archaeology

what is the best match for study of past cultures

archaeology

It is essential that archaeologists take abundant, accurate, and detailed field notes during excavations because

archaeology destroys data as it is gathered; once a site is excavated it cannot be re-excavated.

Water-screening is an especially useful technique when

artifacts are expected to be small and/or difficult to find without washing.

Which of the following statements is true of the current state of Americanist archaeology?

Americanist archaeology is today very diverse, representing many different theoretical perspectives; there is no single, defining, dominating trend.

Culture is:

An integrated system of beliefs, traditions, and customs that govern or influence a person's behavior.

Americanist archaeology is:

The brand of archaeology that evolved in close association with anthropology in the Americas.

According to Thomas Jefferson, the ancient mound that he documented was built by: (Wandering Hindus or early Danish travelers)

none of these answers are correct

Trends and new developments in modern archaeology are: (realization that dinosaur behavioral ecology is important in understanding cultural systems or rejecting the importance of chronology)

none of these answers are correct

What is the best match for fossil record

paleontology

what is the best match for digging artifacts to sell

relic hunter

Goals of experimental archaeology are to:

replicate ancient lifeways and derive plausible links between human behavior and the archaeological record,

what is the best match for critical ritual

rite-of-passage

Which of the following relate to past human lifeways:

settlement patterns and religious systems

A hypothesis is a supposition tentatively accepted to explain certain facts and to guide research.

true

A major concern of modern historical archaeology is uncovering the histories of disenfranchised groups whose histories have often been ignored or incorrectly recorded.

true

An archaeologist's research question is a major factor in determining the size and shape of a survey area.

true

Ecofacts are plant or animal remain found in archaeological sites, and may include bones, charcoal, and pollen.

true

Flotation analysis was designed primarily to ensure that small animal bones and plant parts that normally pass through field sifters are collected from archaeological deposits.

true

In addition to arrowheads, the small chips or flakes of stone that are byproducts of arrowhead production are also considered to be artifacts.

true

Induction is the process of reasoning from the particular to the general.

true

Many important archaeological sites have been found by ranchers, cowboys, farmers, sheepherders, and amateur archaeologists.

true

One method archaeologists have used to reconstruct human population sizes is by carefully measuring house-floor areas.

true

Archaeologists are often involved with the general public because:

Archaeology depends on public support for its livelihood, and so consequently it owes something back to the public.

what is the best match for Hindu origin of Native American architecture

Armchair speculation

What likely accounts for the comparative abundance of bison limb bones relative to other bison bones recovered from a residential site?

Bison are large animals that would be extremely difficult to carry whole; long bones would be preferentially transported because of their high-utility (meat and marrow).

The raw number of identified bones per taxon in an archaeofauna is known as the

NISP

Which of the following is not true of a person's culture?

It is biologically controlled.

Which of the following is not a step in the scientific method?

Prove the hypothesis or hypotheses true.

Archaeology can best be defined as:

The study of the past through the systematic recovery and analysis of material remains.

A "midden" is

a refuse deposit resulting from human activities.

what is the best match for political organization

chiefly authority

Macrobotanical remains include all of the following except

camelid bones

When analyzing a faunal assemblage, zooarchaeologists attempt to identify a specimen to all of the following except

date

what is the best match for Schlepp effect

differential presence of faunal remains

Which of the following is NOT considered to be a non-invasive, below ground archaeological survey technique? (excavation, soil resistivity, ground penetrating radar)

excavation

what is the best match for Thomas Jefferson

exception to armchair speculation

The Speculative Period of archaeological history is best characterized by:

explanations based on little to no data

Modern Archaeology is rarely if ever involved in ethical dilemmas, in large part because it deals with a fascination with material remains of past cultures and not the lives of ancient peoples.

false

what is the best match for archaeobotany

starch-residue

A stratified random sample

takes the sample universe and divides it into sub-universes.

By assuming that the treatment of people in death reflects their status and roles in life, the data from the Maisabel burials indicates that

the Maisabel society was egalitarian

Which of the following statements about death and social status is not true?

Ethnographic data show that societies that have important social distinctions among the living never have material distinctions among the dead.

An unmodified stream pebble collected by an Indian, brought back to his village, and then discarded is an example of an artifact.

False

The testability of a hypothesis refers to:

The degree to which others can measure and reproduce its implications.

Terms characteristic of the scientific method in archaeology include:

all of these terms are characteristic of the scientific method in archaeology

A manuport, such as an unmodified stream pebble carried from its original location, is considered to be an artifact.

false

A researcher directing an archaeological project will generally develop a research design on completion of field work.

false

Although the analysis of plant remains from archaeological sites can provide important information about the economies of prehistoric populations, a drawback of plant remains is that they cannot be used to infer ritual significance or ideology.

false

Among other things, archaeologists address the chronology, lifeways, and behavioral patterns of dinosaurs and other vertebrate fossil species.

false

Archaeologists generally strive to forge productive working relationships with relic hunters because they have found this to be an efficient and cost-effective way to acquire large quantities of artifacts.

false

Archaeology is directed specifically to the study of the lifeways, including behaviors, activities, and beliefs, of dinosaurs.

false

By counting up the number of identifiable specimens by species in a faunal assemblage, zooarchaeologists get a pretty good idea of the minimum number of individuals represented.

false

Data are the objects discovered during archaeological excavations that serve as a basis for study and discussion.

false

Erick Von Daniken's book "The Chariots of the Gods" is considered by archaeologists to be a thoughtful and appropriate way to present belief systems of ancient cultures.

false

Once the cycle of science has run its course in archaeology, all questions about the past will be answered and there will no longer be a need for archaeologists to conduct additional excavations.

false

Prehistory ended uniformly across the world in 1492 when Columbus arrived to the New World.

false

Science is the best way to examine the material world because it is always objective, and therefore cannot be influenced by the social or political climate of the times.

false

Site seasonality cannot be established by macro-botanical analysis.

false

Stratigraphic dating methods in archaeology are concerned with pinpointing events or phenomena to discrete known intervals of time.

false

The ultimate goal of most archaeological projects during the Speculative Period was the establishment of chronological charts which could then be compared from region to region.

false

Thomas Jefferson's archaeological research was representative of the Speculative Period in the history of archaeology.

false

While useful in geology, the index fossil concept has little archaeological utility.

false

A collection of animal bones recovered from an archaeological site is typically called a

faunal assemblage

The study of human behavior through material remains, for which written history in some way affects its interpretation, is

historical archaeology.

what is the best match for matrilocal

post-marital residence pattern

modern archaeology is

primarily an exercise in speculation

A midden is a refuse deposit resulting from human activities, generally consisting of sediment, food remains, and discarded artifacts.

true

Archaeologically, coprolites refer to desiccated feces

true

Archaeologists have found that it is important to transcend boundaries between such analytical domains as settlement patterns, subsistence, and technology when trying to understand how past cultures survived.

true

Archaeologists look at archaeological and documentary records as equally valid yet independent lines of evidence.

true

Because soil formation in deserts is often slow and vegetation sparse, many archaeological remains still lie on the surface.

true

By the time an artifact reaches an archaeologist's hand, it has usually long since ceased to participate in the living behavioral system.

true

Cosmology in archaeology is related primarily to the study of ancient belief systems.

true

Experimental archaeology is necessary when archaeologists want to know the material effects of behaviors that no longer exist.

true

One way to make relevant bridging arguments is to observe the workings of a culture in its systemic context.

true

Pollen preserves best when buried in wetland sediments.

true

Science is concerned with causes, seeking theories that not only predict what will happen under a specific set of conditions, but also explain why it will happen.

true

Screen size is an important consideration when processing dirt from excavations because the size of the screen affects what is recovered as well as how fast it is recovered.

true

Stratigraphy is a site's physical structure produced by the deposition of geological and/or cultural sediments into layers or strata.

true

Technology is broadly defined as all the means used to provide the necessary objects for human sustenance and comfort.

true

The design and workmanship of archaeological screens will vary from site to site, but screen size affects what you recover and how fast you recover it.

true

There is a strong link between the nature of a culture and how food is obtained.

true

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

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.