Chapter 1: Getting Started in Archaeology
In this test bank for World Prehistory and Archaeology, Third Edition, there is a new system
for identifying the difficulty of the questions. Questions are now tagged according to the
four levels of learning that help organize the text. Think of these four levels as moving from
lower-level to higher-level cognitive reasoning. The four levels are:
REMEMBER: a question involving recall of key terms or factual material
UNDERSTAND: a question testing comprehension of more complex ideas
APPLY: a question applying anthropological knowledge to some new situation
ANALYZE: a question requiring identifying elements of an argument and their
interrelationship
Multiple True-False Short Answer Essay Total
Choice
Remember 13 10 2 0 25
Understand 5 5 5 1 16
Apply 2 0 1 3 6
Analyze 0 0 2 1 3
Total 20 15 10 5 50
________________________________________________________________
Multiple Choice
1. The goal of archaeology is to __________.
a. find treasure
b. dig square holes
c. understand past human lives by studying the objects they left behind
d. more fully understand dinosaurs
(UNDERSTAND; answer c; page 8)
,2. An archaeological survey maps the distribution of __________.
a. the oldest stones in the region
b. only sites over 100 years old
c. the physical remains of human activity
d. only those sites deemed to be ʺsignificantʺ
(REMEMBER; answer c; page 8)
3. Artifacts that are found in the place where they were originally deposited are said to
be __________.
a. in situ
b. commonplace
c. ex post facto
d. geologically stable
(REMEMBER; answer a; page 9)
4. ________ refer to software applications that allow spatial data to be brought together
and consolidated.
a. U.S. Geodetic Surveys (USGS)
b. Geographic Positioning Systems (GPS)
c. Universal Transverse Mercators (UTM)
d. Geographic Information systems (GIS)
(REMEMBER; answer d; page 10)
5. The goal of vertical excavation is to __________.
a. collect as many artifacts as possible
b. dig as deeply as possible
c. expose the sequence of occupation at a site
d. obey the law of superposition
(UNDERSTAND; answer c; page 11)
6. Which of these statements best describes the law of superposition?
a. Sediments will be deposited in horizontal layers.
b. In any undisturbed sedimentary deposits, each layer is younger than the layer
beneath it.
c. In any undisturbed sedimentary deposits, each layer is older than the layer beneath
it.
d. The uppermost sediments are the most important for archaeological analysis.
(UNDERSTAND; answer b; page 12)
7. Geological strata can be classified by the __________.
a. the type of rock they consist of
,b. the diversity of fossils found within them
c. the length of time it took to dig through the layer
d. the moistness of the soil
(REMEMBER; answer a; page 12)
8. The sequence of depositional units at a site is referred to as the siteʹs __________.
a. archaeology
b. geology
c. occupation
d. stratigraphy
(REMEMBER; answer d; page 13)
9. The ________ is used as a reference for all vertical measurements on an archaeological
site.
a. datum point
b. ground surface
c. keystone
d. stadia rod
(REMEMBER; answer a; page 15)
10. To recover the charred botanical remains (wood & seeds) it is often necessary to
employ a method known as __________.
a. filtration
b. flotation
c. dry screening
d. piece plotting
(REMEMBER; answer b; page 16)
11. Any object that shows traces of human manufacture is referred to as a/n. __________.
a. ecofact
b. artifact
c. site
d. feature
(REMEMBER; answer b; page 17)
12. ________ are natural objects that provide information about the environmental
context of past human activity.
a. Artifacts
b. Ecofacts
, c. Features
d. Fossils
(REMEMBER; answer b; page 17)
13. Lithic analysis is the study of __________.
a. lithium artifacts
b. stone tools
c. ceramic dishes
d. metal weapons
(REMEMBER; answer b; page 17)
14. What is the study of the processes that affect organic remains after death?
a. paleoecology
b. zooarchaeology
c. necromodification
d. taphonomy
(REMEMBER; answer d; page 20)
15. Which of the following is a method of quantifying animal bone from an
archaeological site?
a. counting the number of identifiable specimens (NISP)
b. calculating the maximum number of species present (MNS)
c. determining the season of occupation based on geographic index of seasonality
(GIS)
d. estimating the age at death for each animal body recovered (AD)
(APPLY; answer a; page 20)
16. In zooarchaeology, MNI estimates are calculated by __________.
a. counting the most numerous unique skeletal element of each
species
b. counting the number of identifiable specimens
c. estimating the number of bones per excavation unit
d. taking the total number of bones and dividing by the number of different species
(APPLY; answer a; page 20)
17. What is a list of artifact types for a particular archaeological context called?
a. typology
b. chronology
c. taphonomy
d. attribute
(REMEMBER; answer a; page 21)
In this test bank for World Prehistory and Archaeology, Third Edition, there is a new system
for identifying the difficulty of the questions. Questions are now tagged according to the
four levels of learning that help organize the text. Think of these four levels as moving from
lower-level to higher-level cognitive reasoning. The four levels are:
REMEMBER: a question involving recall of key terms or factual material
UNDERSTAND: a question testing comprehension of more complex ideas
APPLY: a question applying anthropological knowledge to some new situation
ANALYZE: a question requiring identifying elements of an argument and their
interrelationship
Multiple True-False Short Answer Essay Total
Choice
Remember 13 10 2 0 25
Understand 5 5 5 1 16
Apply 2 0 1 3 6
Analyze 0 0 2 1 3
Total 20 15 10 5 50
________________________________________________________________
Multiple Choice
1. The goal of archaeology is to __________.
a. find treasure
b. dig square holes
c. understand past human lives by studying the objects they left behind
d. more fully understand dinosaurs
(UNDERSTAND; answer c; page 8)
,2. An archaeological survey maps the distribution of __________.
a. the oldest stones in the region
b. only sites over 100 years old
c. the physical remains of human activity
d. only those sites deemed to be ʺsignificantʺ
(REMEMBER; answer c; page 8)
3. Artifacts that are found in the place where they were originally deposited are said to
be __________.
a. in situ
b. commonplace
c. ex post facto
d. geologically stable
(REMEMBER; answer a; page 9)
4. ________ refer to software applications that allow spatial data to be brought together
and consolidated.
a. U.S. Geodetic Surveys (USGS)
b. Geographic Positioning Systems (GPS)
c. Universal Transverse Mercators (UTM)
d. Geographic Information systems (GIS)
(REMEMBER; answer d; page 10)
5. The goal of vertical excavation is to __________.
a. collect as many artifacts as possible
b. dig as deeply as possible
c. expose the sequence of occupation at a site
d. obey the law of superposition
(UNDERSTAND; answer c; page 11)
6. Which of these statements best describes the law of superposition?
a. Sediments will be deposited in horizontal layers.
b. In any undisturbed sedimentary deposits, each layer is younger than the layer
beneath it.
c. In any undisturbed sedimentary deposits, each layer is older than the layer beneath
it.
d. The uppermost sediments are the most important for archaeological analysis.
(UNDERSTAND; answer b; page 12)
7. Geological strata can be classified by the __________.
a. the type of rock they consist of
,b. the diversity of fossils found within them
c. the length of time it took to dig through the layer
d. the moistness of the soil
(REMEMBER; answer a; page 12)
8. The sequence of depositional units at a site is referred to as the siteʹs __________.
a. archaeology
b. geology
c. occupation
d. stratigraphy
(REMEMBER; answer d; page 13)
9. The ________ is used as a reference for all vertical measurements on an archaeological
site.
a. datum point
b. ground surface
c. keystone
d. stadia rod
(REMEMBER; answer a; page 15)
10. To recover the charred botanical remains (wood & seeds) it is often necessary to
employ a method known as __________.
a. filtration
b. flotation
c. dry screening
d. piece plotting
(REMEMBER; answer b; page 16)
11. Any object that shows traces of human manufacture is referred to as a/n. __________.
a. ecofact
b. artifact
c. site
d. feature
(REMEMBER; answer b; page 17)
12. ________ are natural objects that provide information about the environmental
context of past human activity.
a. Artifacts
b. Ecofacts
, c. Features
d. Fossils
(REMEMBER; answer b; page 17)
13. Lithic analysis is the study of __________.
a. lithium artifacts
b. stone tools
c. ceramic dishes
d. metal weapons
(REMEMBER; answer b; page 17)
14. What is the study of the processes that affect organic remains after death?
a. paleoecology
b. zooarchaeology
c. necromodification
d. taphonomy
(REMEMBER; answer d; page 20)
15. Which of the following is a method of quantifying animal bone from an
archaeological site?
a. counting the number of identifiable specimens (NISP)
b. calculating the maximum number of species present (MNS)
c. determining the season of occupation based on geographic index of seasonality
(GIS)
d. estimating the age at death for each animal body recovered (AD)
(APPLY; answer a; page 20)
16. In zooarchaeology, MNI estimates are calculated by __________.
a. counting the most numerous unique skeletal element of each
species
b. counting the number of identifiable specimens
c. estimating the number of bones per excavation unit
d. taking the total number of bones and dividing by the number of different species
(APPLY; answer a; page 20)
17. What is a list of artifact types for a particular archaeological context called?
a. typology
b. chronology
c. taphonomy
d. attribute
(REMEMBER; answer a; page 21)
