Deck 4: Dating Methods and Chronology

Question 1

Some scholars prefer the term BCE to the term BC when talking about calendar dates because BC,which means Before Christ,is not necessarily meaningful in areas with other calendars or religions.What does BCE stand for?

A)Before Columbus's Exploration
B)Before the Common Era
C)By Convention Exactly
D)Before Calendar Evidence
E)By Common Evidence

Answer 1

Before the Common Era

Question 2

For most of human history the only way that people could measure time was through

A)the use of calendars
B)observing the alternating darkness of day and night and the cycle of the seasons
C)counting tree rings
D)the use of stratigraphy
E)calculating the path of the planet Venus in the sky

Answer 2

observing the alternating darkness of day and night and the cycle of the seasons

Question 3

This absolute dating method was developed by A.E.Douglass,an American astronomer,chiefly from work he conducted at the Pueblos of the American Southwest

A)varve dating
B)carbon dating
C)tree-ring dating
D)seriation
E)potassium-argon dating

Answer 3

tree-ring dating

Question 4

Although generally less precise than radiocarbon,thermoluminescence (TL)dating has an advantages over radiocarbon dating: it can date

A)pottery
B)human teeth
C)volcanic rock
D)carbonized botanical remains
E)all of the above.

Question 5

__________ are complex sequences of cold periods that occurred during the Ice Age and are visible in ice cores

A)Interstadials
B)Interglacials
C)Glacials
D)Stadials
E)none of the above

Question 6

To an archaeologist,examples of relative dating methods include

A)seriation
B)studying the stratigraphy of a site
C)pollen dating
D)using layer data from deep-sea cores
E)all of the above

Question 7

If a coin with a date on it is found in a sealed archaeological deposit,we know that the deposit can be no older than the date on the coin.In that situation the date on the coin represents

A)a terminus ante quem
B)an a maiore ad minus
C)an a minore ad maius
D)a terminum ad minore
E)a terminus post quem

Question 8

Layers of sediments resulting from the melting of ice sheets and deposited in lakes on an annual basis are known as

A)tree rings
B)pollen
C)ice cores
D)varves
E)contextual seriation

Question 9

The time taken for half of the atoms of a radioactive isotope to decay is called its

A)radiocarbon
B)thermoluminescence
C)half-life
D)half-decay
E)isotope deterioration rate

Question 10

Absolute dating methods

A)supply only a relative date for the object in question compared to other objects
B)do not yet include the scientific methods of the later 20th century
C)are not considered important to archaeology
D)supply a calendar date for the object in question
E)include such methods as seriation and pollen dating

Question 11

In the Christian calendar (which uses the terms BC and AD),there is no year

A)0
B)1 BC
C)AD 1
D)AD 666
E)none of these exist in the Christian calendar

Question 12

Archaeomagnetic (paleomagnetic)dating is contingent upon a number of factors.If a clay structure is heated beyond a certain temperature (650-700^o C),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

A)magnetic pulses
B)magnetic intensity
C)magnetic direction
D)magnetic half-life
E)all of the above

Question 13

Although the creation of a typology may enable an archaeologist to understand gradual changes in design or decoration,to discover exactly when these changes occurred archaeologists must employ

A)absolute dating methods
B)relative dating methods
C)parallels to other artifact typologies
D)stratigraphy
E)none of the above

Question 14

Through seriation,assemblages of artifacts are arranged in serial order,which is taken to indicate

A)their relative worth
B)what year they were excavated
C)their relative ordering in time
D)where they were discovered on the site grid
E)where the object originally came from

Question 15

By 10,000 BC the only parts of the world that were not populated by Homo sapiens were Antarctica,the deserts,and

A)South America
B)Polynesia
C)the Indian subcontinent
D)Central Africa
E)North America

Question 16

The presence of foreign pottery in a well-dated Egyptian context shows that this type of pottery cannot be more recent than those Egyptian objects.This type of cross-dating establishes a__________ for the manufacture of the foreign pottery

A)a terminus ante quem
B)an a maiore ad minus
C)an a minore ad maius
D)a terminum ad minore
E)a terminus post quem

Question 17

One of the major drawbacks of tree-ring dating is that the date recorded corresponds to the felling of the tree,thus

A)tree-rings cannot be used to calibrate carbon dates
B)it cannot be considered an independent method of absolute dating
C)it is hard to conduct tree-ring dating outside of the tropics where there are a lot of trees
D)timbers may be older or younger than the structures that they were used to build
E)all of the above

Question 18

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

A)deep sea cores
B)calendric records
C)faunal profiles
D)lexicostatistics
E)varves

Question 19

Palynologists study ____________ which,when found preserved in lake or bog sediments,allows them to understand both ancient environments and to use them as a method of ________________ dating

A)fossils,absolute
B)pollen,relative
C)pollen,absolute
D)bog bodies,absolute
E)fauna,relative

Question 20

In order to obtain absolute dates from volcanic material in very early contexts (over 1 million years ago),you would probably choose to use

A)varves
B)dendrochronology
C)uranium-series dating
D)potassium-argon dating
E)radiocarbon dating

Question 21

Electron Spin Resonance Dating (ESR)is most successful when used to provide dates for

A)tooth enamel
B)obsidian
C)pollen
D)ceramics
E)volcanic rocks

Question 22

A key point in archaeology is the idea of association.For example,if objects are found in the same,sealed,archaeological deposit,it is probable that they were buried at the same time.If one of these objects can later be given an absolute date,then it is possible to assign that absolute date to the sealed deposit and the other objects associated with it as well.

Question 23

Assumptions about genetic mutation rates stemming from the study of samples taken from living people is the basis of

A)archaeomagnetic dating
B)DNA dating
C)optical dating
D)natural selection dating
E)tooth enamel dating

Question 24

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

A)radiocarbon dating
B)seriation
C)assemblage typology
D)potassium-argon dating
E)uranium-series dating

Question 25

One of the most striking facts of world prehistory is that the transition to food cultivation from hunting and gathering

A)spread to the entire world from the fertile crescent of the Middle East
B)occurred well before the end of the Ice Age
C)did not cause any sort of restructuring of the organization of human society
D)was recorded by the chroniclers of the Middle Ages
E)occurred independently in several different areas of the world

Question 26

When provided with a radiocarbon figure such as 3700 + 100 BP,the first number (3700)is the number of years before the year 1950.

Question 27

The typological idea that change in artifact style is gradual over time is associated with Darwin's theory of evolution.

Question 28

Scientists have come to recognize that fluctuations in climate during the Ice Age were far less complex than originally thought;indeed,the Ice Age was just one long unbroken spell of cold with little temperature fluctuation.

Question 29

Radiocarbon dating methods can only be used on

A)inorganic materials
B)organic materials
C)volcanic rocks
D)well-fired pottery
E)objects exposed to sunlight

Question 30

Archaeologists have shown that the Maya calendar was very precise: it was used to record exact dates.

Question 31

The reason that radiocarbon dating results must be calibrated is that,contrary to what Libby assumed

A)the half-life of 14C samples from wet contexts is twice that of 14C samples from dry contexts
B)the concentration of 14C in the atmosphere has actually remained the same over time
C)the concentration of 14C in the atmosphere has actually varied over time
D)the concentration of 14C in the atmosphere has nothing to do with radiocarbon dating
E)the half-life of 14C has been seriously modified by pollution in the atmosphere

Question 32

By more than 1.6 million years ago,Homo erectus emerged in

A)Eastern Europe
B)East Asia
C)Eastern Australia
D)East Africa
E)all of the above

Question 33

One of the most useful techniques for dating early human (hominin)sites in Africa is radiocarbon dating.

Question 34

Pollen is a useful tool for archaeologists because

A)from it archaeologists can construct detailed sequences of past vegetation and climate
B)pollen is not very durable and thus can reflect subtle changes in seasons and climate
C)pollen is almost indestructible: it survives for thousands of years
D)a and b only
E)a and c only

Question 35

One of the best things about radiocarbon dating is that the samples are resistant to all contamination: other organic material can come in contact with a radiocarbon sample without contaminating it.

Question 36

Traditionally,radiocarbon dating techniques required approximately 10-20 grams of wood or charcoal.A few radiocarbon laboratories using the accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS)are now able to work with samples as small as 5-10 milligrams.

Question 37

___________________ is another term for tree-ring dating which is based on the counting,measurement,and patterning of annual growth rings in known species of trees

A)Radiocarbon
B)Varve analysis
C)Botanical dating
D)Dendrochronology
E)Amino acid racemization

Question 38

Using differences in tree-rings to tie a wooden structure to a calendar date is an example of a relative dating technique.

Question 39

The main difference between optical dating and thermoluminescence dating is that optical dating is used to date minerals that have been exposed to light and thermoluminescence is used to date minerals that have been exposed to heat.

Question 40

The term for dating techniques based on the decay of radioactive isotopes which have half-lives that are known and measurable is

A)relative
B)absolute
C)enumerative
D)radiometric
E)nucleic

Question 41

Discuss the method of radiocarbon dating.Address the following three questions within your essay: What does the method measure? What are the underlying assumptions of radiocarbon dating? What are the limitations of the method?

Question 42

Very briefly,identify and define three different relative dating techniques.

Question 43

Based on recent DNA evidence,it is clear that Homo sapiens did not evolve in Africa.

Question 44

Very briefly,identify and define three different absolute dating techniques.

Question 45

Archaeomagnetic (or,"paleomagnetic")dating is based on the constantly changing magnetic field of the earth.

Question 46

Discuss the basic method of tree-ring dating (dendrochronology).Include in your discussion the techniques used by dendrochronologists to obtain tree rings,and how the formation of these rings is affected by environmental conditions.Be certain to include in your discussion 1)how tree rings are used to create long master sequences and allow the calibration of radiocarbon dating,and 2),how tree rings are used for direct dating.Finally,what are the limitations of the method?