ANT2100 Exam 2 UPDATED Questions
and CORRECT Answers
archaeological culture - CORRECT ANSWER - - Subdivision of culture areas are called
"traditions" or archaeological cultures
- archaeological cultures are not ethnographic cultures
- spatial patterning in material cultures defines archaeological cultures
- usually use the same materials
- multiple different groups of people would have lived here
- by seeking out clusters of temporal types, we construct site components
- record change over space
archaic period - CORRECT ANSWER - - 8,000 - 1,000 B.C.
- a time when people made heavier use of plant foods, began to develop distinctive regional
traditions in material culture, and experimented with agricultural crops (i.e. maize)
assemblage - CORRECT ANSWER - - a collection of artifacts of one or several classes of
materials (stone tools, ceramic, bones) that comes from a defined context, such as a site, feature
or stratum
- collections of artifacts recovered from some unit of provenience
attribute - CORRECT ANSWER - - an individual characteristic that distinguishes one
artifact from another on the basis of its size, surface texture, form, material, method of
manufacture, or design pattern
- there is no rule governing the number of attributes to record but archaeologists try to use as few
as seem necessary to accomplish the purpose of typology
cataloging - CORRECT ANSWER - - begins with the classification of artifacts into types,
or typology
- essential because provenience is lost without it and without providence an artifact's value to
future researchers is greatly reduced
,component - CORRECT ANSWER - An archaeological construct consisting of a stratum
or set of strata that are presumed to be culturally homogeneous. A set of components from
various sites in a region will make up a phase.
conservation - CORRECT ANSWER - - the first step after excavation is to conserve the
recovered materials
- for every week spent excavating, archaeologists spend 3 to 5 weeks or more cleaning,
conserving, and cataloging the finds
- begins with the classification of artifacts into types, or typology
culture area - CORRECT ANSWER - - subdivision of culture areas are called "traditions"
or archaeological cultures
- twentieth-century concept used when scholars recognized not all Native American socities were
alike
- formalized observations into culture areas, large regions defined primarily in terms of what
people ate
functional type - CORRECT ANSWER - - a class of artifacts that performed the same
function; these may or may not be temporal and/or morphological types
- reflect how objects were used in the past
historic period - CORRECT ANSWER - - European contact
- in America after 1500
lithics - CORRECT ANSWER - the technical name for tools made from stone
Mississippian period - CORRECT ANSWER - - A.D. 1,000 - 1,5000
- chiefdoms, population changes, agriculture, pottery shape changes
, morphology - CORRECT ANSWER - - the first analytical step is to describe the artifacts
carefully and accurately by grouping into morphological types to make sense of the past
- the study of the shape of artifacts
morphological type - CORRECT ANSWER - - they are abstract and purely descriptive
- types are not the artifacts, they are composite descriptions of many similar artifacts meaning
that every type must encompass a certain range of variability (several colors may have been
applied, absolute size may fluctuate, etc.)
- help communicate what the archaeologist found without describing every single specimen
- no set rules exist for creating these types, although basic raw material is normally the first
criterion, followed by shape
paleoindian period - CORRECT ANSWER - - 25kya - ~8,000 B.C.
- first occupation to domestication and pottery
period - CORRECT ANSWER - - archaeologists divided pre-history into periods based on
gross changes in easily observable archaeological remains
- the concept of periods is still used to organize archaeological thinking about time
- periods record change over time
phase - CORRECT ANSWER - - a block of time that is characterized by one or more
distinctive artifact types
- defined by temporal types
- an archaeological construct possessing traits sufficiently characteristic to distinguish it from
other units similarly conceived; spatially limited to roughly a locality or region and
chronologically limited to the briefest interval of time possible
temporal type - CORRECT ANSWER - - a morphological type that has temporal
significance, also known as time marker or index fossil
- items of material culture that show patterned changes over time
- morphological types that have specific chronological meaning for a particular region
and CORRECT Answers
archaeological culture - CORRECT ANSWER - - Subdivision of culture areas are called
"traditions" or archaeological cultures
- archaeological cultures are not ethnographic cultures
- spatial patterning in material cultures defines archaeological cultures
- usually use the same materials
- multiple different groups of people would have lived here
- by seeking out clusters of temporal types, we construct site components
- record change over space
archaic period - CORRECT ANSWER - - 8,000 - 1,000 B.C.
- a time when people made heavier use of plant foods, began to develop distinctive regional
traditions in material culture, and experimented with agricultural crops (i.e. maize)
assemblage - CORRECT ANSWER - - a collection of artifacts of one or several classes of
materials (stone tools, ceramic, bones) that comes from a defined context, such as a site, feature
or stratum
- collections of artifacts recovered from some unit of provenience
attribute - CORRECT ANSWER - - an individual characteristic that distinguishes one
artifact from another on the basis of its size, surface texture, form, material, method of
manufacture, or design pattern
- there is no rule governing the number of attributes to record but archaeologists try to use as few
as seem necessary to accomplish the purpose of typology
cataloging - CORRECT ANSWER - - begins with the classification of artifacts into types,
or typology
- essential because provenience is lost without it and without providence an artifact's value to
future researchers is greatly reduced
,component - CORRECT ANSWER - An archaeological construct consisting of a stratum
or set of strata that are presumed to be culturally homogeneous. A set of components from
various sites in a region will make up a phase.
conservation - CORRECT ANSWER - - the first step after excavation is to conserve the
recovered materials
- for every week spent excavating, archaeologists spend 3 to 5 weeks or more cleaning,
conserving, and cataloging the finds
- begins with the classification of artifacts into types, or typology
culture area - CORRECT ANSWER - - subdivision of culture areas are called "traditions"
or archaeological cultures
- twentieth-century concept used when scholars recognized not all Native American socities were
alike
- formalized observations into culture areas, large regions defined primarily in terms of what
people ate
functional type - CORRECT ANSWER - - a class of artifacts that performed the same
function; these may or may not be temporal and/or morphological types
- reflect how objects were used in the past
historic period - CORRECT ANSWER - - European contact
- in America after 1500
lithics - CORRECT ANSWER - the technical name for tools made from stone
Mississippian period - CORRECT ANSWER - - A.D. 1,000 - 1,5000
- chiefdoms, population changes, agriculture, pottery shape changes
, morphology - CORRECT ANSWER - - the first analytical step is to describe the artifacts
carefully and accurately by grouping into morphological types to make sense of the past
- the study of the shape of artifacts
morphological type - CORRECT ANSWER - - they are abstract and purely descriptive
- types are not the artifacts, they are composite descriptions of many similar artifacts meaning
that every type must encompass a certain range of variability (several colors may have been
applied, absolute size may fluctuate, etc.)
- help communicate what the archaeologist found without describing every single specimen
- no set rules exist for creating these types, although basic raw material is normally the first
criterion, followed by shape
paleoindian period - CORRECT ANSWER - - 25kya - ~8,000 B.C.
- first occupation to domestication and pottery
period - CORRECT ANSWER - - archaeologists divided pre-history into periods based on
gross changes in easily observable archaeological remains
- the concept of periods is still used to organize archaeological thinking about time
- periods record change over time
phase - CORRECT ANSWER - - a block of time that is characterized by one or more
distinctive artifact types
- defined by temporal types
- an archaeological construct possessing traits sufficiently characteristic to distinguish it from
other units similarly conceived; spatially limited to roughly a locality or region and
chronologically limited to the briefest interval of time possible
temporal type - CORRECT ANSWER - - a morphological type that has temporal
significance, also known as time marker or index fossil
- items of material culture that show patterned changes over time
- morphological types that have specific chronological meaning for a particular region
