Anthropology Ch. 3

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

Archaeology

What does palynology do?

Helps to determine an ancient sites environment at the time it was inhibited

True or false: LiDAR technology applied to the Maya Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala has revealed a Maya civilization that was much larger in scale and population than previously imagined.

True

At an archaeological site, you discover 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

Paleoanthropologists

search for evidence about human origins.

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

Absolute dating

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

An excavation

Which best describes the subfield of anthropological 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.

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

Bioarchaeology

Which type of archaeologists are usually interested in styles of architecture and sculpture and work more in university departments with art historians rather than in anthropology departments?

Classical

The most common way in which archaeologists work locally is

Excavation

What is the term used for the type of archaeologists who make replicas of ancient tools?

Experimental archaeologists

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

Archaeologists who study ancient societies by using written records as guides and supplements to research are referred to as ______ archaeologists.

Historical

Which of the following does palynology do?

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

What best explains what biological anthropologists study?

Living and recent humans and primates as well as ancient humans and primates

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

Remote sensing

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

Systemic study

Which of the following statements best describes how archaeologists work with sites?

They systematically survey a region and excavate to reveal the layers in a site.

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

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

absolute dating

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

biological anthropologists

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

carbon-14 dating

What is the term used to describe the type of archaeologists who study Old World civilizations such as Greece, Rome, and Egypt?

classical

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

Molecular anthropologists

multiply the mutation rate by the DNA differences to estimate the number of years that have passed between ancestor and descendant. assume that mutations occur at a predictable rate. multiply the mutation rate by the differences in DNA among species to estimate how many years they have been diverging from a common ancestor.

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

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

phytoliths

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

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

Artifacts

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

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

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

Paleotonolgy

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.

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

Which of the following statements best describes the limitations of potassium-argon (K/A) dating?

It cannot be used to directly date bone or plant remains, but instead it is limited to use on ash layers that are older than 500,000 years.

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.

To study the ancient human past archaeologists and biological anthropologists work with the scientists in the field of _______ who study animal fossils

Paleontology

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

Which of the following is true of phytoliths?

They do not decay

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.

Measuring human proportions on skeletal remains from ancient sites as well as among modern human populations is known as

anthropometry.

Some archaeologists make tools of deer antler to look like the tools used by PaleoIndians about 10,000 years ago. Which of the following specialties in archaeology would this work represent?

experimental archaeology

When archaeologists excavate early colonial settlements in Jamestown, Virginia, this type of archaeology is known as

historical archaeology.

For bioarchaeologists, the remains of taller people can indicate

more fortunate members of a society.

In early studies of society, anthropologists focused on _____ while sociologists focused on _____.

nonindustrial societies; the industrial West

What kind of biological anthropologists specializes in the study of human evolution?

paleoanthropologists

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

paleoanthropology

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

paleontology.

The study of disease and injury in skeletons from archaeological sites is known as

paleopathology.

Sources of information for archaeologists studying sites primarily include

plant and animal remains, ceramics, and other artifacts.

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

relative dating and absolute dating

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.

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

taphonomy.

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