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ANTH 130  Introduction to Archaeology
Dr. Darlene Applegate
Fall 2007
Exam 2 Review Material
Study Guide      Practice Questions

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NOTE:  Information may be listed in more than one place on the study guide. The study guide does not necessarily contain all the information that may appear on the exam.

TOPICS COVERED

• Location Methods
• Recovery Methods
  
• Archaeological Dating
• Archaeological Systematics
• Text chapters 5, 6, 7, 8
  
• "Archaeologists Who Wouldn't Dig" article

TERMS

• archaeological research design

• multidisciplinary
• context
• formation processes
• sampling
• nonprobabilistic sampling
• probabilistic sampling
• invasive
• non-invasive

• gumshoe archaeology
• ground reconnaissance
• surface survey
• subsurface prospecting
• auger
• core
• shovel test
• probe
• remote sensing
• aerial photography
• crop mark
• soil mark
• shadow mark
• magnetometer
• soil resistivity
• ground-penetrating radar

• recovery
• systematic surface collection
• excavation
• trenching
• test pitting
• horizontal excavation
• vertical excavation
• screening, wet screening, dry screening
• mechanized recovery
• flotation
• light fraction
• heavy fraction
  

• relative dating
• absolute dating / chronometric dating
• stratigraphy
• law of superposition
• law of association
• law of cross-cutting relationships
• seriation
• radiometric dating
• parent element
• daughter element
• half life
• calibration
  
• dendrochronology

• systematics
• classification
• class
• grouping
• group
  
• typology
• type
• descriptive type
• chronological (temporal) type
• functional type
• stylistic type
  
• attribute / criterion
• attribute state
• hierarchy or taxonomy / hierarchical classification or taxonomic classification
  
• paradigm / paradigmatic classification
• lumper vs. splitter
  


• component
• single component
• multicomponent
• phase
• horizon
• tradition

LISTS

• types of context that must be recorded when locating or recovering artifacts
• major types of sampling strategies
  
• factors to consider in selecting field methods

• types of artifact location methods
• types of subsurface prospecting methods
• types of subsurface remote sensing methods

• types of artifact recovery methods (including remote sensing)
• types of excavation
• types of screening
• flotation fractions

• objectives of archaeological classification
• factors to consider in selecting a classification approach
  
• attributes used to classify artifacts
• attributes used to classify features
  
• attributes used to classify sites
• functional site types
• types of classification schemes

• examples of relative dating methods
• examples of absolute dating methods

CONCEPTS

• how much (what percentage) of a study area typically is sampled and why
  

• how does artifact location relate to archaeological research design
• advantages and disadvantages of each artifact location method
• in what circumstances different location methods are used
• steps in surface survey
• what to look for in surface survey
  

• relationship of recovery to archaeological research design
• advantages and disadvantages of each recovery method

• purposes of flotation

• relationship of classification to archaeological research design
• characteristics of hierarchies and paradigms
• examples of hierarchies and paradigms - be able to identify
• be able to identify attributes used in sample classifications
• be able to identify relationships among types in sample classifications
  

• relationship of dating to archaeological research design
• background information on archaeological dating
• basis, assumptions, time ranges, and materials dated in stratigraphy, seriation, radiocarbon, and dendrochronology
• half life of carbon-14
  

PEOPLE

• J. R. Arnold
• Willard F. Libby
• Gordon Willey
• Philip Phillips
  

TEXTBOOK MATERIAL

Most of the information from the textbook was covered in class.  Listed below are other important topics not covered in lecture.

• Chapter 5: Dating

• thermoluminescence
  

• Chapter 6: Finding Archaeological Sites
 
• geographic information systems and how they are used by archaeologists
 
• Chapter 7: Excavation
 
• planned excavation: research design (how excavations are planned)
• excavation equipment and tools
• excavation problems: open campsites and villages, caves and rockshelters, mounds, earthworks, shell middens, burials and cemeteries
• NAGPRA
 
• Chapter 8: Classification and Technology
 
• nothing other than that covered in lecture

1. Which of the following statements about archaeological research design is false?

a. Artifact location is the fifth step.
b. Artifact recovery is the sixth step.
c. Archaeological classification and dating are part of the seventh step.
d. Whereas location and recovery are accomplished in the field, classification and dating usually occur in the lab.
e. The first step of archaeological research design - asking a research question - has little influence on the processes of artifact location, artifact recovery, classification, and dating.

2. Flotation is intended to recover which type of artifact?

a. charcoal
b. flakes
c. pottery sherds
d. nails
e. projectile points

3. In the following hierarchy, what attribute was used at the first division?

a. function
b. raw material / composition
c. age
d. color
e. shape

4. Which of the following is not a goal of archaeological classification?

a. explain differences in artifacts from different sites
b. identify artifact types
c. identify relationships among artifact types
d. make archaeological collections more manageable
e. separate artifacts according to density

5. Which of the following statements about classification is false?

a. Hierarchies only use two attributes to classify artifacts.
b. Paradigms produce a tabular (table) classification scheme.
c. Hierarchies are more flexible than paradigms.
d. Hierarchies are hierarchically-arranged levels of related artifact types.
e. None of these is false.

a. the amount of time one has to do the work.
b. the amount of money one has to spend.
c. the nature of the archaeological record where one is working.
d. requirements of the funding agency.
e. the expertise of the archaeologist.

7. True or False:  A tradition is a collection of traits that have broad geographic distribution but limited temporal range, while a phase is a collection of traits that have limited geographic distribution but wide temporal range.
 

8. True or False:  Sites are typically classified according to cultural affiliation, temporal affiliation, geographic location, and function.
 

9. True or False:  Composition, function, age, species, and modification are attributes commonly used in classifying artifacts.
 

10. True or False:  Three dimensions of variation of concern to archaeologists are time, space and form.
 

11.    True or False: Flotation is a method used by archaeologists to recover small organic artifacts from archaeological sediments.
 

12.    True or False:  Shadow marks, soil marks, and crop marks on aerial photographs can be used to both locate and recover archaeological information.
 

13. Excavation is an example of a/an                     recovery technique.
 

14. Materials that float to the surface of a flotation sample are called the                fraction, while materials that do not float to the surface of a flotation sample are called the                    fraction.
 

15.  The figure below shows an example of a/an                classification.
 
 

16. In the figure above, the two attributes used to classify sites are                     and                     .
 

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