Rituals in which doing something to an images of an object produces the desired effect
in the real object are called
a. Structuralism
b. Totems
c. Sympathetic magic
d. Religion
In an undisturbed deposit, a stone tool found in a stratum overlying a stratum containing
potsherds is most likely:
a. Older than the potsherds.
b. Younger than the potsherds.
c. The same age as the potsherds.
d. It is impossible to determine whether the stone tool is older or younger than the
potsherds.
In the reconstruction of social and political organizations archaeologists remember
a. Artifacts were merely utilitarian items.
b. Artifacts carried no social meanings.
c. Artifacts carried symbolic meanings that reflect elements of social and political
organization.
d. It is not necessary to have well-supported ethnographic analogy.
Petrarch is considered perhaps the most influential individual of the early Renaissance
becausehe:
a. traveled extensively to exotic lands and conducted meticulous excavations,
increasing public interest in the past.
b. considered the remote past an ideal of perfection, and argued that moral philosophy
could be found within ancient classical civilizations.
c. argued that the concept of God had become increasingly irrelevant to explanations of
the natural world.
d. discovered ancient Paleolithic handaxes in association with extinct mammal
skeletons, thereby establishing the antiquity of humanity.
Taphonomic research at the Hudson-Meng bison bonebed in northwest Nebraska
showed that:
a. The ancestors of modern Plains Indians purposely broke open bison skulls to remove
the brains for use in tanning hides.
b. Natural processes such as incomplete burial and subsequent exposure to sunlight
could have caused the tops of the bison skulls to decompose.
c. The bonebed was a result of the ancestors of modern Plains Indians running a herd of
500 bison off of a low cliff and subsequently dragging them to a processing area.
d. The bonebed was a result of both natural bone accumulation and human hunting
practices.
The Battle of the Alamo is enshrined in American folklore as:
a. A “holy altar”, where the martyrs’ deaths of Texan soldiers successfully delayed
Mexican forces and ultimately set up a victory for Texas.
b. A tragic and pointless slaughter of American soldiers by the Mexican troops who
vastly outnumbered them.
c. An unexpected victory for Texan soldiers, who although they were drastically
outnumbered by the Mexican army, fought heroically and were able to overcome the
Mexican soldiers.
d. The ultimate triumph of good over evil, where Mexican soldiers, seeing the justness
of the American cause, joined Texan troops to defeat the Mexican army.
The “Frison Effect” explains the change in the shape of stone tools as a result of:
a. Different cultural groups occupying the same site at different times.
b. Different mental templates of different flintknappers within the same cultural group.
c. Tool resharpening.
d. Differences in stone tool typologies.
What is Lascaux II?
a. The only part of Lascaux cave that is currently open to the public.
b. A recently discovered passage leading away from the main chambers at Lascaux, and
into an additional chamber complex also containing Upper Paleolithic cave art.
c. Another cave containing Upper Paleolithic cave art, located only 200 meters from
Lascaux, found decades after the initial discovery of Lascaux.
d. A very precise replica of the Hall of Bulls from the real Lascaux, constructed by the
French government to limit visitation and reduce damage to the real Lascaux.
In truth, archaeology ________________the ramifications and conflicts involved when
we take multiple versions of reality to the American public.
a. Has grown weary of
b. Is only beginning to appreciate
c. Turns to the National Park Service to confront
d. Teaches a hands-off policy regarding
The concept of “deep time” refers to the following:
a. That the oldest artifacts are found in the deepest parts of a site.
b. The recognition that life is ancient and evolved over time.
c. Life on earth cannot be measured in thousands of years.
d. Both B and C
How was Lascaux cave discovered?
a. Accidentally, by schoolboys and a lost dog.
b. Through systematic survey of the Dordogne region of southern France, in search of
caves with the potential for Upper Paleolithic art.
c. By the landowner, who fell into a shallow pit and discovered cold air rising from a
hole in the pit’s bottom.
d. By an avocational archaeologist who happened to be hiking in the region, and
discovered artifacts near the cave’s opening.
If a biological father has little to do with his biological offspring, and instead spends
most of his time with his sister’s children who call him by a term meaning “father”
rather than “uncle,” the descent system of these people is most likely:
a. Patrilineal.
b. Matrilineal.
c. Bilateral.
d. Any or all of the above.
Plant and animal domestication occurred independently in several centers across the
globe. Which of the following is not a major independent hearth of plant
domestication?
a. The Americas (North, Central, and South America).
b. Australia.
c. Central Africa.
d. Southeastern Asia.
How do we know that Folsom hunters camped at the Agate Basin site in the spring?
a. Coprolites from the site contain plant and small animal remains that are only present
in the area in the springtime.
b. Bison tooth eruption patterns indicate the presence of juvenile bison that died in late
March or early April.
c. Palynological data from the site indicate the presence of plant species that only
pollinate in the spring.
d. Macrobotanical remains from the site indicate the presence of plant species that only
grow in the spring.
The main purpose of a zooarchaeological comparative collection is:
a. To help zooarchaeologists identify archaeofaunas.
b. To determine whether cutmarks on animal bones were made historically or
prehistorically.
c. To distinguish between natural carnivore tooth marks and cutmarks made by humans.
d. To identify the types of fauna living at and around a site at the time it was occupied
prehistorically.
The process through which some individuals survive and reproduce at higher rates than
others because of their genetic heritage is known as:
a. Natural selection.
b. Social Darwinism.
c. Unilineal cultural evolution.
d. Biological evolution.
H. Marie Wormington is an important character in the development of Americanist
archaeology during the first half of the 20th century because:
a. She illustrates how difficult it was for a woman to break into the male-dominated
field of Americanist archaeology at that time; although well-qualified to conduct
archaeological research, she was never given the opportunity.
b. She is an example of a female pioneer in Americanist archaeology, and her
contributions are still considered important today.
c. She shows that although women were interested in archaeology during this time, they
simply weren”t yet ready to participate in archaeological research; Wormington’s
research was irrelevant and scientifically unsound.
d. She illustrates that although women were not yet permitted to conduct archaeological
research during this time, they were still important in the field during excavations as
camp cooks and logistical organizers.
The sources of plants that help reconstruct ancient diets include
a. Macrobotanical remains.
b. Phytoliths.
c. Plant nurseries.
d. Macrobotanical remains and phytoliths.
Cultural affiliation under NAGPRA is determined by:
a. Anthropological and archaeological evidence.
b. Folklore and oral tradition.
c. Geographical and historical evidence.
d. All of the above.
Based on ethnoarchaeological evidence, Hill suggested that hunters at Agate Basin
killed most of the animals individually,
a. Far from camp.
b. Near water.
c. In high elevations.
d. Close to camp.
The more important role in archaeology in the future will be to
a. Use archeological techniques to understand modern garbage
b. Gather data necessary to bring criminals to justice
c. Re-excavate ancient ruins with better technology
d. Knock down walls that often divide people of the world
The Moundbuilder Myth provides an example of:
a. How the social, cultural, and political context of archaeology can influence its
theories.
b. The infallibility of science.
c. How more civilized cultures (the Moundbuilders) can be destroyed by less civilized
cultures (the Native Americans).
d. How pseudoarchaeology can be useful to professional archaeologists.
Kodiak Island in the far north is the aboriginal home to:
a.
b. Russian Orthodox Church
c. Alutiiq
d. Kodiak bear
American historical archaeologists work to recover the history of communities by
excavating the immigrant communities of
a. Early nineteenth century mining towns
b. Chinese railroad labor camps
c. Episcopal communities
d. A and B
Seriation diagrams resemble battleships because:
a. An artifact or style catches on slowly in the beginning, then becomes popular and
widespread, and then gradually falls out of favor.
b. The popularity of an artifact or style tends to remain constant through time.
c. The popularity of an artifact or style fluctuates wildly through time, showing no
particular pattern.
d. They follow a relative chronological sequence.
An archaeological site is:
a. Any place where material evidence about the human past exists in a buried context.
b. Any place where artifacts exist alongside more substantial archaeological remains,
such as structures.
c. Any place where a concentration of material evidence exists about the human past.
d. Any place where material evidence about the human past has been discovered by
systematic archaeological survey.
Archaeologists conduct surveys because
a. One site can reveal everything about an ancient society.
b. Archeologists do not trust other archaeologists.
c. No single site reveals everything about an ancient society.
d. Funding permits conducting surveys.
How could Robert Hall’s interpretations about the symbolic meanings of Hopewell
effigy pipes be tested?
a. They could be tested directly simply by examining ethnographic data relating to the
symbolic meaning of historic peace pipes.
b. They could be tested indirectly by assessing the archaeological record of the
Hopewell Interaction Sphere, and determining whether the social and political
ramifications predicted by Hall’s hypothesis are archaeologically visible.
c. If abundant evidence of conflict is present in Hopewell sites along with abundant
effigy pipes, Hall’s interpretation would be supported.
d. They could not be tested; this is the major problem with cognitive archaeological
approaches.
Ancient artificial channels dug along the Peru-Bolivia border
a. Provided moisture during wet seasons
b. Served as heat sinks
c. Are not viable alternatives for rural development today
d. Was not cost effective
What could a bioarchaeologist look at to determine the age at death of a juvenile human
skeleton?
a. Tooth eruption patterns.
b. Patterns of bone fusion.
c. Patterns of wear on the pubic symphysis.
d. Tooth eruption and bone fusion patterns.
One of the ways in which anthropologists study culture is through an ideational
perspective. An ideational perspective:
a. Focuses on ideas, symbols, and mental structures as driving forces in shaping human
behavior.
b. Emphasizes technology, ecology, demography, and economics as driving forces in
shaping human behavior.
c. Argues that while human behavior is definitely shaped by ideas, symbols, and mental
structures, it is equally shaped by technology, ecology, demography, and economics.
d. Argues that the forces shaping human behavior are largely unknowable; therefore any
perspective is just as good as another.
Pollen helps reconstruct past environments because
a. Plants grow all over the world.
b. Different plant species produce differently shaped pollens.
c. Humans have always survived on plants.
d. Pollen is spread by wind, birds and animals.