Archaeology

General Pitt-Rivers

A 19th-century pioneer in organized, precise excavation and recording methods was who?

Assemblage

A collection of artifacts that occur in site and relate to the sum of human activity at the site.

True

A hypothesis can be refuted (proven wrong, or falsified), but it can never be proven to be true.

The results are published

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

Matrix, provenience, and association with other finds

An artifact's context includes its what?

Magnetic direction

Archaeomagnetic (paleomagnetic) dating is contingent upon a number of factors. If a clay structure is heated beyond a certain temperature (650-700 oC), is not reheated, and remains in situ, this dating technique may then be used to measure the __________ of the iron particles, which may then be compared to a master sequence that has been built up for that region.

Oxygen-deprived

Excellent preservation of organic materials at wetland sites occurs because of the anaerobic, or ___________ environment, which inhibits the activities of micro-organisms that need oxygen.

Postholes, Hearths, Floors, and Ditches

Features, essentially non-portable artifacts, include such things as what?

Sir Mortimer Wheeler (1890-1976) was a British archaeologist who is well known for what?

Founding the Institute of Archaeology at University College London, The grid-method of excavation that bears his name, and His work teaching modern methods in field schools.

Assemblages

Groups of artifact or building types at a particular time and place are termed what?

A stratified site

Has cultural deposits, one upon the next, that are intact

General Augustus Henry Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers (1827-1900) work is characterized by what?

His belief that archaeological excavation should only be undertaken with the supervision of a qualified archaeologist, Attention to detail and precision, A research strategy: questions for which answers may be found in an excavation, and Analysis and publication

The earliest example of a scientific archaeological excavation was what?

In Virginia in 1784 and was done by Thomas Jefferson

Stone tools

Inorganic materials that frequently survive will archaeologically are what?

Inductive Reasoning

Is sometimes called the "from the bottom up" approach; Holds that specific observations and measurements may begin to show us a general pattern; Has a potential pitfall known as the "inductive leap"

Deductive Reasoning

Is sometimes called the "from the top down" approach; Starts with a general idea and works down to the more specific; Is the most common approach used in science

What is classification of artifacts usually based on?

Similar surface attributes; Similar shape attributes; Similar technological attributes

Transects

Some survey techniques use squares when conducting regional surveys, but ______ are easier to locate and walk along, in order to record artifact densities across the landscape.

Deep-sea cores

The most coherent record of climate change on a global scale is obtained through what?

Seriation, Linguistic dating, Pollen dating, and Faunal dating

To an archaeologist, examples of relative dating methods include what?

What is the purpose of a Phase II archaeological project?

To evaluate the integrity of a site and its potential to yield information about the past.

Ground reconnaissance survey and aerial reconnaissance are two ways to discover and record site locations.

True

Mapping is the key to accurate recording of most survey data.

True

The Principle of Association

Two artifacts found in close proximity to one another are assumed to be from the same time/period/event

Cemeteries

Vinca minor, also known as Periwinkle was observed by Dr. Bates at the Wheeler site. This plant is often associated with what?

Electrical resistivity

A disadvantage of some geophysical techniques based on magnetism is that their use in urban areas may be subject to distortion resulting from power lines and metals in the immediate vicinity. One method that can be used in such areas relies on soil moisture and the ground's resistance to electricity and is known as what?

Radiocarbon Dating

A key breakthrough in scientific methods applied to archaeological questions was the invention by Williard Libby of what?

Absolute dating methods

Although the creation of a typology may enable an archaeologist to understand gradual changes in design or decoration, the rate of change must be deduced from what?

Ground-penetrating radar, grave shafts

At the Maysville Presbyterian Church Project, Dr. Bates used ________ to locate the presence of ________ in the project area prior to commencing excavation.

The waterlogged, muddy environment in which the boat was located

At the site of Utrecht, excavated by the Time Team, the Roman cargo boat was preserved for nearly 2,000 years due to what?

Waterlogged preservation

Bog bodies, primarily individuals who met a violent death (such as Tollund Man, from Denmark), are great examples of what?

What types of aerial photograph can be used by archaeologists?

Both vertical and oblique images

The 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 what?

What does frequency seriation rely upon measuring?

Changes in the proportional abundance of artifact attributes

Similar surface attributes, Similar shape attributes, Similar technological attributes

Classification of artifacts is usually based on what?

William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853-1942)

Competed with Pitt-Rivers to have the longest name in archaeology, Founded the Egypt Exploration Society, Is the father of Egyptology, and Is well known for his Seriation Analysis of ceramic vessels

Seriation (sequence dating)

Credited with meticulous excavations and description, Sir William Flinders Petrie was also responsible for devising the technique of?

Processes of loss (loss traps), Hoards, and Burial of the dead

Cultural site transformations include what?

Gradual burial of a feature by wind-borne soil, The sudden fall of ash over Pompeii, Slow accumulation of river sediment over a feature, Gradual burial of an artifact by sand

Formation processes affect the way in which finds came to be buried and what happened to them after their burial. A good example of a natural transformation process would be what?

Geographic Information Systems

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

The Time Team went to Utrecht in the Netherlands to excavate a Roman boat. The primary question(s) that the team was seeking to answer centered on what?

How old was the boat and how was it built.

Potassium-argon, fission track

In order to obtain absolute dates from very early contexts (over 1 million years ago), you would probably choose to either _______ or possibly _______, depending upon the rock material.

Tree rings

Libby assumed that the production of C-14 was constant through time. We nor understand that it has fluctuated and this means that radiocarbon dates must be calibrated using what?

In the scientific method, falsification is what?

Meant to exclude hypotheses by proving them wrong

Wind erosion, Water erosion, Faunal turbation, and Gravity and soil creep

Natural site transformations that destroy archaeological sites include what?

Arid environments, Cold environments, and Waterlogged environments

Natural site transformations that may actually preserve archaeological sites include what?

Artifacts are the most important things to archaeologists?

No, actually artifacts are not the most important things to archaeologists, human behavior is.

During the late prehistoric period in the Caribbean, people often lived on the coastal plain near mangrove swamps because _______.

Of the rich source of shellfish and fish found in mangroves and the stable food supply that was analogous to living next to a "Fresh Market".

Open-area excavations typically involve

Opening large areas, with few baulks of earth

Bone, Wood, and Leather

Organic materials that typically do not preserve well in the archaeological record include what?

The Wade Site is a good example of what?

Phase 1, Phase II, and Phase III methods

The New Archaeology

Processual Archaeology, also known as ________ was proposed by Lewis Binford and was expanded upon by the likes of Kent Flannery and Colin Renfrew

Explain rather than describe, Test hypotheses, Be deductive rather than inductive, Design research to answer specific questions

Proponents of the New Archaeology argued that archaeology should do which of the following?

Hypotheses that are falsified by experimental testing are what?

Provisionally accepted as true; subject to more testing

Think in terms of culture process, Seek generalized explanations for change rather than historical explanations, Aim to answer specific research questions rather than simply create more information

Rather than emphasize chronological sequences, the proponents of "New Archaeology" suggested that archaeologists should do what?

At Syon House, the Time Team archaeologists demonstrated how the data from geophysical methods.

Require excavation to determine what anomalies actually are; Can provide useful data to interpret a site

Google Earth

Satellite imagery from such resources as ______ are cheap or free and it has now become standard archaeological practice to access such images and use them in archaeological survey

The Time Team episode on Seahenge involved a wide range of issues including how to engage effectively with the public, how to form a research design to answer questions about a complex prehistoric site, and how to draw specific conclusions from the data. All of this was possible because of what?

Seahenge had evidence that was extraordinarily preserved due to the waterlogged conditions; The scientific method employed by the team was effective in gleaning information from the well-preserved wood

Ground penetrating radar (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 what?

Bioarchaeology

Studying human remains in order to determine the sex and age of an individual, perhaps how that person died, and even his or her physical appearance.

Variable temperatures and fluctuating precipitation

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

The body as Belmont involved examining the teeth of a burial of a young woman. Dr. Bates' analysis demonstrated what?

That she was an enslaved African based upon tooth morphology and wear patterns

At the Wheeler Site, Dr. Bates encountered a brick wall with depressions in the ground oriented east-to-west. Using the scientific method, Bates considered alternative hypotheses, collected data and concluded what?

That the wall was for a cemetery and that the depressions were graves dating between 1790 and 1880.

Dr. Bates and his colleague Professor Peter Drewett demonstrated evidence of ________ at the Belmont site on the island of Tortola.

The Cahoba ritual including a ritual vomit spatula; a ceremonial Ball Court that may have served as a calendar to predict hurricane season; Numerous small artifacts known as "zemis" that were supernatural representations.

Experimental design; Data collection

The Scientific Method includes a number of steps. It begins with an observation, from which hypothesis may be formed and predictions made, then an _______ is formed and is followed by _________ and data analysis that will lead to a conclusion

Similar

The Uniformitarianism comes from the discipline of Geology and holds that geologically ancient conditions were in essence __________ to, or uniform with those of our own time.

Stratigraphy

The analysis of the vertical, time dimension of a series of archaeological layers that are situated horizontally is a fundamental aspect of archaeological excavation. What is it called?

Volcanic rock

The technique of potassium-argon (and argon-argon) dating requires what kind of sample?

Sub-Assemblage

The term that refers to a collection of artifacts that occur in one feature or location within a site and relate to a specific activity is what?

Predictive models

The underlying premise of ______ is that particular kinds of archaeological sites tend to occur in the same kinds of place.

What is the purpose of a Phase I archaeological project?

To identify the presence or absence of archaeological sites.

The purpose of the site alpha datum or benchmark is to do what?

To serve as the reference point for a grid reference system for recording all aspects of the archaeological project.

Crop-marks

Visible differences in vegetation growth resulting from a sub-surface wall or ditch affecting the available moisture, nutrients, or soil depth, appear in aerial photographs as what?

William Stukeley's (1687-1765) research at Silbury Hill, Avebury and the surrounding areas:

Was an early example of an antiquarian seeking to explain the origin and function of these prehistoric sites. While incorrect in his conclusions, did much to advance the thinking about the importance of these prehistoric sites in Great Britain.

Structures

What are non-portable, man-made elements of the archaeological record that provided shelter called?

Artifacts

What do archaeologists define as objects used, modified, or made by people?

Typology

What is an arrangement of artifacts in a chronological or developmental sequence?

Dendrochronology

What is based on the counting, measurement, and patterning of annual growth rings in known species of trees?

Finding the best preserved artifacts for the museum presentation

What is not a goal of archaeology?

Frequency seriation

What is not an example of absolute dating methods?

Animal bones and plant remains

What items are non-artifactual, organic, and environmental remains or ecofacts?

The principle of superposition means what?

When one layer overlies another, the one on top is usually more recent

The Principle of Superposition

When one layer overlies another, the one on top is usually more recent.

When artifacts or features are described as in situ, archaeologists mean that they are left where?

Where originally used or discarded

Potassium-argon dating

Which dating technique would yield a result that might read 2.25 million years before present, plus or minus 50,000 years?

Thomas Jefferson

Who is considered to be the first person to have conducted a scientific excavation of an ancient site?