.
An artifact discarded or lost by an earlier population and picked up and reused by a
later population is an example of:
a. A reuse process.
b. A reclamation process.
c. A cultural disturbance process.
d. Argilliturbation.