Exam 4: Doing Fieldwork Why Archaeologists Dig Square Holes

Archaeologists prefer to dig in arbitrary rather than natural levels whenever possible to reduce the risk of mixing artifacts from different strata.

Why do archaeologists use a datum point rather than simply measuring from the ground surface?

An artifact's provenience is:

In an archaeological excavation, the point from which all horizontal and vertical measurements are made is termed the datum point.

The following items are necessary in the excavator's tool kit, all except:

Let's say you are excavating a site. You are being pretty careful, and are using 1/4" mesh screens to sieve the dirt after it is removed by a trowel and dustpan from the site. You find a few very small but well-preserved fish bones. The next day:

Decomposition is carried out by microorganisms that require:

The use of dry screening devices with 1/4" mesh is employed to find items such as charred seeds, fish bones, and beads in archaeological sites.

If an artifact is said to be in situ, it is:

The key to maintaining information about an artifact's context is to record:

In addition to an artifact's provenience, archaeologists might also be interested in:

In archeology, a living floor refers to:

Provenience is essential to an artifact's:

Screen size is an important consideration when processing dirt from excavations because the size of the screen affects what is recovered as well as how fast it is recovered.

The design and workmanship of archaeological screens will vary from site to site, and is much less important than mesh size.

Provenience refers to:

The importance of plants in prehistoric diets was largely unknown until which of the following techniques was used?

Which of the following were the textbook authors, Thomas and Kelly, interested in mapping at Gatecliff?

At the Folsom site in New Mexico, artifacts were discovered between the ribs of modern cow bones, thus establishing the antiquity of human in the Americas.

Which of the following is true about the Pleistocene?