Deck 2: Probing the Past

Question 1

Once a hypothesis has been suggested, the scientist should:

A) accept the hypothesis as valid until a better explanation comes along
B) see how other scientists feel about it to determine if it is valid
C) copyright it
D) test it

Answer 1

D

Question 2

A dominant scientific perspective or intellectual framework is called a:

A) focus
B) paradigm
C) hypothesis
D) taxonomy

Answer 2

B

Question 3

In approaching the past through "a convergence of evidence," we are confident in our conclusions because:

A) the data were published in professional journals
B) the data are mutually exclusive
C) we have employed multiple working hypotheses
D) separate and independent data converge on the same conclusion

Answer 3

D

Question 4

An artifact is best defined as:

A) anything found at an archaeological site
B) the physical remains of human beings or human ancestors
C) anything made and used by a human or human ancestor
D) a complex tool found at an archaeological site

Question 5

Stone chopping tools, arrowheads, bits of pottery, and bronze daggers are all examples of:

A) ecofacts
B) features
C) specimens
D) artifacts

Question 6

The bones of a butchered mastodon, charred nuts found in an ancient fireplace, and sunflower seeds recovered from a prehistoric trash dump are all examples of:

A) ecofacts
B) features
C) specimens
D) artifacts

Question 7

A place where the material remains of human activity are found is called a:

A) fossil locality
B) master sequence
C) site
D) ecofact

Question 8

Which of the following is an archaeological site:

A) a small ancient hunting camp with just a handful of artifacts
B) an abandoned nineteenth-century rural village
C) an ancient city covering hundreds of acres
D) all of the above

Question 9

Archaeological sites can be discovered through:

A) a surface walkover or "pedestrian survey"
B) the use of remote sensing technologies
C) test pitting
D) all of the above

Question 10

Proton magnetometry, ground penetrating radar (GPR), electrical resistivity, and microgravimetric survey are all varieties of:

A) dating methods
B) trace element analysis
C) remote sensing
D) all of the above

Question 11

Lidar is a technology useful in:

A) dating sites
B) mapping sites
C) analyzing stone artifacts
D) examining an ancient diet

Question 12

The application of Lidar has been used in:

A) mapping the Maya site of Tikal
B) dating the bones of some of the earliest hominins
C) tracing the source of lithic raw materials used by ancient human ancestors in making tools
D) determining the geographic origins of individual human populations

Question 13

Jarrod Burks and Robert Cook were able to identify and map a largely buried and hidden earthwork in Ohio through the use of:

A) dendrochonology
B) a fluxate gradiometer
C) thermolunimscence
D) NAGPRA

Question 14

CT scans and MRIs can be used in archaeology and paleoanthropology:

A) to diagnose disease and injury in preserved ancient human bodies
B) to determine the age of archaeological specimens
C) in the investigation of ancient genes
D) none of the above

Question 15

The study of how objects become part of the paleontological and archaeological records is called:

A) taxonomy
B) epistemology
C) archaeology
D) taphonomy

Question 16

Archaeological material that was disposed of in the place it was made or used is called:

A) debitage
B) primary refuse
C) absolute refuse
D) secondary refuse

Question 17

If you were to see a couple of inconsiderate people simply abandoning the remains of their picnic lunch on the lawn in front of the campus building in which your archaeology course is being held, you might ask them to pick up their:

A) primary refuse
B) secondary refuse
C) debitage
D) taphonomy

Question 18

Archaeological material that was moved from its place of manufacture or use to a separate disposal area is called:

A) debitage
B) primary refuse
C) absolute refuse
D) secondary refuse

Question 19

The modern trash dump represents which kind of deposit:

A) debitage
B) primary refuse
C) absolute refuse
D) secondary refuse

Question 20

Site formation processes represent:

A) the ways in which archaeological sites are excavated
B) the ways in which archaeological sites come into existence
C) how sites are preserved
D) all of the above

Question 21

Buried archaeological sites are exposed by:

A) systematic subsurface testing
B) erosion
C) remote sensing
D) all of the above

Question 22

Pedestrian survey, remote sensing, and subsurface sampling all contribute to the process by which archaeologists:

A) find sites
B) determine the age of a site
C) assess the subsistence patters of ancient people
D) investigate the trading patterns of an ancient group

Question 23

The following would be considered an archaeological cache:

A) a refuse pit
B) a primary deposit of stone tool debitage
C) a cluster of thirty stone blades placed in a pit
D) all of the above

Question 24

The ancient city of Pompeii was:

A) destroyed in a great flood, likely the event that inspired the story of the worldwide Biblical flood
B) the location of fabled Troy
C) destroyed by a volcanic eruption in A.D. 79
D) the first Greek city-state

Question 25

The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius:

A) is the likely inspiration for Plato's story of the lost continent of Atlantis
B) destroyed the Roman Empire and initiated the Dark Ages
C) initiated the Ice Age
D) destroyed the city of Pompeii but also served to preserve its buildings

Question 26

In identifying the possible source of raw materials used by ancient people, archaeologists often rely on:

A) uranium series analysis
B) Lidar
C) trace element analysis
D) radiation damage techniques

Question 27

Neutron activation analysis is one technique used in:

A) dating archaeological sites
B) faunal analysis
C) trace element analysis
D) calibrating radiocarbon dates with dendrochronology

Question 28

X-ray fluorescence is one technique used in:

A) dating archaeological sites
B) faunal analysis
C) trace element analysis
D) calibrating radiocarbon dates with dendrochronology

Question 29

Archaeologist Phil Weigand showed that the raw material for many of the turquoise artifacts found in Mexico was obtained from caves in:

A) Mexico
B) the American Southwest and California
C) South America
D) Polynesia

Question 30

Archaeologist Phil Weigand traced the geographic sources for turquoise artifacts found in Mexico through which analytical technique:

A) neutron activation analysis
B) thermoluminescence
C) optically stimulated luminescence
D) microgravimetrics

Question 31

Analysis of wear or damage patterns on stone tools is useful in determining:

A) the age of the artifacts
B) how the artifacts were used
C) how long tools could be used before they wore out
D) taphonomy

Question 32

The radiocarbon dating of stone tools is:

A) currently being worked on at the Smithsonian Institution
B) limited to tools fewer than about 50,000 years old
C) useful only where the tools have been buried since soon after their manufacture
D) impossible

Question 33

Together, the animal bones found at an archaeological site represent what is called the:

A) osteological comparative collection
B) taxonomy
C) faunal assemblage
D) specimen list

Question 34

Sexual dimorphism refers to the characteristic in some animal species that:

A) males and females are readily distinguishable in their morphology
B) males are always larger than females of the species
C) most males are larger than most females, but some females are larger than some males
D) environmental factors can cause a change of the sex of the developing individual

Question 35

The term osteology refers to the study of:

A) ancient disease
B) bones
C) pollen
D) lithics

Question 36

Palynology makes a significant contribution to the reconstruction of ancient:

A) environments
B) disease patterns
C) trade
D) all of the above

Question 37

Carbon isotope analysis is useful in reconstructing the general makeup of ancient plant communities because:

A) radiocarbon is produced from nitrogen in the Earth's atmosphere
B) carbon decays into several "daughter" isotopes during the half-life of radioactive carbon
C) only trees (and not grasses) use carbon isotopes
D) different families of plants follow different photosynthesis pathways

Question 38

C3 plants, notably trees, tend to have:

A) a lower ¹³C signal than C4 plants
B) a higher ¹³C signal than C4 plants
C) a higher ¹⁴C concentration and therefore appear to be younger than C4 plants
D) a lower ¹⁴C concentration and therefore appear to be older than C4 plants

Question 39

The ratio of two isotopes of oxygen (¹⁶O:¹⁸O) in the shells of marine micro-organisms is useful in determining worldwide:

A) humidity
B) temperature
C) tectonic activity
D) wind patterns

Question 40

Phytoliths are useful in identifying the plants used by ancient people because:

A) they are durable
B) they are abundant
C) they are species-specific
D) all of the above

Question 41

Archaeologists can distinguish the bones of male and female human beings because our species exhibits:

A) taxonomic differentiation
B) gender-based taphonomy
C) sexual dimorphism
D) inegalitarianism

Question 42

Reference to epiphyseal fusion in a human skeleton can be used to determine the:

A) age of death of an individual
B) sex of an individual
C) geographic origin of a person
D) health status of an individual

Question 43

In determining the age at death of a sub-adult (child or juvenile) based on skeletal remains, the archaeologist should make reference to:

A) the pubic symphysis and cranial sutures
B) cranial sutures and diaphyseal fusion
C) dental maturity and epiphyseal fusion
D) radiocarbon dating and dendrochronology

Question 44

Human teeth are useful in determining the age at which an individual died because:

A) the enamel forms in layers, one of which is deposited for approximately each year of life
B) the teeth erupt in a known sequence at more or less fixed points in an individual's life
C) the teeth fall out in a fixed sequence during an individual's life
D) the human teeth are NOT useful in determining the age at which an individual died

Question 45

Analysis of the health status of an ancient individual and the analysis of markers of disease, malnutrition, and trauma is called:

A) paleopathology
B) osteogenesis
C) foraminfera
D) thermoluminescence

Question 46

A determination of the ratio of two isotopes of strontium in human teeth is useful in determining:

A) the age at death of the individual
B) the cause of death of the individual
C) where a person was born and spent their early years
D) where a person lived during the decade before they died

Question 47

A determination of the ratio of two isotopes of strontium in human bones is useful in determining:

A) the age at death of the individual
B) the cause of death of the individual
C) where a person was born and spent their early years
D) where a person lived during the decade before they died

Question 48

If a commercial genetics testing company tells you that you are 26.7% Native American, that means:

A) that you are about one-quarter Native American
B) at least one of your grandparents was a Native American
C) at least one of your great-grandparents was a Native American
D) very little

Question 49

Absolute dates are:

A) those that we are confident are accurate
B) based on radioactive decay
C) those that allow us to apply an age or range of years to an archaeological specimen
D) all of the above

Question 50

Carbon dating and potassium/argon dating are dating techniques based on the process of:

A) radiation damage
B) radioactive decay
C) stratigraphy
D) relative dating

Question 51

Electron spin resonance and thermo- and optical luminescence are dating techniques based on the process of:

A) radiation damage
B) radioactive decay
C) stratigraphy
D) relative dating

Question 52

Potassium/argon dating is useful in dating the most ancient sites of human ancestors because:

A) potassium and argon are byproducts of ancient fireplaces
B) potassium and argon were part of the diets of ancient human ancestors
C) stone tools are often made of rock that contains substantial quantities of radioactive potassium and its byproduct argon
D) the half-life of radioactive potassium is 1.3 billion years

Question 53

The half-life of radiocarbon restricts the use of this dating technique to:

A) sites older than 100,000 years
B) sites older than 1,000,000 years
C) sites younger than 50,000 years
D) sites younger than 5,000 years

Question 54

Accelerator mass spectrometry's major contribution to archaeology rests in the fact that:

A) it extends radiocarbon dating back to beyond the age of the oldest human ancestors
B) it allows for the radiocarbon dating of nonorganic artifacts like stone tools
C) it requires a much smaller sample than traditional radiocarbon dating procedures
D) all of the above

Question 55

Thermoluminescence is a:

A) dating technique that can be applied to ceramics
B) dating technique that can be applied to human bone
C) technique for reconstructing a paleodiet
D) technique for examining the technology used by ancient people in the manufacture of bone tools

Question 56

A dating technique based on the thickness of a chemically altered layer on the surface of tools made of volcanic glass is:

A) thermoluminescence
B) paleomagnetism
C) obsidian hydration
D) obsidian resonance

Question 57

Which of the following materials can be dated with radiocarbon dating:

A) bone
B) stone
C) clay
D) copper

Question 58

Dendrochronology is also called:

A) tree-ring dating
B) trace element analysis
C) paleomagnetic dating
D) obsidian hydration

Question 59

The master sequence results from:

A) a long-term project to verify radiocarbon dates worldwide
B) potassium/argon dating of volcanic deposits throughout the world
C) tracking the movement of magnetic north
D) overlapping ring sequences of living trees and successively older dead trees

Question 60

The calibration curve has resulted from:

A) an analysis of the fusion sequence of cranial plates in various human populations
B) a comparison of radiocarbon and dendrochronology dates
C) a comparison of radiocarbon and potassium/argon dates
D) a comparison of ¹²C and ¹³C in the enamel of ancient teeth

Question 61

Archaeologists have rejected claims that human antiquity can be best explained as the result of intervention by technologically precocious Altanteans or ancient extraterrestrial aliens because scientists:

A) are close-minded
B) know these claims are true, but are engaged in a conspiracy of silence
C) are afraid that their careers will be destroyed if they admit that these things are true
D) require evidence, and there is absolutely no evidence to support those claims

Question 62

If you see the date of an archaeological site expressed as "2000 BC," it can also be written:

A) 2000 BCE
B) 2000 BP
C) -2000 AD
D) 2000 years ago

Question 63

It is the year 2020. Technically, that's shorthand for:

A) 2020 AD
B) AD 2020
C) 0 BP
D) all of the above

Question 64

Archaeology is a science. How is the archaeological study of the human past scientific?

Question 65

What does it mean to say that archaeologists and paleoanthropologists rely on a "convergence of evidence?"

Question 66

How are archaeological sites formed? In other words, how do they come into existence?

Question 67

What happened to Pompeii in A. D. 79? How did the destruction of Pompeii lead to its preservation?

Question 68

How are archaeological sites preserved? How do they survive for thousands or even millions of years?

Question 69

How do archaeologists find sites? What techniques do they use to detect evidence of the past human occupation of an area?

Question 70

What kind of data constitute the archaeological record?

Question 71

How do archaeologists recover data from sites?

Question 72

Why is spatial context so important to the archaeologist? Briefly describe three different spatial contexts and associations for the same artifact, showing how different contexts reveal different behaviors.

Question 73

How do archaeologists analyze their data? Specifically, how can archaeologists determine where raw materials came from, how tools were made and used, and how these objects can inform us of the social or religious practices of a past people?

Question 74

What did archaeological Phil Weigand determine about the raw turquoise used by artisans in ancient Mexico? How did he determine this?

Question 75

How do archaeologists analyze food remains? What insights do these remains provide us about the lives of past people?

Question 76

What can blood residue recovered from the edges of stone blades tell us about ancient hunting practices?

Question 77

How can carbon isotope analysis help in our reconstruction of an ancient environment and an ancient human diet?

Question 78

What contributions does pollen analysis make to archaeological analysis? Describe the process by which palynologists can reconstruct plant communities and the ancient environment.

Question 79

How does the analysis of ancient foraminifera shells inform us of worldwide temperature fluctuation and the extent of ancient glaciation?

Question 80

What kind of information can archaeologists and paleoanthropologists derive from human and pre-human skeletal remains?