ANT2100 Exam Set
Questions & Revised Correct
Detailed Answers
1. What is culture? - ANSWER - the traditions and customs, transmitted
through learning, shared among a group of people, that form and guide their
behavior, and form their beliefs of what everything means
- it is learned, shared by members of a group and symbolic, based on the ability to
think in terms of symbols
2. Data - ANSWER relevant observations made on objects that then serve as
the basis for study and discussion
3. When testing ideas, archaeologists must design fieldwork to generate what? -
ANSWER generate adequate data
4. What are Dr. Kowal's 5 steps to Archaeological research design? - ANSWER
1. Formulation
2. Data Collection
3. Analysis and Interpretations
4. Conclusion and Reformulation
5. Presentation
,5. Gatecliff Rockshelter - ANSWER - Nevada rockshelter where people
camped, now and then, beneath a shallow overhang over a period of some 7000
years
- Thomas found gatecliff in 1970 and excavated it
- thousands of artifacts were buried inside, but after nearly a decade of
excavating Gatecliff, Thomas excavated no data at all.
- this is because archaeologists don't excavate data, they excavate objects
- site was found by "Old Gumshoe Survery"
6. Carson Desert - ANSWER - One of the Great Basin's largest wetlands lies in
the Carson Desert (near Reno, Nevada)
- A large basin filled with sand dunes and alkali flats
- a host to many species of plants and animals that provided ancient peoples with
food and various kinds of raw material for clothing, houses and tools
- archaeologists in the 1970s debated how the wetlands were incorporated into
the seasonal round of the regions native people
- focused on stone tools and the waste flakes
- exploring the regional archaeological record was necessary to understand
ancient life in the Carson Desert
- hypotheses: did prehistoric peoples settle down and focus exclusively on the
wetlands, or did they incorporate the wetlands resources into a more diversified
seasonal round?
7. Archaeological site - ANSWER Any place where material evidence exists
about the human past. Usually, "site" refers to a concentration of such evidence.
8. Projectile Points - ANSWER arrowheads, dart points, or spear points
, 9. Seasonal round - ANSWER - hunter-gatherers, pattern of movement
between different places on the landscape, timed to the seasonal availability of
food and other resources
10. Statistical sampling - ANSWER -The principles that underlie sampling
strategies that provide accurate measures of a statistical population.
11. Metate - ANSWER - a large, flat stone used as a stationary surface upon
which seeds, tubers, and nuts are ground with a mano
12. Sample units - ANSWER - survey units of a standard size and shape,
determined by the research question and practical considerations, used to obtain
the sample
- square, circle and transects are the most commonly used
13. Mano - ANSWER - a fist sized, round, flat, handled stone used with a
metate for grinding foods
14. Stratified random sample - ANSWER - A survey universe divided into
different sub-universes that are then sampled at potentially different sample
fractions
15. GPS - ANSWER - handheld devices that use triangulation from radio
waves received from satellites to determine your current position in therms of
either the UTM grid or latitude and longitude.
Questions & Revised Correct
Detailed Answers
1. What is culture? - ANSWER - the traditions and customs, transmitted
through learning, shared among a group of people, that form and guide their
behavior, and form their beliefs of what everything means
- it is learned, shared by members of a group and symbolic, based on the ability to
think in terms of symbols
2. Data - ANSWER relevant observations made on objects that then serve as
the basis for study and discussion
3. When testing ideas, archaeologists must design fieldwork to generate what? -
ANSWER generate adequate data
4. What are Dr. Kowal's 5 steps to Archaeological research design? - ANSWER
1. Formulation
2. Data Collection
3. Analysis and Interpretations
4. Conclusion and Reformulation
5. Presentation
,5. Gatecliff Rockshelter - ANSWER - Nevada rockshelter where people
camped, now and then, beneath a shallow overhang over a period of some 7000
years
- Thomas found gatecliff in 1970 and excavated it
- thousands of artifacts were buried inside, but after nearly a decade of
excavating Gatecliff, Thomas excavated no data at all.
- this is because archaeologists don't excavate data, they excavate objects
- site was found by "Old Gumshoe Survery"
6. Carson Desert - ANSWER - One of the Great Basin's largest wetlands lies in
the Carson Desert (near Reno, Nevada)
- A large basin filled with sand dunes and alkali flats
- a host to many species of plants and animals that provided ancient peoples with
food and various kinds of raw material for clothing, houses and tools
- archaeologists in the 1970s debated how the wetlands were incorporated into
the seasonal round of the regions native people
- focused on stone tools and the waste flakes
- exploring the regional archaeological record was necessary to understand
ancient life in the Carson Desert
- hypotheses: did prehistoric peoples settle down and focus exclusively on the
wetlands, or did they incorporate the wetlands resources into a more diversified
seasonal round?
7. Archaeological site - ANSWER Any place where material evidence exists
about the human past. Usually, "site" refers to a concentration of such evidence.
8. Projectile Points - ANSWER arrowheads, dart points, or spear points
, 9. Seasonal round - ANSWER - hunter-gatherers, pattern of movement
between different places on the landscape, timed to the seasonal availability of
food and other resources
10. Statistical sampling - ANSWER -The principles that underlie sampling
strategies that provide accurate measures of a statistical population.
11. Metate - ANSWER - a large, flat stone used as a stationary surface upon
which seeds, tubers, and nuts are ground with a mano
12. Sample units - ANSWER - survey units of a standard size and shape,
determined by the research question and practical considerations, used to obtain
the sample
- square, circle and transects are the most commonly used
13. Mano - ANSWER - a fist sized, round, flat, handled stone used with a
metate for grinding foods
14. Stratified random sample - ANSWER - A survey universe divided into
different sub-universes that are then sampled at potentially different sample
fractions
15. GPS - ANSWER - handheld devices that use triangulation from radio
waves received from satellites to determine your current position in therms of
either the UTM grid or latitude and longitude.
