Archaeomagnetic (or, “paleomagnetic”) dating is based on the constantly changing (in
both direction and intensity) magnetic field of the earth.
Overall, underwater excavation is more expensive than surface excavation because of
both the equipment required and the amount of conservation that waterlogged materials
need.
Lead isotope analysis is an essential characterization technique for metals, although it is
limited to artifacts made entirely of lead.
Traditionally it was believed by archaeologists that cattle were first domesticated in the
Near East, and subsequently spread from there; recent work on domestication using
DNA now suggests at least two, and possibly three, separate domestications.
If the Upper Mangrove Creek excavations were to be carried out today, the
archaeologists would be required to consult with local Aboriginal groups.
Some early pioneers studying the “Moundbuilders” of North America believed that they
were Hindus from India who later moved on to Mexico.
Survival of organic materials is typically limited to cases of extreme presence or lack of
moisture, such as very arid or waterlogged conditions.
The promotion of the past for economic gain is an entirely new and modern
phenomenon.
Although similar in some respects, the applications of evolutionary principles to social
organization are not ideal because, unlike hereditary transmission of biological traits,
culture can be learned.
Although music is common to all humans today, it appears to be unique to humanity; no
other animals have music.
A common criticism of the early New Archaeology (functional-processual archaeology)
was that the importance of ideological and symbolic aspects of societies was ignored or
undervalued.
By about 3000 bc, several Andean cultures had developed cotton textiles, which quickly
replaced the use of other fibers such as reeds and rushes.
Despite many attempts to crack it, the Indus or Harappan script is one of the last to
remain undeciphered.
To answer the question “why” is the most difficult task in archaeology.
In both Mesoamerica and Mesopotamia, even after a proper writing system was
developed, literacy was not shared by most members of a community.
It is very easy to detect city planning in the archaeological record: there is always a lot
of direct material evidence for how such planning was carried out. People simply do not
create sophisticated construction schemes without a master plan.
Like anthropologist Julian Steward, British archaeologist Grahame Clark broke away
from the dependence on artifacts of the cultural-historical approach and argued for the
multi-disciplinary efforts of specialists to understand plant and animal remains.
Contamination of radiocarbon samples is a common problem. Such problems can be
avoided, however, simply by placing the sample inside of a clean paper bag, with a
cardboard or paper label so that the provenience of the sample and context is not lost in
transit.
The success of any archaeological enterprise depends on learning how to ask the right
questions.
In cases where exotic goods are traded over long distances, it is a safe assumption that
centralized, complex, state-level societies were involved.
Simply displaying an artifact in a museum may establish that piece as a “work of art”.
While the meat of sheep and cows are considered to be primary products, wool and
milk are considered to be secondary products.
Seasonal growth patterns in shells and fish bones indicate that the Calusa never lived
year-round at Horr’s Island.
Scientists have come to recognize that fluctuations in climate during the Ice Age were
much more less complex than originally thought; the Ice Age was one, long, unbroken
cold spell.
The “world’s oldest sanctuary” is considered to be Chavin de Huantar, dated to 200 BC.
Fired clay, such as pottery or baked mud-brick, is virtually indestructible if well fired.
Hoards have been called the terrestrial equivalent of a shipwreck, however it is often
not clear why a hoard was deposited.
Robert Carneiro’s idea that the origins of the state in Peru lay in the restrictions imposed
by the environment is considered an example of a multivariate explanation.
Although site surface survey may be useful for identifying sites, such information
cannot provide useful information for the sub-surface distribution of a site’s layout.
The York Archaeological Trust was created in 1972 to push for extensive construction
and development in the region and to fight against the wishes of local archaeologists.
“Direct access” refers to the situation where a user goes directly to the material source
without the intervention of any exchange mechanisms.
Negative feedback generally pushes back against change in society, making for
stability.
Seawater is one of the most destructive forces, but artifacts recovered from under the
sea that are coated with a thick hard casing of metallic salts (e.g., chlorides, sulphides
and carbonates) can often be restored.
Although trade is significant to understanding relations between different polities, the
flow of goods has little impact on economic integration or unification.
Even though many archaeologists enjoy the experience, some people have criticized the
Jorvik Viking center for being too much like Disney Land.
Archaeomagnetic (paleomagnetic) dating is contingent upon a number of factors. If a
clay structure is heated beyond a certain temperature (650-700 oC), is not reheated, and
remains in situ, this dating technique may then be used to measure the
__________________ of the iron particles, which may then be compared to a master
sequence that has been built up for that region
a) magnetic pulses
b) magnetic intensity
c) magnetic direction
d) magnetic half-life
e) all of the above
As well as being a good indicator of ancient climate, loess also played an important role
in Neolithic farming because these soils
a) formed fertile and easily worked land ideally suited for simple technology
b) were dense and prevented water loss through drainage
c) were formed through floodwater deposition (silting) insuring rich nutrients
d) were formed through ancient bogs, swamps, and fens providing deep deposits rich in
nutrients
e) all of the above
If there is an over-representation of young and old animals in relation to their numbers
in a live population, this would suggest
a) a catastrophic age profile
b) an attritional age profile
c) scavenging, or hunting by humans of the most vulnerable animals
d) feasting was frequent
e) answers b and c are both correct
X-ray analysis of human bones reveals various forms of deformity and disease. When
growth is interrupted in childhood because of illness or malnutrition, opaque calcified
formations a few millimeters thick form in bones. These are known as
a) arthritis
b) Spina bifida occulta
c) pneumoconiosis
d) Sprengel’s deformity
e) Harris lines
A technique that overcomes some of the shortcomings of Central Place Theory is
XTENT Modeling. In XTENT modeling, the size of each center is assumed to be
a) directly proportional to the distance from the next, closest center
b) equivalent to each other
c) directly proportional to its area of influence
d) unrelated to the area of its influence
e) of no importance whatsoever
Paleoentomology is the study of ancient
a) insects
b) pollen
c) landscapes
d) macrofauna
e) microbotanical remains
A 19th-century pioneer in organized, precise excavation and recording methods was
a) Oscar Montelius
b) Charles Darwin
c) C.J. Thomsen
d) Augustus Lane-Fox Pitt Rivers
e) James Hutton
Features, essentially non-portable artifacts, include such things as
a) hammers, chisels, and arrowheads
b) ceramic pots, arrowheads, basketry, and flint tools
c) small villages, houses, and palaces
d) advertisements
e) postholes, hearths, floors and ditches
Some survey techniques use squares when conducting regional surveys, but ________
are easier to locate and walk along, in order to record artifact densities across the
landscape
a) transects
b) circles
c) triangles
d) parabolas
e) none of the above
_________ from different levels of the area around Guil Naquitz provided a sequence
of vegetation change, including fluctuations of thorn, pine forest, and oak
a) Ethnographic analysis
b) Radiocarbon dating
c) Isotope analysis
d) Written inscriptions
e) Pollen analysis
An Old World chronological period beginning around 10,000 years ago between the
Paleolithic and the Neolithic, the _______________is associated with the rise of
microlithic tools
a) Mesolithic
b) Microlithic
c) Pre-Pottery Neolithic
d) Post-Paleolithic
e) none of the above
Sending short pulses of electromagnetic waves into the ground and then receiving
reflections of these waves to detect underground changes in soil or archaeological
features is known as
a) standing wave technique
b) bosing
c) ground penetrating radar (GPR)
d) electrical resistivity
e) thermography
Clay anvils, clay cylinders, and burnishing pebbles found in some burials suggests that
Khok Phanom Di was a center for
a) flint tool manufacture
b) pottery manufacture
c) ritual sacrifice
d) community ceremonial events
e) jewelry manufacture
In the 1960s, the “loss of innocence” that came with the realization that there was no
well-established body of theory to underpin current archaeological methods sparked the
development of
a) Cognitive Archaeology
b) Post-Processual Archaeology
c) the New Archaeology
d) the Diffusionist approach
e) the culture-historical approach
In contrast to the functional-processual approach that seeks to create generalizing
explanation, a _________________ explanation, influenced by structuralism, critical
theory, and neo-Marxist thought, favors an individualizing approach
a) hypothetico-deductive
b) culture-historical
c) refutationist
d) postprocessual
e) positivist
Archaeological sites may be defined quite simply as
a) places where people once lived
b) places where butchering and food preparation took place
c) any place where significant traces of human activity are identified
d) any place that shows no traces of human activity
e) none of the above
Much of the portable art from the Ice Age is of animals, but the most famous pieces are
the so-called _____________, such as the example from Willendorf, Austria
a) Venus figurines
b) animal figurines
c) birthing figurines
d) grotesque figurines
e) action figurines
The piece of stone from which material is removed to make stone tools (flakes, blades)
is known as the
a) tablet
b) eolith
c) hand axe
d) core
e) matrix
Archaeologists warned the US Department of Defense and the British Prime Minister’s
office months ahead of time that the ____________ might be looted, yet the building
was not adequately protected
a) the Mogadishu Museum
b) the British Museum
c) the Pergamon Museum
d) the Iraqi National Museum
e) the Afghan Museum
An artifact’s context includes its
a) matrix and how it was constructed
b) provenience and the identity of the maker
c) matrix, provenience, and association with other finds
d) current price
e) none of the above
Although the immediate aim of most research is to answer specific questions, the
fundamental purpose of archaeology must be:
a) to recover ancient useful technology
b) to help define territories, borders, and geographic boundaries
c) to help stop global warming
d) to fight the claims of pseudoarchaeologists
e) to provide the public with a better understanding of the human past
Deposits of discarded debris are known as ______________
a) middens
b) site catchment areas
c) houses
d) burial sites
e) central places
Ancient Greek painters of ceramics were highly skilled and valued, creating a form of
painted pottery known as the black-figure style that was common in Athens during the
6th century bc. Styles of this period and class are so distinctive that
a) individual artistic are sometimes identified
b) local substyles may be identified
c) time periods may be identified
d) all of the above
e) none of the above
According to Renfrew & Bahn, there are now a number of “archaeologies,” including
a) environmental archaeology
b) underwater archaeology
c) historical archaeology
d) ethnoarchaeology
e) all of the above
At the site of Wadi Kubbaniya in Upper Egypt, Fred Wendorf and colleagues identified
a remarkable number of plant food species. The dominant resource, and probably a
dietary staple, was
a) domesticated wheat
b) nutgrass tubers
c) domesticated barley
d) wild wheat
e) wild barley
Some archaeologists maintain that in the human mind there exists an interpretive
framework of the world that affects actions and decisions as well as knowledge. This is
known as a/the
a) interpretive lens
b) cognitive map
c) cognitive filter
d) deductive map
e) inferential frame
The law of superposition means that
a) when one layer overlies another, the one on top is usually more recent
b) layers below are less likely to yield reliable dates
c) when one layer overlies another, the one on the bottom is more recent
d) layers on top are unlikely to have reliable, datable artifacts
e) layers on top are more important than those below
“Lucy,” found by Donald Johanson and his colleagues in Ethiopia, is the skeleton of
a) an Australopithecus afarensis, dated to about 3.18 mya
b) an Australopithecus afarensis, dated to about 5.9 mya
c) an Australopithecus robustus, dated to about 1.9 mya
d) a Homo erectus, dated to about 1.9 mya
e) a Homo erectus, dated to about 3.18 mya
Although the short occupation period at Khok Phanom Di (c. 500 years, from 2000 BC)
was disappointing for the goal of understanding early rice domestication and
cultivation, it was useful because the 154 burials represented
a) the earliest evidence for a suicide cult
b) a mass ritual killing
c) an unbroken mortuary tradition
d) a royal burial, including the court retinue, retainers, and slaves
e) the largest single family burial cemetery in southeast Asia
In a study of seasonality, Paul Mellars and Michael Wilkinson estimated the age at
death of certain fish (saithe, or coalfish) based on the size distribution of the fishes’
a) sagittal otolith
b) eye socket
c) ratio of dorsal fin to body length
d) vertebrae
e) mandible
Although not true humanly created mummies as in Egypt, the arid environment in the
American Southwest promoted exceptional preservation when the pueblo dwellers
buried their dead
a) in deep pits
b) in special kivas
c) in dry caves
d) under the floors
e) bodies from the American Southwest do not survive
George Dalton used the term _____________ to refer to the tokens of wealth and
prestige used in ceremonial exchange systems of non-state societies
a) primitive valuables
b) material culture
c) money
d) kula
e) status symbols