ANTH103 Ch. 4 LS

Which of the following is true of phytoliths?

They do not decay

The specialty in archaeology known as ______ is the study of human skeletons and associated artifacts, which are used to understand health, diet, and social status differences.

bioarchaeology

Which of the following best explains what biological anthropologists study?

living and recent humans and primates as well as ancient humans and primates

Which of the following is the study of ancient pollen to identify the plant resources that were part of the ancient environment at a site being excavated by anthropologists?

palynology

The type of dating that establishes a sequence for the artifacts and fossils found at a site, but that does not establish a specific age for these items, is called ______ dating.

relative

The most common way in which archaeologists work locally is

excavation

Which of the following does palynology do?

It helps to determine an ancient site's environment at the time it was inhabited.

What are fossils?

bones or other remains of ancient life forms

True or false: Fossils include the preserved remains of any object (building, container, tool, pottery, weapon, work of art) made, used, or modified in some way by human beings, which help us to understand how people lived in the past.

False, Fossils are preserved bones, traces, and impressions of ancient life forms.

Which of the following statements best describes the principle of superposition?

In an undisturbed set of strata, the oldest layer is deepest.

Which of the following statements best describes how archaeologists do their work?

They systematically survey a region and excavate by digging through the layers at archaeological sites.

What is the term used to describe any method of dating fossils which establishes a precise age range?

absolute dating

In order to reconstruct ancient human biological and cultural features, anthropologists study ceramics, casts, metals, and other manufactured items known as

artifacts

Which type of anthropologists study primate behavior and also the physical characteristics of ancient and modern humans?

biological

A technique called ______ measures radioactive decay and is commonly used to date fossilized plant or animal remains.

carbon-14 dating

When construction sites reveal artifacts, impact studies may be required to assess the historical importance of the site. In this case, "salvage archaeology," also called ______, analyzes what is found at the site.

cultural resource management

Wood and charcoal samples from archaeological sites can be dated using tree-ring dating, also known as

dendrochronology.

When archaeologists systematically dig through the layers at a site, this process is known as

excavation

For bioarchaeologists, the remains of taller people can indicate

more fortunate members of a society.

What kind of physical anthropologists specialize in the study of human evolution?

paleoanthropologists

To study the ancient human past, archaeologists and physical anthropologists work with scientists in the field of ______ who study animal fossils.

paleontology

Microscopic crystals called ______ found at archaeological sites help identify wheat, maize, rice, or other early domesticated plants.

phytoliths

Sources of information for archaeologists studying sites primarily include

plant and animal remains, ceramics, and other artifacts.

Archaeologists study settlement patterns primarily to reveal what kinds of information about prehistoric communities?

population estimates and degrees of social complexity

The most useful dating technique to establish the age of a fossil skull identified with Homo erectus, a species that originated about 1.9 million years ago, would likely be ______ of associated rock.

potassium-argon (K/A) dating

With _____ data, archaeologists can address many questions about the prehistoric communities that lived in a given area.

regional

In 1692, a major earthquake caused part of the city of Port Royal, Jamaica, to fall into the Kingston Harbor. ______ archaeologists now study the submerged city.

underwater

Which of the following statements about dendrochronology are true?

It involves the study and comparison of patterns of tree-ring growth. It is a type of absolute dating.

The archaeological study of settlement patterns over a large area is known as

a systematic survey

The study of ancient life through the fossil record is known as

paleontology

Paleoanthropologists

search for evidence about human origins.

What are the two most common types of relative dating techniques?

stratigraphy and fluorine absorption analysis

Which of the following best describes how the subfield of archaeology differs from that of biological anthropology?

Archaeologists study the past by analyzing objects from dig sites; biological anthropologists study ancient human skeletons or living humans.

How does paleoanthropology differ from paleontology?

Paleoanthropology focuses on the study of ancient human life forms, while paleontology includes the study of all kinds of ancient life forms.

In the methods of archaeology, what is the difference between systematic survey and excavation?

Systematic survey involves gathering information about settlement patterns across a region; excavation involves digging in selected sites.

If an anthropologist needs a metric (quantitative) estimate of the age of a pottery shard, which method of dating should be used?

absolute dating

There are two major types of dating techniques: one type that establishes a sequence for recovered artifacts and a second type that establishes a numeric age for them. The name for the type of dating that establishes a numeric age is

absolute dating

Digging through layers of deposits at an ancient site is known as

an excavation

Which subfield of anthropology specializes in the study of the human past by studying material culture?

archaeology

The most useful dating technique to establish the age of tools made of deer antler and whale bone recovered at sites associated with the earliest inhabitants of North America would likely be

carbon-14 dating

One technique for comparing the ages of fossilized bone fragments involves measuring the amount of a key element absorbed from the groundwater. This technique, called ______ analysis, revealed what has become known as "the Piltdown hoax."

fluorine

The ethics of archaeologists and physical anthropologists require that they negotiate with local officials and colleagues to establish who owns bones, artifacts, and other materials recovered at excavation sites. These agreements between anthropologists and colleagues in the host countries are established through the procedure known as

informed consent

What is the term used to refer to the type of anthropology that focuses on the study of ancient human ancestors?

paleoanthropology

One commonly used radiometric dating technique is used to date layers of volcanic ash found above and below strata containing fossil remains in Africa's Great Rift Valley, especially for a significant time period in human evolution dating to around 2 million years ago. That dating technique is known as

potassium-argon (K/A) dating.

In order to understand how human behavior differs from the behavior of the animals most similar to humans, some biological anthropologists in the subfield of ______ study animals such as apes, monkeys, and lemurs in their natural rain forest habitats.

primatology

ane Goodall is a well-known scholar who has studied chimpanzees in their natural settings. The name of her subfield within biological anthropology is

primatology

At an archaeological site you discovered a stone spear point in one geologic layer and a bronze ax head in another geologic layer. Because the layer containing the stone spear point is deeper than the layer containing the bronze ax head, you conclude that the stone point is older than the ax head. What kind of dating technique does this illustrate?

relative dating

What are the two major types of dating techniques used to establish the dates of fossils and ancient artifacts?

relative dating and absolute dating

Aerial photos and satellite images are forms of _____ used in site location, which is very valuable to anthropologists.

remote sensing

What technique is used by archaeologists to identify ancient roads and canals invisible to the human eye but visible with aerial photos and satellite images using a spectrum invisible to the naked human eye?

remote sensing

We know from geology that layers in the earth are sequenced in such a way that the oldest layers are the deepest, and on this basis we can date artifacts and fossils found in shallower layers as younger than those found in the deeper layers by using the principle of

stratigraphy.

As archaeologists excavate the strata or layers at a site, they establish a time sequence for the materials discovered in each layer based on the idea that the lower layers are older than the top layers. This idea is known as

superposition

The study of the processes that affect the remains of dead animals is known as

taphonomy.

Which of the following are studied as part of taphonomy?

the distortion of remains by natural forces the scattering of remains by carnivores and scavengers the possible fossilization of remains

What is stratigraphy?

the study of layers of deposits at a site in which older materials are found deeper and younger ones are located in the top layers

When archaeologists excavate at home or abroad and when biological anthropologists conduct research with primates, they must take steps to ensure the protection of the materials, remains, and animals involved. Government agencies and other agencies grant permission to these anthropologists by giving

their informed consent

Cultural resource management focuses on managing the preservation of archaeological sites that are

threatened by modern development

What is the term used to describe the type of archaeology that investigates shipwrecks and sites submerged under the sea?

underwater archaeology