INTRODUCTORY MATERIAL

• What is anthropology?


• What are the four subdisciplines of anthropology?

• What is archaeology?

• What is the difference between prehistory and history (prehistoric archaeology and historic archaeology)?

• What are the two basic subsistence strategies of humans?

• How do archaeologists distinguish wild and domesticated plants/animals?

• What is a food production hearth?

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of food production over food collection?
  

• What are the two basic settlement strategies of humans?

• What is the difference between a village and a city?
  

• What are the characteristics of complex (state-level) societies?

• What are the differences among city state, nation state, and empire?

• What is a theocracy?
  

• What is a culture area?

• Can you identify the culture areas of the Old World on a map?

• What are the two types of time units used in archaeology, and what do BP, BC, and AD mean?

• What are the major and minor subdivisions of the stone ages, and what are the starting and ending dates for each?

• What general type of artifact is used to demarcate these subdivisions?

• What is the date for the oldest Oldowan stone tools, at what two sites were the oldest tools found, what is the spatial distribution of Oldowan tools, and what are the characteristics of Oldowan stone tools?

• What is the date for the oldest Acheulian stone tools, what is the spatial distribution of Acheulian tools, and what are the characteristics of Acheulian stone tools?

• What is the date for the oldest artifactual evidence of meat use, at what site was it found, and what is the evidence?

• What kinds of indirect evidence are used to estimate when humans developed the capacity to speak, and by what time did humans probably have this capability?
  

• What is the date for the oldest evidence for home bases/living floors and at what site was it found?

• When did humans first migrate from Africa into Asia? into Europe?
  

• What is the date for the oldest flake stone tools, what are the two earliest flake stone tool traditions, and how do flake tools differ from earlier core tools?
  

• What is the date for the oldest evidence of controlled use of fire and at what two sites was it found? What were the consequences of controlling fire?
  

• What is the date for the oldest evidence of cave dwelling and at what site was it found?

• What is the significance of the site of Terra Amata, France?
  

• What are the two types of ritual activity evidenced from the Middle Paleolithic Period? What is significant about the Bodo, Shanidar, and Krapina sites?
  

• What is significant about the site of Divje Babe, Slovenia?
  

• What is the date for the oldest blade stone tools?

• What are the three types of expressive activities that first appeared during the Upper Paleolithic period? What is the significance of the Drachenloch and Tata sites?
  

• What are the three types of Upper Paleolithic Period art?

• What are the three types of ritual activities that developed during the Upper Paleolithic period?

• When did humans first migrate to Australia? the New World?
  

• What is the date for the oldest microblade evidence of bow-and-arrow technology and at what site was it found?

• What are the characteristics of ground-stone tool technology?

• What is the date for the oldest pottery vessels and with what archaeological culture are they associated?
  

• What is an agricultural hearth?

Though all the textbook material is important, the following terms and concepts are of particular interest for the exam. Many of these topics were covered in lecture.

CHAPTER 1

• subdisciplines of anthropology
• definition of archaeology
• context
  
• four major dating methods
• four mechanisms of culture change
• four levels of ancient social organization
  

CHAPTER 2

• earliest toolmakers
  
• hunters or scavengers
• development of language
  

CHAPTER 3

• humans radiate out of Africa
  
• archaic human lifeways
• Schoningen site
• neandertal technology and culture (not a separate chapter heading)
  
• 
  

CHAPTER 4

• peopling of southeast Asia and Australia
• world's first art
• Chauvet site
  

CHAPTER 5

• consequences of food production (including separate section on nutrition)
  

CHAPTER 8

• what is a state-organized society
• cities
• collapse of civilizations
  

PRACTICE QUESTIONS

1.    Which of the following statements about the dates for the earliest evidence of stone tool technologies is true?

2.    Which types of ritual activity are first evidenced at sites from the Middle Paleolithic period?

3.    What are the three forms of Upper Paleolithic Period art?

4.    All of the following are major subdisciplines of anthropology except

5.    True or False: Prehistoric archaeology is concerned with the time period of the past prior to the development or adoption of writing, while historic archaeology is concerned with the time period of the past after the development or adoption of writing.  The date for the division between these two time periods varies around the world.

6.    True or False: The two primary settlement strategies of humans are villages and cities, and the two primary subsistence strategies of humans are food collection and food production.

7.    True or False: The Lower Paleolithic Period is dated from 2.6 million to 200,000 years ago; the Middle Paleolithic Period is dated from 200,000 to 100,000 years ago; the Upper Paleolithic Period is dated from 100,000 to 35,000 years ago; the Mesolithic Period is dated from 35,000 to 14,000 years ago; and the Neolithic Period is dated from 14,000 to 12,000 years ago.

8.    True or False: The oldest artifactual evidence of meat use by humans is animal bones with stone tool cut marks dated to about 1.7 million years ago from the site of Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania.

9.    Essay: Archaeologists have designated the earliest time period of prehistory as "the stone ages," or the time period during which stone tools were the predominant form of tool technology.  Because it encompasses a long time interval and includes a variety of stone tool technologies, archaeologists have subdivided the stone ages into periods.  The development of new stone tool traditions marks the boundaries between the periods.  Identify and describe the physical characteristics of the stone tool traditions of the Lower Paleolithic, Middle Paleolithic, Upper Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic periods.

Click here for answers to sample multiple choice and true false questions.