Deck 6: Chronology Building How To Get A Date

Question 1

Tree ring dating is possible because:

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.

Answer 1

variable tree ring widths preserve information about past climatic change and can be fit into a long-term chronological sequence.

Question 2

Which carbon isotope is the rarest?

A) 12C
B) 13C
C) 14C
D) None of the answers; carbon isotopes exist in the same proportions.

Answer 2

14C

Question 3

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

Answer 3

The index fossil concept

Question 4

The radiocarbon dating technique was discovered by:

A) Nels Nelson.
B) Oscar Montelius.
C) A. E. Douglas.
D) Willard Libby.

Question 5

A tree ring sequence is only useful in the region in which it was developed because:

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.

Question 6

Which of the following dating methods provides the most precise date?

A) Potassium-argon
B) Radiocarbon
C) Dendrochronology
D) Thermoluminescence

Question 7

Seriation differs from the index fossil concept in that:

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.

Question 8

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.

Question 9

Who developed the technique of dendrochronology, or tree ring dating?

A) Nels Nelson
B) Oscar Montelius
C) A. E. Douglas
D) Willard Libby

Question 10

The index fossil concept was introduced to archaeology by:

A) Oscar Montelius.
B) A. E. Douglas.
C) Willard Libby.
D) Jeffrey Dean.

Question 11

Trees have alternating dark and light rings. The dark rings are:

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.

Question 12

The index fossil concept:

A) allows widely separated strata to be correlated and assigned to the same time period if they contain the same fossils.
B) is the idea that strata containing similar fossil assemblages are of similar ages.
C) 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.

Question 13

Dendrochronology provides a(n) measure of time, while the Law of Superposition allows for a(n) measure of time.

A) relative/absolute
B) calibrated/corrected
C) long-term/exact
D) absolute/relative

Question 14

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

Question 15

A relative date is:

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.

Question 16

Seriation diagrams resemble battleships because:

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.

Question 17

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.

Question 18

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.

Question 19

A relative dating method that orders artifacts based on the assumption that one cultural style slowly replaces an earlier style over time is:

A) dendrochronology.
B) the index fossil concept.
C) seriation.
D) the Law of Superposition.

Question 20

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.

Question 21

Plants that are of similar ages and that grew in the same soil could produce different radiocarbon ages due to:

A) use of different photosynthetic pathways.
B) the reservoir effect.
C) De Vries effect.
D) problems with calibrating the radiocarbon curve.

Question 22

Dating techniques tell us about cultural activities.

A) everything we need to know
B) nothing directly
C) nothing at all
D) how to speculate

Question 23

Radiocarbon dating cannot reliably date anything older than about:

A) 25,000 years.
B) 45,000 years.
C) 125,000 years.
D) 245,000 years.

Question 24

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. You know that:

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.

Question 25

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

Question 26

A difference between optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and thermoluminescence (TL) is:

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.

Question 27

Electron spin resonance is a trapped charge dating method primarily used to date:

A) bone organic matter.
B) tooth enamel.
C) volcanic ash.
D) the last time sediments were exposed to light.

Question 28

Argon-argon dates volcanic rock, especially ash, in layers that are years old.

A) thousands of
B) tens of thousands of
C) hundreds of thousands of
D) millions of

Question 29

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

Question 30

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. This is due to:

A) De Vries effect.
B) the reservoir effect.
C) the effect of different photosynthetic pathways.
D) problems with calibrating the radiocarbon curve.

Question 31

Absolute dates are absolute in that they

A) can only say how much older or younger one site or artifact is than another.
B) places sites in relative order.
C) provides specific ages or age ranges.
D) cannot be disputed.

Question 32

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:

A) AD 1650.
B) AD 1625.
C) AD 1600.
D) sometime after AD 1650.

Question 33

Factors that can affect the utility of radiocarbon dating include:

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.

Question 34

We can expect that continual advances in dating methods will

A) permit a greater understanding of the chronology of the past.
B) confuse scholars and lead to disputes among the academic community.
C) help create new paradigms and new ways of understanding the past.
D) permit a greater understanding of the chronology of the past, and create new paradigms and new ways of understanding the past.

Question 35

Radiocarbon dating was able to determine that 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.

Question 36

evidence usually provides dates for historical sites.

A) Geomorphological
B) Faunal
C) Documentary
D) Floral

Question 37

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

A) TPQ.
B) mean ceramic age dates.
C) radiocarbon dates.
D) TPQ and mean ceramic age dates.

Question 38

In trapped charge dating methods, the amount of gamma radiation emitted by sediments is measured by:

A) optically stimulated luminescence.
B) thermoluminescence.
C) a dosimeter.
D) beta decay.

Question 39

An advantage of the accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) method of radiocarbon dating is:

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.

Question 40

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.

Question 41

While useful in geology, the index fossil concept has little archaeological utility.

Question 42

At an extremely old site (greater than 500,000 years), such as the older levels at Olduvai Gorge, the best type of dating technique to use would be Potassium-Argon or Argon-Argon.

Question 43

Radiocarbon dating is useful worldwide because the amount of atmospheric 14C has remained constant through time.

Question 44

One strength of the AMS dating technique is that it requires a much smaller sample of organic material than needed in the standard radiocarbon technique.

Question 45

You have excavated a site, but have recovered no organic remains. The only material recovered from the site is pottery. Using the Argon-Argon technique would be the best way to date the site.

Question 46

Because different plants use different photosynthetic pathways that discriminate against carbon-13 in different ways, plants that are the same age can produce different radiocarbon ages.

Question 47

If an archaeologist uses thermoluminescence to date stone tools that appear to have been burned, the date will indicate when the tools were last burned, but not necessarily how long ago the tools were made.

Question 48

Potassium-argon or argon-argon dating would be useful techniques for dating a volcanic formation containing hominid fossil remains.

Question 49

The most effective technique to date organic material older than 75,000 years is radiocarbon dating.

Question 50

Historic archaeologists can use the length of old clay pipes to determine the age of a historic site.

Question 51

The "battleship" shape that the text mentions when discussing seriation refers to changes in the 'popularity' of a morphological type.

Question 52

A tree ring sequence developed in the southwestern United States would be equally as applicable in a region such as the Mediterranean.