FSU ANT 2100 MIDTERM EXAM
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT
ANSWERS ALREADY PASSED
What is a type? - Answer- - Types are abstractions imposed by the archaeologist on a
variable batch of artifacts.
- We formulate a classification with a specific purpose in mind.
What are the 3 types of "types"? - Answer- 1. Morphological - grouping based on
similarity, rather than function/chronological
2. Temporal - are morphological types that have specific chronological meaning (aka
historical period)
3. Functional - grouping based on how objects were used in the past
Absolute Dating - Answer- dating that shows how old an artifact is, using scientific
instruments or methods that provide a definitive age range
Relative Dating - Answer- Arrangement of material finds in a sequence, to identify and
compare younger vs older objects
Index fossils - Answer- enables archaeologists to characterize and date strata within
sites using distinctive artifact forms that research shows to be diagnostic of a particular
period of time
_________ are expressed as specific units of scientific measurement—days, years,
centuries, or millennia; ________ dates express relationships or comparisons - Answer-
Absolute; Relative
Problems associated with Radiocarbon Dating include - Answer- - The chemical
process through which plants metabolize carbon
- The Reservoir effect
- The De Vries effects
With Trapped Charge Dating, sites can be dated based on their frequency of several
artifact styles. - Answer- False;
, With a Master Seriation Diagram, sites can be dated based on their frequency of
several artifact styles.
The Radiocarbon Dates on Old Kingdom pyramids were from 100 to 400 years older
than documented. - Answer- The explanation was the - old wood problem - where Old
Kingdom pharaohs recycled old wood to build their pyramids.
What is science in archaeology? - Answer- reiterative - The scientific cycle begins and
ends with facts.
Moundbuilder Myth - Answer- - Colonial Americans justify the taking of Native American
lands in several ways, and one involved archaeology.
- Some mounds were constructed as early as 5,500 years ago, in the Southern
Mississippi Valley, by 3,000 years ago the practice was widespread across the Eastern
U.S.
- The moundbuilders might have been anyone, except the ancestors of Native
Americans.
19th century scholars saw the Indians as late-arrivers marauders, destroyers of a
magnificent civilization.
- This view of history gave colonists the sense of innate superiority and the rights to
avenge the mound builders by disposing Native Americans of their land.
Levels of Theory - Answer- levels that generalize thinking and allows comparison.
Low-Level Theory - Answer- The observations and interpretations that emerge from
hands-on archaeological field and lab work.
Middle-Level Theory - Answer- - Necessary to infer human behavior and natural
processes from archaeological data.
- Hypothesis that links archaeological observations with the human behavior or natural
processes that produced them.
High-Level Theory - Answer- - Theory that seeks to answer large "why" questions.
- Goes beyond the archaeology specifics to address the "big questions" of concern to
many social and historical sciences.
Zooarchaeology - Answer- study of animal remains of archaeological sites
faunal assemblage - Answer- the animal remains recovered from an archaeological site
Kivas and Sipapu - Answer- They appear in early Pueblo sites and perhaps even in the
earlier (pre-AD 700) pit-house villages.
Sipapu - Answer- - A Hopi word that loosely translates as "place of emergence."
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT
ANSWERS ALREADY PASSED
What is a type? - Answer- - Types are abstractions imposed by the archaeologist on a
variable batch of artifacts.
- We formulate a classification with a specific purpose in mind.
What are the 3 types of "types"? - Answer- 1. Morphological - grouping based on
similarity, rather than function/chronological
2. Temporal - are morphological types that have specific chronological meaning (aka
historical period)
3. Functional - grouping based on how objects were used in the past
Absolute Dating - Answer- dating that shows how old an artifact is, using scientific
instruments or methods that provide a definitive age range
Relative Dating - Answer- Arrangement of material finds in a sequence, to identify and
compare younger vs older objects
Index fossils - Answer- enables archaeologists to characterize and date strata within
sites using distinctive artifact forms that research shows to be diagnostic of a particular
period of time
_________ are expressed as specific units of scientific measurement—days, years,
centuries, or millennia; ________ dates express relationships or comparisons - Answer-
Absolute; Relative
Problems associated with Radiocarbon Dating include - Answer- - The chemical
process through which plants metabolize carbon
- The Reservoir effect
- The De Vries effects
With Trapped Charge Dating, sites can be dated based on their frequency of several
artifact styles. - Answer- False;
, With a Master Seriation Diagram, sites can be dated based on their frequency of
several artifact styles.
The Radiocarbon Dates on Old Kingdom pyramids were from 100 to 400 years older
than documented. - Answer- The explanation was the - old wood problem - where Old
Kingdom pharaohs recycled old wood to build their pyramids.
What is science in archaeology? - Answer- reiterative - The scientific cycle begins and
ends with facts.
Moundbuilder Myth - Answer- - Colonial Americans justify the taking of Native American
lands in several ways, and one involved archaeology.
- Some mounds were constructed as early as 5,500 years ago, in the Southern
Mississippi Valley, by 3,000 years ago the practice was widespread across the Eastern
U.S.
- The moundbuilders might have been anyone, except the ancestors of Native
Americans.
19th century scholars saw the Indians as late-arrivers marauders, destroyers of a
magnificent civilization.
- This view of history gave colonists the sense of innate superiority and the rights to
avenge the mound builders by disposing Native Americans of their land.
Levels of Theory - Answer- levels that generalize thinking and allows comparison.
Low-Level Theory - Answer- The observations and interpretations that emerge from
hands-on archaeological field and lab work.
Middle-Level Theory - Answer- - Necessary to infer human behavior and natural
processes from archaeological data.
- Hypothesis that links archaeological observations with the human behavior or natural
processes that produced them.
High-Level Theory - Answer- - Theory that seeks to answer large "why" questions.
- Goes beyond the archaeology specifics to address the "big questions" of concern to
many social and historical sciences.
Zooarchaeology - Answer- study of animal remains of archaeological sites
faunal assemblage - Answer- the animal remains recovered from an archaeological site
Kivas and Sipapu - Answer- They appear in early Pueblo sites and perhaps even in the
earlier (pre-AD 700) pit-house villages.
Sipapu - Answer- - A Hopi word that loosely translates as "place of emergence."
