Early plantation archaeology (prior to the 1960s) was primarily aimed at:
a. Architectural reconstruction, emphasizing the grandeur of the antebellum way of life.
b. Verifying the written records of the time.
c. Uncovering information about aspects of slave life that written records from the time
did not address.
d. Dispelling the “melting pot” perspective of American history.
Flutes, or wide, shallow, longitudinal grooves on each face of a point, are made by
a. Chipping away the unwanted materials
b. Removing channel flakes on both sides of the point’s base
c. Burning the original core
d. Carving the grooves with a sharp instrument
Inferring that prehistoric kivas had the same function as kivas used by Puebloan
societies today is an example of:
a. A formal analogy.
b. A relational analogy.
c. Low level theory interpretation.
d. Both formal and relational analogies.
At Home St. Jean in Rwanda, forensic archaeologists concluded that a mass grave site
was part of a program of genocide because:
a. Cut marks on bones showed that many individuals were killed by machetes from
behind, as if they were fleeing their attackers.
b. Cut marks on the bones of hands and forearms showed that some people were
unmercifully macheted to death with their arms raised in self defense.
c. The murdered civilians were unarmed.
d. All of the above.
Ethnoarchaeological research among the Mikea suggests that the more permanent a
settlementis:
a. The greater range of features it will contain.
b. The closer trash dumps will be to habitations structures.
c. The more variable posthole diameters will be.
d. All of the above.
The faunal assemblage from the site of Chavn de Huntar, Peru, contains an abundance
of leg bones with few cranial and foot bones. This pattern has been explained by:
a. Large animal disturbance; cranial and foot bone were preferentially carried away
from the site by carnivores, while leg bones were left behind.
b. Taphonomic processes; bone preservation at high altitude sites is notoriously poor.
c. Ch”arki trade; dried llama and alpaca meat on leg bones was traded into the site from
high-altitude herding communities.
d. Decreasing reliance on camelid meat by residents of the site through time.
An archaeological culture:
a. Is the same thing as an ethnographic culture.
b. Is an accurate reflection of how prehistoric people viewed themselves.
c. Is a region within a culture area whose material culture differed from that of other
regions.
d. All of the above.
Mary and Louis Leaky were famous historic archaeologists who worked in East Africa.
Which of the following is not one of the main subfields of anthropology?
a. Biological anthropology.
b. Archaeology.
c. Cultural anthropology.
d. Bioarchaeology.
Schillaci and Stojanowski (University of New Mexico) argue from their analysis of the
Pueblo Bonito burial population that the people of Pueblo Bonito practiced bilocal
rather than matrilocal residence because:
a. Ethnographic analogy suggests that the presence of prestigious grave goods
accompanying both male and female skeletons at Pueblo Bonito is characteristic of
bilocal residence patterns.
b. Mitochondrial DNA studies showed that males were more closely biologically
related than females.
c. Analysis of cranial traits showed that the male sample possessed greater variation
than the female sample, a pattern not expected within a matrilocal residence pattern.
d. Analysis of cranial traits showed that the female sample possessed greater variation
than the male sample, a pattern not expected within a matrilocal residence pattern;
bilocal residence was also common among the eastern pueblos at the time of European
contact.
The study of human behavior through material remains, for which written history in
some way affects its interpretation, is:
a. Prehistoric and historical archaeology.
b. Historical archaeology.
c. Processual archaeology.
d. Postprocessual archaeology.
Modern cognitive archaeology aims to do all of the following except:
a. Study the perception, description and classification of the universe.
b. Make interpretations about past cultures when there is no ethnographic data
available.
c. Understand past religions.
d. Study a culture’s expression of abstract ideas in art and writing systems.
How does contemporary historical archaeology differ from its prehistoric counterpart?
a. Modern historical archaeology often has a postprocessual slant to it, addressing
humanistic and ideological concerns.
b. Historical archaeologists tend not to study large-scale processes; the high degree of
temporal resolution in historic sites often leads investigators to focus on specific events
or individuals.
c. Because historical archaeology deals with the relatively recent past, and all the
cultural, political, and ethical challenges therein, it is often emotionally charged.
d. All of the above.
Organic remains are best preserved in:
a. a cave, where conditions remain permanently cool and dry.
b. a bog, where conditions remain permanently wet and depleted of oxygen.
c. a field, exposed to hot, dry conditions with periodic rainfall.
d. Both a permanently dry, cool cave and a permanently wet bog.
The paradigm known as unilineal cultural evolution:
a. Argues that human societies have evolved along a single developmental trajectory,
with western civilization as the most advanced evolutionary stage.
b. Argues that cultures can only be understood in their own terms, and cannot be
usefully compared to other cultures.
c. Argues against ethnocentrism, stressing the equality of all cultures, with none
superior to any other.
d. Has proven extremely useful for understanding cultural change; most anthropologists
operate within this paradigm today.
Absolute dates are absolute in that they
a. can only say how much older or younger one site or artifact is than another.
b. places sites in relative order.
c. provides specific ages or age ranges.
d. cannot be disputed.
Archaeologists refer to the common set of symbols found in the Midwestern United
States between 200 BC and AD 400 as the:
a. Mississippian Interaction Sphere.
b. Hopewell Interaction Sphere.
c. Midwestern Ceremonial Complex.
d. Magdalenian Symbolic Complex.
Ethnographic data from a variety of societies around the world has shown which of the
following about men’s and women’s roles in ceramic manufacture?
a. When pottery is made by hand, it is usually made by women; when pottery is made
on a wheel, it is usually made by men.
b. When pottery is made by hand, it is usually made by men; when pottery is made on a
wheel, it is usually made by women.
c. When pottery is made on a wheel, men and women participate equally in the
manufacturing process; women dominate the manufacturing process when pottery is
made by hand.
d. When pottery is made by hand, men and women participate equally in the
manufacturing process; women dominate the manufacturing process when pottery is
made on a wheel.
How did public involvement in the African Burial Ground project influence the
project’s research design?
a. It had very little influence; the local African-American community had doubts that
any of the interred individuals were actually their ancestors, and so consequently had
little desire to be involved in the project.
b. The local community, refusing to let their ancestors be further exploited, called for
the immediate reburial of any human skeletal remains and associated grave goods
without analysis or documentation; the project’s research design was therefore never
realized.
c. The archaeologists worked with the local community, incorporating their concerns
and questions into the project’s research design, resulting in community empowerment
as well as a more meaningful research project.
d. In order to reduce the controversy associated with the project, the federal government
allowed the local community to take complete control of the research design; the result
was a lack of rigorous scientific methodology and a more humanistic and ideological
approach to the project.
Under NAGPRA, how is cultural affiliation of human skeletal remains and other
covered items determined?
a. First, ownership resides with any lineal descendants, followed by the tribe on whose
land the remains or objects were found, followed by the tribe with the closest cultural
affiliation and who stakes a claim to the remains, followed by the tribe who is
recognized as aboriginally occupying the land on which the remains were found.
b. First ownership resides with any lineal descendants, followed by the tribe with the
closest cultural affiliation and who stakes a claim to the remains, followed by the tribe
who is recognized as aboriginally occupying the land on which the remains were found,
followed by the tribe on whose land the remains or objects were actually found.
c. First ownership resides with any lineal descendants, followed by the tribe who is
recognized as aboriginally occupying the land on which the remains were found,
followed by the tribe on whose land the remains or objects were actually found,
followed by the tribe with the closest cultural affiliation and who stakes a claim to the
remains.
d. First ownership resides with the tribe who is recognized as aboriginally occupying
the land on which the remains were found, followed by any lineal descendants,
followed by the tribe on whose land the remains or objects were actually found,
followed by the tribe with the closest cultural affiliation and who stakes a claim to the
remains.
Explanations for the collapse of culture on Rapa Nui include:
a. Surrounding waters lacked reefs that support fish for food.
b. They cut down trees to build homes and canoes.
c. Rats feasted on pine nuts and birds’ eggs.
d. All of the above.
According to the National Historic Preservation Act’s regulations, an archaeological site
is eligible for the National Register if it meets which of the following criteria?
a. Association with people or events important in history or prehistory.
b. Possession of distinctive characteristics of a school of architecture, construction
method, or characteristics of high artistic value.
c. Known to contain or likely to contain data important in history or prehistory.
d. Any or all of the above.
Analyses of burial populations from Mississippian sites indicate:
a. Clear status differences among men and women, as well as among classes, reflected
by types and abundance of grave goods.
b. That men ate more meat than women, and that high status men ate more meat than
low status men.
c. That although the elite had access to resources that low status individuals did not, the
quality of life of low status individuals did not appear negatively affected.
d. All of the above.
Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act:
a. Sets forth the criteria by which National Register status is determined.
b. Requires all federal agencies to be good stewards of their cultural resources and
inventory public lands for archaeological sites.
c. Requires the government to take into account the effect of its actions on historic
properties.
d. All of the above.
The process of flotation is based on the principle that:
a. the most appropriate screen size for recovering carbonized plant remains and bone
fragments is 1/4″ mesh.
b. carbonized plant remains and very small bone fragments will float when submerged
in water, while heavier items (including dirt) will not.
c. artifact provenience is the most important information an archaeologist can record
during an excavation.
d. All of the above.
Why is it possible to assess age at death from tooth eruption patterns in juvenile human
skeletons?
a. Because the pattern and timing of crown formation and tooth eruption is consistent
among human populations.
b. Because although the timing of crown formation and tooth eruption varies among
human populations, it varies at known rates.
c. It is only possible if the sex of the individual is also known, because tooth eruption
patterns differ between males and females.
d. None of the above.
The differential participation of males and females in the various social, economic,
political, and religious institutions of a group is termed
a. Gender ideology.
b. Berdaches.
c. Gender role.
d. Sexual dichotomy.
A marker bed can be useful to archaeologists because:
a. If it has been dated in other sites, it can indicate the age of sediments in a new site.
b. It is specific to a particular site and can therefore provide a detailed environmental
reconstruction of that particular site.
c. It generally consists of soft sediments that are easily excavated.
d. None of the above; a marker bed is only useful to geologists.
Factors that can affect the utility of radiocarbon dating include:
a. Contamination (e.g., by coal).
b. Atmospheric fluctuations of 14C.
c. The length of time wood is useful after it dies (“old wood” problem).
d. All of the above.
Let’s say you are excavating a site. You are being pretty careful, and are using 1/4″
mesh screens to sieve the dirt after it is removed by a trowel and dustpan from the site.
You find a few very small but well-preserved fish bones. The next day:
a. you decide to stop using trowels and start using dental tools for the excavation; you
are probably not recovering many fish bones because they are being inadvertently
destroyed by troweling.
b. you conclude that people in the past were not using minnows and you cease
excavation.
c. you fear that the 1/4″ mesh of the screen may allow most of the very small fish bones
to pass through; you decide to switch to 1/8″ mesh, and maybe even screen a sample of
dirt through 1/16″ mesh to see if you are finding few bones because they are not
present, or because the screening method is systematically losing them
d. you realize that fish were not being used prehistorically and decide that a single
backhoe trench through the site will probably give you a sufficient amount of remains
of other animals to permit you to test your hypothesis.
The first scientific archaeologist in America who attempted to determine the identity of
the Moundbuilders by actually excavating a mound was:
a. Ephraim Squier.
b. Thomas Jefferson.
c. Cyrus Thomas.
d. John Wesley Powell.
Archaeological sites are defined on the ground by:
a. A set of objective procedures used by all archaeologists to ensure standardization
across the discipline.
b. Often subjective interpretations of artifact density.
c. Determining the boundaries of the discrete behavioral entities represented by the site.
d. The entire survey unit.
Hominins are members of the evolutionary line that contains humans and our early
bipedal ancestors.
While historical archaeology is currently one of the most important directions in current
archaeology, its development occurred much later in time than did prehistoric
archaeology; the earliest historic archaeological excavations did not take place until the
mid-20th century.
Archaeological sites are generally named after the archaeologists who discovered them.
A midden is a refuse deposit resulting from human activities, generally consisting of
sediment.
The links between patterns in the faunal assemblage and interpretations depends on
experimental archaeology and ethnoarchaeology.
In general, bias in preservation makes reconstructing the plant component of ancient
diets more difficult than reconstructing the meat component.
Experimental archaeology is necessary when archaeologists want to know the material
effects of behaviors that no longer exist.
Oral traditions are not used to trace shared group identity over time because oral
traditions cannot provide valid accounts, even though they use metaphors that add
power to stories and make them memorable.
A faunal assemblage consists of the plant remains recovered from an archaeological
site.
In archaeology, plant remains from archaeological sites are known as faunal remains.
Human bone is formed by complex interrelationships among the environment, behavior,
physiology, and cultural behavior.
The Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 covers the protection and
repatriation of Native American graves and grave goods.
Remote sensing techniques will probably completely replace archaeological excavation
in the near future.
By looking at levels of sex hormones such as testosterone and progesterone in
coprolites, we can determine whether they were produced by a man or a woman.
Upper Paleolithic cave art is often found in very obscure and difficult to access places
such as the deepest recesses of caves, strongly suggesting a connection between the art
and religious ritual.
A humanistic approach in archaeology tends to reject a search for universals in favor of
emphasizing the dignity and worth of the individual and the individual’s lived
experience.