Deck 14: Historial Archaeology Insights On American History

Question 1

Which of the following is true of Thomas Jefferson?

A) He was the third president of the United States, as well as an architect, inventor, scholar, diplomat, and archaeologist.
B) He had a slave force numbering 200 people at times, and he knew that without slavery the agrarian economy of the time would collapse.
C) He probably fathered six children with one of his house slaves, Sally Hemings.
D) All of the answers are correct.

Answer 1

All of the answers are correct.

Question 2

The monument honoring the events that occurred at the Battle of the Little Bighorn differs today from when it was erected in 1881 in that:

A) while it was initially named the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, opposition groups were successful in changing the name to Custer Battlefield.
B) in 1881, it was thought that Indian warriors had slaughtered Custer and his army, and so it was that event that the monument depicted; today archaeology has shown that Custer and his men actually won the battle, and so the monument now depicts that event.
C) a new memorial now also honors the fallen Cheyenne, Lakota, and Arapaho warriors.
D) All of the answers are correct.

Answer 2

a new memorial now also honors the fallen Cheyenne, Lakota, and Arapaho warriors.

Question 3

Bioarchaeological analysis of the skeletal remains from the African Burial Ground site determined that unlike the slaves' lives in New York, their lives in Africa were:

A) Plagued by malnutrition and severe disease, with abundant evidence of hypoplasias and other pathologies
B) Relatively free of malnutrition and severe disease, with little evidence of hypoplasias or other pathologies
C) Characterized by extremely hard physical labor, as indicated by enlarged muscle attachments and lesions from torn muscles
D) Characterized by extreme violence and warfare, as indicated by the presence of abundant healed and unhealed skeletal fractures

Answer 3

Relatively free of malnutrition and severe disease, with little evidence of hypoplasias or other pathologies

Question 4

Custer's "last stand" was immortalized in several paintings created in the 1890s by both Native Americans and white American settlers. The images created by the American whites generally show:

A) Custer and his army being slaughtered by Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors.
B) Custer and his men fighting bravely and calmly, well-disciplined to the end.
C) the Indian people fleeing in panic and fear, trying to escape Custer's army that was clearly controlling the battle.
D) the merciless slaughter of Indian women, children, and the elderly by Custer's army.

Question 5

Slave archaeology at Jefferson's Monticello plantation in Virginia has helped interpret historical records from the time. For instance, written records document that Jefferson moved Critta Hemings (part of his house staff) from a large house with a brick floor, a stone fireplace, and architectural embellishments, to a small simple house with dirt floors. Yet she remained a part of his house staff, a normally favored status. Slave quarter excavations showed:

A) That Hemings was demoted; she and her family were forced to move from the large house where only they lived to much smaller quarters which they had to share with several other families.
B) That the move actually provided Hemings and her family with access to subfloor pits in which they could store their possessions, helping them maintain some privacy and security.
C) That the move actually allowed Hemings and her family to have a house of their own, rather than sharing a household with other families.
D) Hemings never actually moved; she and her family remained in her large house in spite of Jefferson's demands.

Question 6

What was archaeological investigation of the battlefield at Little Bighorn able to conclude about the nature of the battle?

A) Virtually no evidence of formal tactics such as skirmish lines, supporting Indian accounts of chaos and hand- to-hand fighting.
B) Evidence of abundant skirmish lines, supporting settler accounts of Custer and his men fighting in a calm and controlled manner.
C) Custer's personal movements could be tracked by the presence of brass cartridges, as he had the only weapon on the battlefield that used them; his movements indicate that he maintained control of the battle until his death.
D) The battle lasted for days, with control of the battle switching frequently from Custer's army to the Indians, and back again before Custer's troops were finally completely subdued.

Question 7

The battle of the Little Bighorn took place in:

A) Wyoming.
B) Montana.
C) South Dakota.
D) Nebraska.

Question 8

How did public involvement in the African Burial Ground project influence the project's research design?

A) It had very little influence; the local African-American community had doubts that any of the interred individuals were actually their ancestors, and so consequently had little desire to be involved in the project.
B) The local community, refusing to let their ancestors be further exploited, called for the immediate reburial of any human skeletal remains and associated grave goods without analysis or documentation; the project's research design was therefore never realized.
C) The archaeologists worked with the local community, incorporating their concerns and questions into the project's research design, resulting in community empowerment as well as a more meaningful research project.
D) In order to reduce the controversy associated with the project, the federal government allowed the local community to take complete control of the research design; the result was a lack of rigorous scientific methodology and a more humanistic and ideological approach to the project.

Question 9

How does contemporary historical archaeology differ from its prehistoric counterpart?

A) Modern historical archaeology often has a postprocessual slant to it, addressing humanistic and ideological concerns.
B) Historical archaeologists tend not to study large-scale processes; the high degree of temporal resolution in historic sites often leads investigators to focus on specific events or individuals.
C) Because historical archaeology deals with the relatively recent past, and all the cultural, political, and ethical challenges therein, it is often emotionally charged.
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 10

Which of the following is not a major theme of research in historical archaeology today?

A) The study of historically disenfranchised groups whose histories were incompletely recorded, recorded in a biased manner, or still sometimes ignored.
B) Attempts to resolve disputes over the nature of key historical events.
C) Attempts to locate and describe the oldest, largest, or most historically significant sites in order to ensure their protection.
D) The nature of European colonialism, the development of capitalism, and their effects on indigenous peoples.

Question 11

The study of human behavior through material remains, for which written history in some way affects its interpretation, is:

A) prehistoric and historical archaeology.
B) historical archaeology.
C) processual archaeology.
D) postprocessual archaeology.

Question 12

Archaeological investigation of the battlefield at Little Bighorn was able to determine combatant positions and movements. How was this accomplished?

A) Intensive excavations of graves marked by grave markers that determined the position of American soldiers and Indian warriors where they fell in combat.
B) Extensive horizontal excavations that recovered numerous skeletal remains and artifacts of the battle, such as shell casings.
C) Survey with metal detectors that located cartridges and bullets, the positions of which were then carefully mapped.
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 13

Bioarchaeological analysis of the burials from the African Burial Ground site in New York City showed that:

A) Nearly all of the burials were individuals > 55 years old; the earliest slaves were therefore treated better than archaeologists had assumed based on the known treatment of later slaves.
B) Half of the population died before reaching the age of 12, with another peak in mortality between the ages of 15 and 20.
C) The population had suffered from extreme malnutrition and rampant disease, but they were not forced to work very hard.
D) The skeletal remains were too poorly reserved to determine anything about demographic structure or pathology of the burial population.

Question 14

The earliest explorations in historical archaeology were conducted to:

A) disprove the validity of documentary sources and show that archaeological excavation was the only way to truly understand the past.
B) understand how early European settlers interacted with existing Native American populations.
C) understand more about the investigators' own pasts.
D) justify colonial expansion and racist treatment of Native Americans.

Question 15

The postprocessual paradigm that emphasizes the importance of archaeologists' understanding of the specific contexts within which they work, and of the notion that knowledge is situated within a cultural framework and can consequently serve special interests, is:

A) called critical theory.
B) known by critics who question its relevance as a "medieval mind-set."
C) often useful in prehistoric archaeology, but is rarely considered useful for historical archaeology.
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 16

Early plantation archaeology (prior to the 1960s) was primarily aimed at:

A) architectural reconstruction, emphasizing the grandeur of the antebellum way of life.
B) verifying the written records of the time.
C) uncovering information about aspects of slave life that written records from the time did not address.
D) dispelling the "melting pot" perspective of American history.

Question 17

Which of the following is true of historical archaeology today?

A) The research interests of historical archaeology are fairly limited, focusing on plantations.
B) Historical archaeology is highly specialized, with its own journals and professional organizations, and a broad range of research interests.
C) Due to recent changes in cultural resource management legislation, historical archaeology is no longer required by the federal government.
D) Historical archaeology is rapidly growing in popularity.

Question 18

Written records document the historic past. So why do archaeologists do historical archaeology?

A) Documentary sources can be selective and biased toward the interests of particular cultural, political, or ethnic groups.
B) Documentary sources do not exist for most of the historic past.
C) Archaeological excavations can demonstrate that historical records are wrong, and thus useless for inferring anything about the past.
D) None of the answers; if written records exist, archaeologists do not bother with historical archaeology.

Question 19

Why does historical archaeology occupy such a prominent position within archaeology?

A) A large number of historical sites are uncovered by construction projects driven by a growing population, and cultural resource management laws require that they are dealt with.
B) Many people are interested in the colonial and post-colonial history of the United States.
C) The histories of people who were oppressed or victimized in the past are often only discovered through historical archaeology; knowledge of these histories can empower living descendant communities.
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 20

What happened to the human skeletal remains from the African Burial Ground project?

A) They were reburied in October of 2003, after they had been analyzed.
B) They were stored in a basement at the World Trade Center along with all of the excavation documents from the project; everything was destroyed when the building collapsed on September 11, 2001.
C) They are on display at the African Burial Ground Center, which is actively engaged in bringing the findings of the project to the public.
D) They were stolen from storage in 2003 and have not yet been recovered; authorities believe they were taken by local community members who opposed the project.

Question 21

Michael Blakey's analysis of some 400 individuals from the First African Baptist Cemetery in Philadelphia revealed

A) half the population died before the age of 30.
B) half the population died before the age of 12.
C) half the population died after the emancipation of slaves.
D) some of the deaths were due to suicides.

Question 22

American historical archaeologists work to recover the history of communities by excavating the immigrant communities of

A) early nineteenth century mining towns.
B) chinese railroad labor camps.
C) episcopal communities.
D) early nineteenth century mining towns and chinese railroad labor camps.

Question 23

All of the following describe events surrounding the Ludlow Massacre EXCEPT:

A) no one knows which side fired the first shot.
B) the UMWA set up a makeshift miner's camp.
C) Rockefeller refused to improve living conditions.
D) the CFI would not recognize the UMWA.

Question 24

Although much could have been learned about the lives of early American slaves, archaeological research at the African Burial Ground in New York City was never allowed to take place; the City honored the wishes of descendant communities by immediately repatriating and reburying the remains prior to analysis.

Question 25

The re-examination of the Battle of the Little Big Horn documented that, as was commonly believed by American settlers at the time, Custer and his men had indeed fought calmly and in a controlled manner, well-disciplined to the end.

Question 26

The goals and research interests of historical archaeology have remained largely unchanged since its earliest practice.

Question 27

While historical archaeology is currently one of the most important directions in current archaeology, its development occurred much later in time than did prehistoric archaeology; the earliest historic archaeological excavations did not take place until the mid-20th century.

Question 28

Why do historical archaeology if we already have the historical records?

A) Historical records are personal opinions written at the time and are all considered to be not only biased, but wrong.
B) Historical sources can be biased, intentionally or not.
C) Historical archaeologists like current history.
D) Historical archaeologists do not like very old archaeological evidence.

Question 29

Research at Mulberry Row helps us understand

A) nineteenth century slave auctions.
B) proportions of enslaved people to Europeans.
C) slave life at Monticello.
D) the traditional melting pot theme in American history.

Question 30

In spite of the fact that Thomas Jefferson regarded the institution of slavery as brutal and immoral, and that he himself favored its abolition, he nonetheless had a slave force at times numbering 200 people.

Question 31

The Ludlow Tent Camp excavation showed that the Colorado National Guard were wrong about the existence of

A) canned goods.
B) the butchering of animals.
C) segregated living quarters.
D) rifle pits.

Question 32

A major concern of modern historical archaeology is uncovering the histories of disenfranchised groups whose histories have often been ignored or incorrectly recorded.

Question 33

Why are there so few African Americans doing archaeology?

A) Although there is plenty of information on the subject, no one has cared to know why.
B) People from marginalized groups do not pursue advanced degrees.
C) People from marginalized groups do not desire to engage in work that is meaningful.
D) The lack of opportunities to study archaeology at historically black colleges and universities.

Question 34

Which of the following is true about Thomas Jefferson?

A) Jefferson reportedly mistreated the enslaved population.
B) Jefferson doubted whether Caucasians and Africans could successfully create a biracial society.
C) Jefferson did not favor a plan to transport free blacks to Africa or elsewhere.
D) Jefferson was not the father of children with Sally Hemings, as previously claimed.

Question 35

Blakey's research team organized to study the African burial Ground in New York included

A) geologists.
B) anthropologists.
C) geneticists.
D) anthropologists and geneticists.

Question 36

Although slavery is mostly thought of as a southern institution, it was also deeply engrained in the north; the African Burial Ground in downtown New York City contains the remains of between 10,000 and 20,000 people that were buried there during the 1700s.

Question 37

Three major areas of historical archaeological research today include

A) historically disenfranchised groups.
B) questions about the recent past left unanswered by history books.
C) asian colonialism and its effects on indigenous peoples.
D) historically disenfranchised groups and questions about the recent past left unanswered by history books.

Question 38

Modern plantation and slave archaeology is usually aimed at architectural reconstruction, with public education focused on the genteel antebellum way of life, now a thing of the past.