Midterm Exam Questions

Question 1

A) Please select and answer two of the following short answer questions (10 points each): [Note: answers should be 4-5 sentences]

1) Describe stratigraphy in your own words, and explain its relevance to archaeology.

2) Define “ecofact,”  “artifact,” and “lithics” in your own words, and provide an example of each term.

3) What types of roles did women play in early archaeological investigations? Were there any exceptions?

4) What is the difference between cultural and natural formation processes?

5) What is experimental archaeology?

6) What is an archaeological assemblage?

 

Question 2

Please answer one of the following questions – please note the number of the question you have chosen (40 points): (Note: this is an ESSAY question and should be formatted as such. Length should be between 500 and 700 words (in other words, at least 500 words, but not more than 700 words)]

1) Describe relative dating and absolute dating with examples of some of the methods used in each type of dating. Select two absolute dating methods and explain in more detail how they work, what their restraints are, what types of objects can be dated with them, and provide an example of each from the textbook case studies.

2) Pick three of the prominent archaeologists discussed in the textbook and answer the following questions for each: When did they practice archaeology (what phase)? What was their contribution to archaeology and what is significant about their work? What theoretical framework did they work under? How are each similar or different from the others you’ve chosen?

3) Explain the key concepts of processual archaeology and the primary approaches of post-processual archaeology. Compare and contrast the two theoretical frameworks and explain how one led to the other. List at least one prominent archaeologist associated with each framework

Question 3

The concentration of ¹⁴C in the atmosphere has been constant through time.

1. True
2. False

 

Question 4

Unsystematic surface survey employs either a grid system or a series of equally spaced traverses or transects (straight paths) across the area.

1. True
2. False

 

Question 5

The underlying premise of all ________ is that particular kinds of archaeological sites tend to occur in _________.

       

Question 6

We measure the concentration of ¹⁴ C in a sample by counting emissions of ________ with a ________.

 

Question 7

Which is the law that states that where one layer overlies another, the lower was deposited first?

1. Law of superposition
2. Principle of Uniformitarianism
3. Law of original horizontality
4. Law of sines

 

 

Question 8

All radiocarbon dates are quoted in years bp or years “before the present,” meaning before the year:

1. 1950
2. 1880
3. 1972
4. 1920

 

 

Question 9

The chemical structure of foraminifera from deep sea cores are a good indicator of the _____ at the time the organisms were alive.

1. sea temperature
2. plankton ratios
3. fish diseases
4. solar radiation

Question 10

A map that excludes contour lines and topographic information concentrating instead on the broad outlines of features:

planimetric map

topographic map

mercator projection map

cadastral map

 

 

Question 11

The two main kinds of information provided by evidence from excavation that archaeologists are interested in are human activities __________ and ___________ from period to period.

            

Question 12

Which is  not a relative dating technique?

1. Thermoluminescence
2. Stratigraphic association
3. Typological sequencing
4. Linguistic dating

 

Question 13

Placenames can be used to construct hypothetical maps of past landscapes.

1. True
2. False

 

Question 14

This wave of feminism recognizes that the field of gender and gender difference is more complex than a simple polarity between male and female, and that other axes of difference have to be recognized.

1. 3rd wave
2. none of the above
3. 2nd wave
4. 1st wave

 

Question 15

The aim of this subdiscipline of archaeology is to achieve the fullest possible reconstruction of the local area and set it in the context of the region.

1. geoarchaeology
2. taphonomy
3. archeopetrology
4. geomorphology

 

Question 16

Segmentary societies never buried individuals In cemeteries.

1. True
2. False

 

Question 17

Humans only affect soils and sediments found at archaeological sites at the macroscopic level

1. True
2. False

 

Question 18

Seabed sediment cores allow us to trace changes in environmental conditions by examining fluctuations in…

1. microfossil species
2. pieces of coral reefs
3. fish bone fragments
4. sand grain size

 

 

 

Question 19

These small-scale societies are generally comprised of fewer than 100 people, who move seasonally to exploit wild food resources

1. hunter gatherers/bands
2. chiefdoms
3. scavenger collectives
4. chiefdoms and hunter gatherers/bands

 

 

Question 20

The best approach to understand the nature of the activities that took place at a site, and of the social group that used It:

1. depends on the nature of the site
2. depends on your funding
3. depends on your level of experience
4. Depends on time constraints

 

 

Question 21

Stable Isotope analysis cannot tell us about past salinity levels in water.

1. True
2. False

 

Question 22

Marie Louise Stig Sorensen used these to argue for the changes in gender roles in society during the Danish Bronze Age:

1. grave-goods
2. armor made for women
3. changes in male adomment
4. make up residues In men’s caches

 

 

Question 23

Which of these are not used to analyze the composition and texture of sediments?

1. none are correct
2. the orientation of pebbles
3. the size of constituent particles in sediments
4. the degree of consolidation

 

Question 24

Maize was likely domesticated in…

1. the Balsas River Valley
2. the Valley of Oaxaca
3. Coxcatlan cave
4. the Indus Valley

 

Question 25

Which variable is not used as a proxy for social ranking within a culture?

1. animal husbandry
2. burials
3. existence of great wealth
4. residential structures

 

Question 26

The uplift of the land that occurs when the weight of ice is removed as temperatures rise is known as?

1. ¡sostatic uplift
2. geologic uplift
3. tectonic movements
4. plate rebound

 

 

Question 27

In general, centralized societies do not have

1. geometric settlement patterns
2. greater economic specialization
3. permanent storage facilities
4. taxes