ANTH 202 Chapter 6
Which of the following dating methods provides the most precise date? a. Potassium-argon b. Radiocarbon c. Dendrochronology d. Thermoluminescence
b
Archaeologists know that Folsom points date to between 10,300 and 10,900 radiocarbon years ago. If an archaeologist finds a Folsom point in a site, and assumes that the site dates to between 10,300 and 10,900 years ago, the archaeologist is using which of the following in his or her reasoning? a. Seriation b. Trapped charge dating c. Relative dating d. The index fossil concept
c
Ichtucknee Blue on White ceramics were manufactured from AD 1600 to 1650. Excavating a historic site in Georgia, you find bits of broken Ichtucknee Blue on White plates. Therefore, you know that the terminus post quem date on this site is which of the following? a. AD 1650. b. AD 1625. c. AD 1600. d. sometime after AD 1650.
c
Who developed the technique of dendrochronology, or tree ring dating? a. Nels Nelson b. Oscar Montelius c. A. E. Douglas d. Willard Libby
c
After excavating a hearth feature you submit organic material from the hearth for a conventional radiocarbon date. The result comes back as follows: Beta-33003, 3500+/- 100 radiocarbon years BP. What is that you know? a. beta represents the Laboratory. b. 3500 represents the years before present. c. +/- 100 represents the standard error. d. All of the answers are correct.
d
Argon-argon dates volcanic rock, especially ash, in layers that are how many years old? a. thousands b. tens of thousands c. hundreds of thousands d. millions
d
What was revolutionary about Nelson's 1914 excavation methodology at San Cristobal Pueblo in New Mexico? a. Nelson was aware of the effect of screen mesh size on artifact recovery, and adjusted his screening methods accordingly. b. Nelson used the newly discovered radiocarbon dating technique to provide an absolute date for the occupation of the pueblo. c. Nelson was the first to use dendrochronology, and was able to obtain absolute dates for the construction of the pueblo. d. Nelson excavated in arbitrary stratigraphic levels and developed a master ceramic sequence which allowed for chronological control through the index fossil method.
d
Which of the following factors can affect the utility of radiocarbon dating? 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 answers are correct.
d
How does seriation differ from the index fossil concept? a. instead of relying on the presence or absence of distinctive kinds of artifacts, it relies on changes in the frequencies of artifacts or styles. b. instead of relying on changes in the frequencies of artifacts or styles, it relies on the presence or absence of distinctive kinds of artifacts. c. seriation applies only to pottery styles, while the index fossil concept can apply to all artifact facts. d. None of the answers; seriation is the same thing as the index fossil concept.
a
If you were interested in examining trends in pottery style change through time which of the following methods would you use? a. Seriation b. Reverse stratigraphy c. Potassium-argon dating d. Argon-argon dating
a
The radiocarbon date 2850 +/- 40 BP suggests that there is a 66% chance that the true age: a. lies between 2810 and 2890 BP. b. is 2830 BP. c. lies between 2810 and 2850 BP. d. lies between 2850 and 2890 BP
a
What do the dark tree rings mean among alternating dark and light rings? a. a year's late summer/fall growth. b. a year's spring/summer growth. c. a result of fire scarring. d. a result of quick cell growth in climatically favorable conditions
a
Which of the following dating techniques helps to bridge the dating gap between radiocarbon and potassium argon dating? a. Thermoluminescence b. AMS dating c. Argon-argon d. None of the answers; there is no gap as radiocarbon and potassium-argon date the same age range of materials.
a
Which of the following is a difference between optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and thermoluminescence (TL)? a. OSL dates the last time sediment was exposed to light, while TL dates the last time artifacts were heated. b. OSL dates the last time artifacts were heated, while TL dates the last time sediment was exposed to light. c. OSL relies on radiocarbon dating while TL is a trapped charge dating method. d. OSL is a trapped charge dating method while TL relies on radiocarbon dating.
a
Which of the following is not a trapped charge dating method? a. Accelerator mass spectrometry b. Thermoluminescence c. Optically stimulated luminescence d. Electron spin resonance
a
Which of the following type of evidence usually provides dates for historical sites? \ a. Geomorphological b. Faunal c. Documentary d. Floral
a
Who introduced the index fossil concept to archaeology? a. Oscar Montelius. b. A. E. Douglas c. Willard Libby. d. Jeffrey Dean.
a
Why do seriation diagrams resemble battleships? a. an artifact or style catches on slowly in the beginning, then becomes popular and widespread, and then gradually falls out of favor. b. the popularity of an artifact or style tends to remain constant through time. c. the popularity of an artifact or style fluctuates wildly through time, showing no particular pattern. d. they follow a relative chronological sequence.
a
Why is a tree ring sequence only useful in the region in which it was developed? a. trees respond to climate and climate is regionally variable. b. researchers tend not to share their data with one another, and thus each area needs its own specialist. c. tree rings are partially conditioned by soil chemistry which can be highly variable over small distances. d. in order to be useful, tree rings must be calibrated using radiocarbon dating, and calibration curves are regionally specific.
a
Why is it that plants of similar ages and that grew in the same soil can produce different radiocarbon ages? a. use of different photosynthetic pathways. b. the reservoir effect c. De Vries effect d. problems with calibrating the radiocarbon curve.
a
Electron spin resonance is a trapped charge dating method that is primarily used to date which of the following? a. bone organic matter. b. tooth enamel. c. volcanic ash. d. the last time sediments were exposed to light.
b
If the date of a historic site is undocumented, archaeologists might use which of the following techniques to provide a date? a. Pipe stem dating b. Terminus post quem dating c. Radiocarbon dating d. Pipe stem dating and Terminus post quem dating
b
What is a relative date? a. A date expressed as a specific unit of scientific measurement, such as days, years, centuries, or millennia. b. A date expressed relative to another (e.g., earlier, later, more recent, etc.) rather than in absolute terms. c. A date based on the occurrence of distinctive fossil assemblages in distinct strata. d. No longer useful for archaeology; absolute dates are necessary in order to provide a meaningful interpretation of an assemblage.
b
What is that dating techniques tell us about cultural activities? a. everything we need to know b. nothing directly c. nothing at all d. how to speculate
b
When documentary evidence is not available, known ages of artifact types are generated to create age-range or median ages for historical features or sites using which of the following methods? a. TPQ. b. mean ceramic age dates. c. radiocarbon dates. d. TPQ and mean ceramic age dates
b
Which of the follows best approximates the limits of radiocarbon dating? a. 25,000 years. b. 45,000 years. c. 125,000 years. d. 245,000 years.
b
In trapped charge dating methods, the amount of gamma radiation emitted by sediments is measured by which of the following? a. optically stimulated luminescence. b. thermoluminescence. c. a dosimeter. d. beta decay.
c
In what sense are "absolute dates" absolute? a. they can only say how much older or younger one site or artifact is than another. b. they place sites in relative order. c. they provide specific ages or age ranges. d. they cannot be disputed.
c
Organisms that obtain carbon from a source that is depleted or enriched in 14C relative to the atmosphere may return ages that are considerably older or younger than they actually are. What accounts for this? a. De Vries effect. b. the reservoir effect. c. the effect of different photosynthetic pathways. d. problems with calibrating the radiocarbon curve
c
What was it that radiocarbon dating was able to determine about the Shroud of Turin? a. was a modern forgery, created sometime in the 20th century. b. dates to the time of Christ. c. dates to medieval times, between AD 1260 and 1390. d. was created long before the time of Christ, although the exact date is uncertain because it lies at the practical limit of radiocarbon dating.
c
When faced with a choice of wood to use in tree-ring dating, which of the following would yield the best results? a. Cottonwood b. Sagebrush c. Pine d. All types of wood are equally useful, making tree-ring dating such a powerful tool.
c
Which carbon isotope is the rarest? a. 12C b. 13C c. 14C d. None of the answers; carbon isotopes exist in the same proportions.
c
Which of the following is an advantage of the accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) method of radiocarbon dating? a. although not as precise as standard dating methods that count beta decays, AMS dating is less subject to problems caused by atmospheric fluctuations in 14C b. AMS dating is much cheaper than standard dating methods that count beta decays c. AMS dating requires much smaller carbon samples than standard dating methods d. AMS dates are easier to calibrate than standard radiocarbon dates
c
Which of the following is relative dating method that orders artifacts based on the assumption that one cultural style slowly replaces an earlier style over time? a. dendrochronology. b. the index fossil concept. c. seriation. d. the Law of Superposition.
c
Dendrochronology provides what kind of a measure of time, while the Law of Superposition allows for what kind of a measure of time? a. relative/absolute b. calibrated/corrected c. long-term/exact d. absolute/relative
d
What can we expect regarding continual advances in dating methods? a. They will permit a greater understanding of the chronology of the past. b. They will confuse scholars and lead to disputes among the academic community. c. They will help create new paradigms and new ways of understanding the past. d. They permit a greater understanding of the chronology of the past, and create new paradigms and new ways of understanding the past.
d
What exactly does dendrochronology attempt to date? a. The year wood was last burned. b. The year that the tree was the healthiest, thus providing a signal of climatic amicability. c. The year a tree was used in to build a structure d. The year a tree was cut or died.
d
What is the index fossil concept? a. It allows widely separated strata to be correlated and assigned to the same time period if they contain the same fossils. b. It is the idea that strata containing similar fossil assemblages are of similar ages. c. It enables archaeologists to characterize and date strata within sites using distinctive artifact forms that research shows to be diagnostic of a particular period of time. d. All of the answers are correct.
d
What makes tree-ring dating possible? a. variable tree ring widths preserve information about past climatic change and can be fit into a long-term chronological sequence. b. tree rings can simply be counted and subtracted from the present to determine the calendar date of the tree's death. c. all trees respond to climatic variability in the same way. d. All of the answers are correct.
d
Who discovered the radiocarbon dating technique? a. Nels Nelson. b. Oscar Montelius. c. A. E. Douglas. d. Willard Libby
d