Deck 2: The Structure Of Archaeological Inquiry

Question 1

Squier and Davis contributed to investigations of the Moundbuilders by:

A) intensively and systematically surveying and recording roughly 200 mound sites.
B) being among the first to argue that the Native Americans had indeed built the mounds.
C) remaining objective, avoiding speculations, and ultimately arriving at the truth.
D) All of the answers are correct.

Answer 1

intensively and systematically surveying and recording roughly 200 mound sites.

Question 2

Anthropology is the study of:

A) past human behavior.
B) all aspects of humankind.
C) humans as biological organisms.
D) humans as cultural organisms.

Answer 2

all aspects of humankind.

Question 3

Which of the following is not one of the main subfields of anthropology?

A) Biological anthropology
B) Archaeology
C) Cultural anthropology
D) Bioarchaeology

Answer 3

Bioarchaeology

Question 4

Participant observation is:

A) an archaeological teaching strategy where students are introduced to excavation techniques by participating in real archaeological digs.
B) a research strategy employed by linguistic anthropologists to help revive dying languages.
C) the primary strategy of cultural anthropologists in which data are gathered by questioning and observing people while the observer lives in their society.
D) a research strategy mostly employed by biological anthropologists while studying human biological variation.

Question 5

Multiple working hypotheses result when:

A) several hypotheses potentially explain the same data.
B) scientists have no sound hypothesis to test, but end up testing several equally unlikely explanations in order to keep their research moving forward.
C) the simplest hypothesis cannot be falsified.
D) scientists cannot produce replicable results with the most likely hypothesis.

Question 6

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

A) Define a relevant research problem
B) Generate one or more hypotheses
C) Test the hypothesis or hypotheses with relevant data
D) Prove the hypothesis or hypotheses true

Question 7

The first scientific archaeologist in America who attempted to determine the identity of the Moundbuilders by actually excavating a mound was:

A) Ephraim Squier.
B) Thomas Jefferson.
C) Cyrus Thomas.
D) John Wesley Powell.

Question 8

Culture is:

A) an integrated system of beliefs, traditions, and customs that govern or influence a person's behavior.
B) an outdated anthropological concept that has been rejected by the majority of cultural anthropologists today.
C) biologically controlled behavior, rather than learned behavior.
D) the study of humankind.

Question 9

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

A) It is learned.
B) It is shared.
C) It is symbolic.
D) It is biologically controlled.

Question 10

The symbolic nature of culture:

A) facilitates cross-cultural communication, because all cultures use the same (or very similar) symbols to mean the same things.
B) can create considerable misunderstanding between people from different cultures.
C) is now known to be not as significant as anthropologists once believed.
D) is easily discernable from the archaeological record.

Question 11

Cyrus Thomas contributed to dispelling the Myth of the Moundbuilders by:

A) supporting Squier's and Davis's conclusions.
B) scientifically evaluating previous claims and concluding that the Native Americans had indeed built the mounds.
C) demonstrating once and for all through the testing of multiple hypotheses that the Native Americans had not built the mounds.
D) supporting Squier's and Davis's conclusions and scientifically evaluating previous claims and concluding that the Native Americans had indeed built the mounds.

Question 12

The scientific method provides a powerful way to investigate the world around us because:

A) unlike other more subjective methods, science can guarantee absolute truth.
B) almost all researchers accept the infallibility of science, making research across different disciplines compatible.
C) science is self-correcting; as more facts about the world become known, science is willing to reject flawed explanations in favor of better ones.
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 13

A specialist from which of the four subfields of anthropology would be most likely to study ritual and kinship among people in contemporary societies?

A) Archaeology
B) Cultural anthropology
C) Linguistic anthropology
D) Biological anthropology

Question 14

Which of the following is not true of science?

A) It is empirical.
B) It is systematic and explicit.
C) It always provides the right answer to a question.
D) It is self-critical, always trying to prove itself wrong.

Question 15

The Moundbuilder Myth provides an example of:

A) how the social, cultural, and political context of archaeology can influence its theories.
B) the infallibility of science.
C) how more civilized cultures (the Moundbuilders) can be destroyed by less civilized cultures (the Native Americans).
D) how pseudoarchaeology can be useful to professional archaeologists.

Question 16

One of the ways in which anthropologists study culture is through an ideational perspective. An ideational perspective:

A) focuses on ideas, symbols, and mental structures as driving forces in shaping human behavior.
B) emphasizes technology, ecology, demography, and economics as driving forces in shaping human behavior.
C) argues that while human behavior is definitely shaped by ideas, symbols, and mental structures, it is equally shaped by technology, ecology, demography, and economics.
D) argues that the forces shaping human behavior are largely unknowable; therefore any perspective is just as good as another.

Question 17

Why was it so difficult for Europeans during the early 19th century to accept the fact that Native Americans had built the mounds?

A) Believing that a superior race had built the mounds fit nicely into the social and political context of the times, helping to justify colonialism.
B) Archaeological and historical evidence to suggest that Native Americans had built the mounds was completely lacking.
C) It was a conscious effort on the part of racist archaeologists to steal Native American land; everyone really knew that the Native Americans had built the mounds.
D) Westward expansion had not yet begun; European colonists were therefore unfamiliar with how similar the mounds really were to the mounds actively being constructed by living Native Americans.

Question 18

Archaeology can best be defined as the study of:

A) humans in all times and places.
B) the biological aspect of humans.
C) the past through the systematic recovery and analysis of material remains.
D) past and present human cultures through written records and oral history.

Question 19

Many disciplines are involved in the study of humanity. What makes anthropology unique from other disciplines that study humans?

A) Anthropology argues that the best understanding of the human condition comes from a global, comparative, and holistic perspective.
B) Anthropology examines only one aspect of the human condition, but does so in great detail.
C) Anthropology examines the social and cultural aspects of humanity, but leaves the biological aspect of humans to other disciplines.
D) Anthropology focuses only on exotic peoples and cultures, while other disciplines are more apt to study American or European society.

Question 20

The potlatch:

A) was a ceremony among 19th century Northwest Coast Native Americans.
B) involved the giving away or destruction of property in order to acquire prestige.
C) like many cultural behaviors, is best explained through both ideational and adaptive perspectives.
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 21

The difference between inductive and deductive reasoning is:

A) deductive reasoning involves working from specific observations to more general hypotheses, while inductive reasoning involves reasoning from theory to account for specific observational or experimental results.
B) deductive reasoning involves reasoning from theory to predict specific observational or experimental results, while inductive reasoning involves working from specific observations to more general hypotheses.
C) deductive reasoning is scientific and logical, while inductive reasoning is based on faith.
D) there is no difference between the two; they are alternate names for the same kind of reasoning.

Question 22

In science, an idea is testable if the implications of the hypothesis

A) can be measured in some fashion with the same results obtained by different observers.
B) can be measured with different results obtained by the same observers.
C) can be measured with the same results obtained by the same observers.
D) cannot be measured.

Question 23

The text argues that which of the following perspectives is the most useful for archaeology?

A) A scientific perspective
B) A humanistic perspective
C) A combination of the two
D) None of the answers are correct.

Question 24

Explaining the Kwakwak'awakw potlatch ceremony by the fact that it served useful economic purposes is an example of:

A) an ideational perspective of human behavior.
B) an adaptive perspective of human behavior.
C) poorly conducted scientific research; the purpose of the ceremony was really obtaining prestige.
D) how the objectivity of scientists can be undermined by the culture in which they live.

Question 25

The processual paradigm has several key characteristics, which does not include:

A) processual archeology emphasizes evolutionary generalization, not historical specifics.
B) processual archaeology does not downplay the importance of the individual.
C) processual archaeology views culture from a systemic perspective.
D) explanation in processual archaeology is explicitly scientific.

Question 26

Which of the following is untrue about paradigms?

A) Paradigms provide specific guidelines for high-level theory.
B) Paradigms generate more specific claims about a regions' prehistory.
C) Like culture, paradigms provide understandings of the world.
D) Paradigms do not reflect bias.

Question 27

The following is a false statement regarding paradigms in anthropology:

A) there are two basic paradigms in modern archaeology- the Processual and Postprocessual paradigm.
B) paradigms are a lot like culture- both are learned, shared and symbolic.
C) archaeologists today fall neatly into one paradigm category and have very different ways of thinking.
D) all archaeologists operate within a paradigm, whether they are aware of it or not.

Question 28

Anthropology embraces four primary fields of study:

A) biological, cultural, linguistic, and archaeology.
B) economic, cultural, linguistic, and archaeology.
C) religion, biological, linguistic, and archaeology.
D) biological, cultural, social, and archaeology.

Question 29

The level of theory that includes the observations and interpretations that emerge from hands-on archaeological field and lab work is called:

A) low-level theory.
B) middle-level theory.
C) high-level theory.
D) None of the answers are correct.

Question 30

The primary distinction between humanistic and scientific approaches within archaeology revolves around the issue of:

A) absolute truth.
B) ethical concerns.
C) objectivity.
D) the definition of culture.

Question 31

Which of the following does not apply to the concept of culture?

A) Culture is learned.
B) Culture is shared.
C) Culture is patriotism.
D) Culture is symbolic.

Question 32

Few archaeologists can do every step in the process of archaeological inquiry. Which of the following is not an acceptable result of specialization?

A) Some archaeologists emphasize middle-level theory, doing experimental or ethnoarchaeological research.
B) Some concentrate on the pubic side, presenting research to a broader audience.
C) Some work with theory or critique of paradigms.
D) Some ignore the role that he or she plays in the overall process of archaeology.

Question 33

The following statement regarding the Scientific Method is false:

A) Science is a reiterative method that begins and ends with facts that lead to a new cycle of investigation.
B) Science is infallible and will always deliver the right answer on the first try.
C) Science is self-correcting and allows for backtracking and rethinking things that others thought were over and done with.
D) Science does not prove a hypothesis, only suggests plausibility.

Question 34

Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States, is considered the first scientific archaeologist in America based on his work involving his:

A) writing of the Declaration of Independence.
B) notes on the State of Virginia, which dealt in part with the aborigines of Virginia, their origin, and the question of the mounds.
C) excavation of Jamestown, Virginia.
D) advancement of horticulture in the New World.

Question 35

The following statement is true about Postprocessual archaeology:

A) Explanations are explicitly scientific and objective.
B) Attempts to remain ethically neutral; claims to be explicitly nonpolitical.
C) Less enthusiastic about scientific methods and denies possibility of objectivity.
D) Views culture from a systemic perspective and defines culture as adaptation.

Question 36

The primary strategy of cultural anthropology in which data are gathered by questioning and observing people while the observer lives in their society is called

A) first person observation.
B) engaged listening.
C) active participation.
D) participant observation.

Question 37

Middle- level theory in archaeology:

A) is a logical ordering of cultures through time, based on analysis and classification of artifact types.
B) links a modern culture to an ancient one.
C) is a logical statement linking observations on the static archaeological record to the dynamic behavior or natural processes that produced it.
D) links the concept of culture to artifact types.

Question 38

Which of the following is not a key characteristic of the process of science?

A) Objective
B) Systematic
C) Logical
D) Not predictive

Question 39

Low-level theory begins with archaeological objects and

A) generates irrelevant facts or data about those objects and that will not be important to later analyses.
B) generates relevant facts or data about those objects that will not be important to later analyses.
C) generates relevant facts or data bout those objects that will be important to later analyses.
D) does not generate facts or data.

Question 40

What makes an anthropologist an anthropologist?

A) Studying native people
B) Studying fossils
C) Studying chimpanzees
D) Using a global, comparative and holistic approach

Question 41

The study of human biological evolution would most likely be the specialty of a cultural anthropologist.

Question 42

In order for a hypothesis to be scientific, it has to be testable and falsifiable.

Question 43

The potlatch ceremony among 19th century Northwest Coast Native Americans involved the giving away or destruction of property in order to acquire prestige.

Question 44

The processual approach takes a scientific approach and focuses on material factors of life.

Question 45

The postprocessual approach emphasizes symbolic meanings, power relationships, individual actions, and gender.

Question 46

Deductive reasoning involves working from specific observations to more general hypotheses.

Question 47

A humanistic approach in archaeology tends to reject a search for universals in favor of emphasizing the dignity and worth of the individual and the individual's lived experience.

Question 48

Anthropologists who argue that an adaptive perspective is the best way to study culture would argue that the driving forces shaping human behavior are ideas, symbols, and mental structures.

Question 49

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.

Question 50

Three important characteristics of culture are that it is learned, shared, and based on the ability to use symbols.

Question 51

It was Squier and Davis, through their intensive and thorough survey and documentation of the mounds, who eventually concluded that the ancestors of modern Native Americans had indeed built the mounds.

Question 52

Scientific and humanistic approaches within archaeology can be compatible, each emphasizing different goals of archaeological research.