Achaeology Midterm

phytoliths

Commonly found preserved in ash layers, pottery, and on stone tools and even teeth, minute particles of silica derived from plant cells that survive after the rest of the organism is decomposed are known as..

Ethnography

Considered a useful starting point for archaeologists who wish to understand the lifestyles of people who lived in the past, the study of living human cultures and communities is called..

that humans evolved similarly

Darwin's work on evolution, in particular the mechanism of "natural selection," served as an important catalyst to the concept..

B

Ecofacts, which were not made by humans but still provide information about the past include such items as.. A. animal bones, plant remains, pottery fragments. B. soils, sediments, animal bones, plant fragments C. stone tools, weapons, pottery D. soils sediments, animal bones, stone tools, weapons, pottery

postholes, hearths, storage ditches

Features include things such as

Geographic Information System

GIS, which stands for ___________, is a significant new development in archaeological mapping.

Postprocessual archaeology

Ian Hodder and his students were some of the first to advance influential arguments for the school of archaeological thought called..

a terminus ante quem

If a coin with a date on it is found in a sealed archaeological deposit, we know that the deposit can be no older than the date on the coin. In that situation, the date on the coin represents

Cultural Ecology

In North America, the influential anthropologist Julian Steward emphasized the importance of environmental adaptation in cultural change. What was this approach termed?

Nunamiut of Alaska

In order to interpret the evidence from Middle Paleolithic sites in France, Lewis Binford studied the use and discard of bones and tools at a seasonal hunting camp used by the..

0

In the Christian calendard (which uses BC and AD), there is no year..

chemical signature, different foods

Isotopic analysis of human tooth enamel or bone collagen relies on reading the ___________ in the body left by _____________.

D.

Microfauna (small animals) tend to be better indicators of climate and environmental change because.. A. They are sensitive to oscillations in climate and adapt relatively quickly. B. they accumulate naturally, so they reflect the immediate environment. C. they are accumulated at a site through human or animal predation. D. A and B E. None of the above

occurred independently in several different areas of the world

One of the most striking facts of world prehistory is that the transition to food cultivation from hunting and gathering..

pollen, relative

Palynologists study _________ which, when found preserved in lake or bog sediments, allows them to understand both ancient environments and to use them as a method of ___________ dating.

E

Pollen is a useful tool for archaeologists because A. from it archaeologists can construct detailed sequences of past vegetation and climate B. pollen is not very durable and thus can reflect subtle changes in season and climate C. pollen is almost indestructible: it survives for thousands of years. D. A and B only E. A and C only

E

Proponents of the New Archaeology argued that archaeology should do which of the following: A. explain rather than describe B. test hypotheses C. use scientific approaches D. design research to answer specific questions E. all of the above

GPR

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 preliminary idea of what lies beneath the surface

Shovel-Test pits are small pits dug into the ground which are used to gain..

Before the Common Era

Some scholar prefer the term BCE to the term BC when talking about calendar dates because BC, which means Before Christ, is not necessarily meaningful in areas with other calendars or religions. What does BCE stand for?

variable temperature and precipitation

Temperate climates are not usually conducive to organic preservation at archaeological sites because of..

the Inca

The "Ice Maiden," the frozen mummy of a young girl found on the Ampato Volcano in Peru, as well as the preserved bodies found on the peak of Llullaillace, were probably ceremonial offerings made by which culture?

southern sinai

The Pazyryk bodies, found in ______________, were so well preserved by their constant frozen state that archaeologists not only recovered linen shirts, aprons, and stockings but could also see tattoos

never explained anything

The fundamental complaint among proponents of the New Archaeology in the 1960s was the traditional archaeological methods..

matrix

The material immediately surrounding an artifact, usually some sediment such as gravel, sand, or clay, is known as the..

the concentration of c14 has varied over time

The reason that radiocarbon dating results must be calibrated is that, contrary to what Libby assumed, ..

macrofauna

The remains of large animals, such as sheep or cows, found on archaeological sites help us build a picture of past human diet. These remains are known as..

zooarchaeology

The study of past human use of animals is called..

Stratigraphy

The study of the arrangement of superimposed layers of rocks or soil

half-life

The time taken for half of the atoms of a radioactive isotope to decay is called its..

D

There are various indicators useful for the identification of domesticated animals in archaeological contexts, such as.. A. the presence of such tools as plows and yokes B. the presence of certain deformities and diseases among the animal remains C. changes in animal DNA D. all of the above E. A and B only

True

True/False: underwater archaeology is considered highly demanding because it is expensive, requires specialized training such as diving experience, artifacts from a waterlogged environment deteriorate rapidly, and specialized equipment must be developed to cope with the particulars of a shipwreck.

topical climates

Typically, the most destructive types of climate for organic materials are..

Renaissance princes

Who formed the first cabinets of curiosities?

dendrochronology

__________ is another term for tree-ring dating which is based on the counting, measurement, and patterning of annual growth rings in known species of trees.

excavation

__________ retains its central role in fieldwork because it yields the most reliable evidence for human activities in the past and changes in those activities from period to period.

Interstadials

____________ are complex sequences of cold periods that occurred during the Ice Age and are visible in ice cores.

Radiocarbon dating

A key breakthrough in the use of scientific methods to date archaeological remains was Willard Libby's 1949 invention of..

Mortimer Wheeler

A late 19th-century pioneer in organized, precise excavation and total recording methods

the origins of civilization

A leading thinker in Old World history who was heavily influenced by Marxist ideas, Gordon Childe moved beyond simply describing cultural sequences by seeking to understand..

early state

A society that has a ruler with authority to establish and enforce laws, stratified classes, administrative officials for collecting revenue, and the practice of redistribution would probably be considered an..

a calendar date

Absolute dating methods supply for an object in question..

the results are published

After the process of survey, excavation, recording, mapping, and post-excavation analysis, all these efforts are largely wasted unless..

E

Although generally less-precise that radiocarbon, thermoluminescence (TL) dating has an advantage over radiocarbon dating: it can date.. A. pottery B. human teeth C. volcanic rock D. carbonized botanical remains E. all of the above

a stone tool

An example of an artifact made of inorganic materials is..

ethnoarchaeology

An important method used to gain an understanding of past society involves the study of the present-day use and significance of artifacts, buildings, and structures, and the way these things become incorporated into the archaeological record when they are abandoned. Such an approach is known as..

places where significant traces of human activity are identified

Archaeological sites may be defined quite simply as..

research design

Before any archaeological fieldwork begins, archaeologists try to make their objectives explicit in the form of a..

the Iron Age

Bog bodies, primarily individuals who met a violent death (such as Tollund Man, from Denmark) are best known from northwest Europe and typically date to which age?

Polynesia

By 10,000 BC, the only parts of the world that were not populated by Homo sapiens were Antartica, the deserts, and..

Three Age System

C. J. Thomsen, a Danish scholar, was responsible for classifying artifact collections and, based on those classifications, he created a conceptual scheme known as the..

elite residences, rich burials, and craft specialists

Centralized societies typically exhibit disparities between rich and poor, and thus they offer the potential to study social ranking and organization. Which of the following would you suggest offers strong evidence of social ranking?

their relative ordering in time

through seriation, assemblages of artifacts are arranged in serial order, which is taken to indicate..

vertical and horizontal position of an artifact

to an archaeologist, the term provenience refers to the..

where they were originally used or discarded

when artifacts or features are in situ, archaeologists mean that they are..