Charles Lyell’s 1865 book The Geologic Evidences for the Antiquity of Man was
important because it:
a. documented the fact that humans had lived with now extinct animals in the distant
past.
b. provided evidence that humans had been on the earth for a far shorter time than other
scholars of the time suggested.
c. argued for an extremely young age of the earth (not more than 6000 years old).
d. finally showed that the “ancient ax heads” discovered in river gravels were nothing
more than naturally fractured river cobbles.
Archaeological shovel-testing is:
a. A destructive survey technique that archaeologists no longer use.
b. An important method of identifying sites in areas characterized by soil buildup.
c. An important method of identifying sites in areas characterized by deflation.
d. Only necessary in agricultural regions where archaeologists must survey plow-zones.
Why did Rathje resort to rooting through peoples’ garbage rather than simply asking
them questions about their consumption behavior?
a. Because people do not always answer questionnaires accurately and honestly.
b. Because the distribution of households made it impossible to conduct a random
sample survey.
c. Because only garbage associated with abandoned houses could legally be examined,
and there was therefore no one to ask.
d. Because so many households were included in the study, having people respond to
questionnaires would have been an enormous and costly task.
Which of the following is not basic to the reasons why archaeologists conduct random
sampling?
a. Without random sampling the samples would be biased, with certain parts of the
sample over- or under-represented, and therefore the final results would be biased.
b. Random sampling provides the only way for archaeologists to collect meaningful
negative evidence.
c. Random sampling allows statistical analysis.
d. Each site does not have an equal chance of being included in the sample.
The Mazama ash has been dated at numerous locations in the western US to 6900 years
old. This means that if an archaeologist finds the Mazama ash in a stratified context, he
or she knows that everything above it is less than 6900 years old, and everything below
it is more than 6900 years old. The Mazama ash is an example of a:
a. Colluvial sediment.
b. Soil horizon.
c. Marker bed.
d. Sedimentary deposit that has been disturbed, resulting in reversed stratigraphy.
Alfred Kidder is important to archaeology because
a. He discounted aerial reconnaissance as a means to discover new ruins
b. He amassed a staff of untrained citizens to conduct archaeological investigations
c. He maintained that an archaeologist was a moldy variety of anthropologist
d. He found little support to suggest that Pecos Pueblo was viable for more than one
century.
When analyzing a faunal assemblage, zooarchaeologists attempt to identify a specimen
to:
a. Element.
b. Taxon.
c. Side.
d. All of the above.
Maya hieroglyphics were used to record:
a. Economic information relating to trade networks.
b. Significant events in Maya history.
c. Information about human sacrifice.
d. Information about farming techniques.
Which of the following is the term for a natural formation process in which freeze/thaw
activity in a soil selectively pushes larger artifacts to the surface of site?
a. Cryoturbation.
b. Argilliturbation.
c. Graviturbation.
d. Imbrication.
Attributes are
a. measurable and observable qualities of an object.
b. differences like size and notch position.
c. finite characteristics with set rules governing their number.
d. measurable and observable qualities of an object, such as size and notch position.
Which of the following is true about Thomas Jefferson?
a. Jefferson reportedly mistreated the enslaved population.
b. Jefferson doubted whether Caucasians and Africans could successfully create a
biracial society.
c. Did not favor a plan to transport free blacks to Africa or elsewhere.
d. Was not the father of children with Sally Hemings, as previously claimed.
Decomposition is carried out by microorganisms that require
a. cold, oxygen, and water to survive.
b. warmth, carbon dioxide, and water to survive.
c. warmth, oxygen and dry conditions to survive.
d. warmth, oxygen and water to survive.
Which of the following is not a step in the scientific method?
a. Define a relevant research problem.
b. Generate one or more hypotheses.
c. Test the hypothesis or hypotheses with relevant data.
d. Prove the hypothesis or hypotheses true.
You are examining a burial site, and are interested in the diet of the people, in
particular, how much meat people were consuming on a daily basis. What might you
examine?
a. Quantity of groundstone in the burials.
b. Levels of Nitrogen-15 relative to Nitrogen-14 in the bones.
c. Size of muscle attachments on bones.
d. Levels of Carbon-13 relative to Carbon 12 in the bones.
The difference between inductive and deductive reasoning is:
a. Deductive reasoning involves working from specific observations to more general
hypotheses, while inductive reasoning involves reasoning from theory to account for
specific observational or experimental results.
b. Deductive reasoning involves reasoning from theory to predict specific observational
or experimental results, while inductive reasoning involves working from specific
observations to more general hypotheses.
c. Deductive reasoning is scientific and logical, while inductive reasoning is based on
faith.
d. There is no difference between the two; they are alternate names for the same kind of
reasoning.
While the vertical excavation strategy at Gatecliff was designed to clarify chronology,
the horizontal excavation strategy was designed to:
a. expose living floors.
b. reinforce the artifact typologies in use at the time.
c. clarify the site’s stratigraphy.
d. also clarify chronology, but on a larger scale.
Otzi, the Ice Man of the Alps, provides an example of:
a. how cold conditions can inhibit decomposition of organic material by preventing the
production of microorganisms that cause decay.
b. the peaceful life and death of a Neolithic farmer.
c. the importance of archaeological survey in high altitude mountain settings.
d. All of the above.
NAGPRA refers to the:
a. North Atlantic Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
b. Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
c. North American Graves Production and Redistribution Act.
d. Native Alaskan Graves Production and Redistribution Act.
Dating techniques tell us _____________ about cultural activities.
a. everything we need to know.
b. nothing directly.
c. nothing at all.
d. how to speculate.
In the U.S. conducting research on American Indian remains is a sensitive issue and
raises major ethical issues. Which of the following statements is true?
a. Some modern archaeologists believe we should stop analyzing human remains.
b. Many museums curate both Indian and non-Indian remains; the proportion of
non-Indian skeletons outweighs the Native American skeletons.
c. Reburying non-Native American remains seems to be a disrespectful thing to do.
d. Archaeologists began curating Native American remains in museum collections very
recently.
Members of the Tahitian villages were organized into competing chiefdoms ruled by a
“sacred chief.” Below the “sacred chiefs” were
a. Other “sacred chiefs.”
b. Small chiefs.
c. Sub-chiefs.
d. The “sacred chief” was the only ruling chief.
Michael Blakey’s analysis of some 400 individuals from the First African Baptist
Cemetery in Philadelphia revealed
a. Half the population died before the age of 30
b. Half the population died before the age of 12
c. Half the population died after the emancipation of slaves
d. Some of the deaths were due to suicides
The earliest evidence of artistic expression occurs _______ years ago, but becomes
widespread only_______ years ago.
a. 40,000/10,000
b. 90,000/40,000.
c. 200,000/90,000.
d. 500,000/200,000.
Immigrants from the tropical forest were suggested to have introduced the lowland
plants and animals to Chavin de Huantar. Plants indigenous to Amazonia include
a. Manioc
b. Potatoes
c. Rice
d. Tomatoes
Nineteenth century social Darwinism provided justification for:
a. Helping primitive peoples escape a fate of extinction.
b. Boasian ideas of historical particularism and cultural relativism.
c. A rejection of ethnocentrism.
d. Unfettered economic competition and warfare.
If a bioarchaeologist finds evidence of osteoarthritis in which bones have developed a
distinct “lipping” at the point of articulation, he or she has found:
a. Osteophytes.
b. Enamel hypoplasias.
c. Eburnation.
d. Harris lines.
Formation processes are:
a. Processes by which cultural evolution is recognized in the archaeological record.
b. The ways in which natural depositional processes operate to produce the
archaeological record.
c. The ways in which both human behaviors and natural actions operate to produce the
archaeological record.
d. Processes by which artifacts are transferred from systemic to archaeological contexts.
In the early 20th century, Franz Boas and his students:
a. Rejected unilineal evolution as a valid means of studying human cultural diversity.
b. Argued that all human cultures are unique and should be valued as such.
c. Argued for the accumulation of ethnographic detail and historical facts prior to the
construction of any generalities about human cultural evolution.
d. All of the above.
Processual archaeology is appealing to some archaeologists because:
a. It is concerned with discovering and interpreting symbolic relationships between
material culture and the human mind.
b. It emphasizes the values, ideas, and beliefs that make people human, and is less
concerned with the material conditions of existence.
c. It places priority on the very things that archaeologists are most confident in
recovering from archaeological sites, such as environment, technology, and economy.
d. All of the above.
The footprints at Laetoli were remarkably well-preserved because:
a. They were made in an ash slurry that quickly hardened and were then buried by
volcanic ash soon after they formed.
b. They were slowly buried by volcanic ash after sitting in the open air for a long period
of time.
c. They are very young; their preservation is thus solely a function of their age.
d. They were never buried; the Laetolil Beds that preserve the footprints are the
youngest of a series of stratigraphic units.
A thin, sharp sliver of stone removed from a larger piece of rock during the
flintknapping process is a:
a. Projectile point.
b. Core.
c. Flake.
d. Biface.
Non-site archaeology focuses on patterns of artifacts from within a single site, rather
than on regional patterns.
NAGPRA requires institutions receiving federal funds to inventory and attempt to
affiliate and, if asked, repatriate human skeletal remains and associated grave goods to
existing federally-recognized tribes.
Conservation and cataloging of artifacts after excavation is very time consuming; as a
rule of thumb, archaeologists spend 3 to 5 weeks or more cleaning, conserving, and
cataloging for every week spent excavating.
Ethnographic analysis makes it clear that it is safe to assume that women in the past
always made the pottery, and men always made the stone tools.
Areas with lots of variability in archaeological remains require smaller sample fractions
than do areas of low variability.
The comparative method of 19th century social science took diversity in the world’s
cultures and put them in an evolutionary sequence. Those with “simple” technology
were at the bottom of the scale, and those with the most complex technology were at the
top.
Today, there are fewer women and minorities involved in the profession of archaeology
than ever before.
If you call your father’s brother’s offspring “brother” and “sister” instead of “cousin”,
and you call your mother’s sister’s offspring “cousin”, you most likely belong to a
matrilineage.
Archaic state formation did not occur anywhere until roughly AD 500; archaic states
then spread rapidly from their birthplace in the Near East throughout much of the
world.
Archaeologist Richard Gould (Brown University) developed a volunteer archaeological
unit including safety, medical, and public affairs experts designed to help at disaster
scenes; this unit is called Forensic Archaeology Recover (FAR).
Formation processes only occur in the archaeological context, not in the systemic
context.
Even if an effective sampling strategy has been implemented, the quality of an
archaeological survey can still be affected by factors like uncomfortable working
conditions or terrain.
Leone argues that appearance and popularity of formal Georgian gardens in wealthy
Annapolis homes during the mid 18th century reflected an attempt by the upper class to
maintain their social and economic control.
Archaeology enjoys enormous public interest that suggests more archaeology will be
needed in the future.
The “area of potential effect” in a CRM survey consists of the area directly affected by
the construction project, as well as areas that are anticipated to be affected by the
project after its completion.
Phytoliths are small stone tools, normally inset into pieces of bone or wood to form a
long working edge.
Critical theorists argue that the job of historians (and historical archaeologists) should
be to discover the origin of modern class-based ideologies that have been used to
rationalize forms of exploitation such as slavery, racism, and sexism.
The potlatch ceremony among 19th century Northwest Coast Native Americans
involved the giving away or destruction of property in order to acquire prestige.
Status refers to the rights, duties, and privileges that define the nature of interpersonal
relations.