Deck 1: Meet Some New Archaeologists

Question 1

The last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, Nabonidus, is frequently known as the "first archaeologist" because:

A) he was the first documented prehistoric individual to show an interest in the past.
B) he tried to answer questions about the past by looking at the physical remains of the past.
C) he employed modern archaeological field techniques in his excavations.
D) he worked within an explicit theoretical paradigm.

Answer 1

he tried to answer questions about the past by looking at the physical remains of the past.

Question 2

An "antiquarian" is someone who is interested in:

A) reconstructing the lifeways of commoners in classical ancient civilizations such as Greece and Rome.
B) detailed documentation of the context in which prehistoric artifacts are found.
C) ancient objects strictly for their artistic value, rather than for the information they provide about the people or culture that produced them.
D) everything that artifacts can tell us about the past.

Answer 2

ancient objects strictly for their artistic value, rather than for the information they provide about the people or culture that produced them.

Question 3

"Stratigraphy" is:

A) the study of a site's artifact assemblage.
B) the thorough and detailed documentation of archaeological excavations.
C) the procedure by which archaeological sites are professionally mapped.
D) a site's physical structure produced by the deposition of geological and/or cultural sediments into layers.

Answer 3

a site's physical structure produced by the deposition of geological and/or cultural sediments into layers.

Question 4

A. V. Kidder (1886-1963) demonstrated that potsherds are archaeologically important because they can provide evidence of:

A) cultural relationships among various prehistoric groups.
B) the types of food contained in the original clay storage vessel.
C) prehistoric ceramic manufacturing technology.
D) potsherds are of no archaeological importance; they are simply broken pieces of pottery.

Question 5

Speculation as to the origin of the first people in the New World included:

A) that Native Americans were one of the Lost Tribes of Israel.
B) that Indians came from Atlantis.
C) that they were voyaging Egyptians, Vikings, Chinese, or Phoenicians.
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 6

Jens Jacob Asmussen Worssae was considered to be:

A) an historian who studied Anglo-Saxon law and writings.
B) an antiquarian who was interested in collecting objects rather than learning about them.
C) the first professional archaeologist.
D) the originator of the new archaeology movement of the 1960s.

Question 7

Today, most archaeologists feel more comfortable using the following abbreviation when providing a date:

A) BC.
B) BP.
C) AD.
D) BCE.

Question 8

The following contributed to the support and discovery of deep time:

A) Charles Darwin publishes his influential book On the Origin of Species.
B) James Ussher concludes that Creation began at sunset on Saturday, October 22, 4004 BC.
C) Jacques Bocher de Crevecoeur de Perthes found ancient axe heads in the gravels of the Somme River.
D) Charles Darwin publishes his influential book On the Origin of Species and Jacques Bocher de Crevecoeur de Perthes found ancient axe heads in the gravels of the Somme River.

Question 9

The concept of "deep time" refers to the following:

A) that the oldest artifacts are found in the deepest parts of a site.
B) the recognition that life is ancient and evolved over time.
C) life on earth cannot be measured in thousands of years.
D) the recognition that life is ancient and evolved over time and that life on earth cannot be measured in thousands of years.

Question 10

The year AD 1859 was an important year in the history of human thought because it was the year that:

A) Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species.
B) the scientific community declared support for the remote antiquity of humankind.
C) Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species and the scientific community declared support for the remote antiquity of humankind.
D) None of the answers are correct.

Question 11

Charles Lyell's 1865 book The Geologic Evidences for the Antiquity of Man was important because it:

A) documented the fact that humans had lived with now extinct animals in the distant past.
B) provided evidence that humans had been on the earth for a far shorter time than other scholars of the time suggested.
C) argued for an extremely young age of the earth (not more than 6000 years old).
D) finally showed that the "ancient ax heads" discovered in river gravels were nothing more than naturally fractured river cobbles.

Question 12

The teamwork approach used by A.V. Kidder at Chichen Itza is termed:

A) Pan-Scientific.
B) Processual archaeology.
C) Culture history.
D) New Archaeology.

Question 13

Archbishop James Ussher (1581-1656) was responsible for which of the following?

A) Establishing the antiquity of man by recognizing ancient handaxes associated with extinct mammal bones.
B) Promoting the concept of organic evolution at a time when most scholars rejected evolutionary thought.
C) Conducting intensive excavations aimed at resolving the question of human antiquity.
D) Calculating the age of the earth based on biblical genealogy, and concluding that Creation occurred on October 22, 4004 BC.

Question 14

Most historians ascribe the label of "first archaeologist" to:

A) Petrarch.
B) Ciriaco de' Pizzicolli.
C) Nabonidus.
D) Boucher de Perthes.

Question 15

Classical archaeology is:

A) the branch of archaeology that studies the classical civilizations of the Mediterranean, such as Greece and Rome, and the Near East.
B) archaeology as it was practiced in classical times in places such as Greece and Rome and the Near East.
C) that period in the history of American archaeology in which antiquarianism dominated the goals of archaeology.
D) that period in the history of American archaeology in which Lewis Binford and his students dominated archaeological method and theory.

Question 16

A "midden" is:

A) any kind of artifact that has been discarded by prehistoric populations.
B) a refuse deposit resulting from human activities.
C) any kind of historic artifact.
D) a specific kind of storage structure used by prehistoric populations.

Question 17

Giovanni Battista Belzoni stood apart from other antiquarians of his time due to the fact that:

A) he took notes and made illustrations and observations of the places he visited.
B) he recovered numerous statues, mummies and carvings.
C) he removed another country's cultural heritage from its homeland.
D) his methods were destructive enough to make archaeologists today cringe.

Question 18

The abbreviation "AD" referring to age in an archaeological or historic context means:

A) in the year of the lord.
B) after death.
C) approximate death.
D) nothing; there is no literal translation.

Question 19

Petrarch is considered perhaps the most influential individual of the early Renaissance because he:

A) traveled extensively to exotic lands and conducted meticulous excavations, increasing public interest in the past.
B) considered the remote past an ideal of perfection, and argued that moral philosophy could be found within ancient classical civilizations.
C) argued that the concept of God had become increasingly irrelevant to explanations of the natural world.
D) discovered ancient Paleolithic handaxes in association with extinct mammal skeletons, thereby establishing the antiquity of humanity.

Question 20

Which of the following dates is the youngest?

A) AD 1066
B) 1066 BC
C) 1066 BCE
D) 1066 BP

Question 21

H. Marie Wormington is an important character in the development of Americanist archaeology during the first half of the 20th century because:

A) she illustrates how difficult it was for a woman to break into the male-dominated field of Americanist archaeology at that time; although well-qualified to conduct archaeological research, she was never given the opportunity.
B) she is an example of a female pioneer in Americanist archaeology, and her contributions are still considered important today.
C) she shows that although women were interested in archaeology during this time, they simply weren't yet ready to participate in archaeological research; Wormington's research was irrelevant and scientifically unsound.
D) she illustrates that although women were not yet permitted to conduct archaeological research during this time, they were still important in the field during excavations as camp cooks and logistical organizers.

Question 22

Which of the following statements is true of the state of archaeology in the twenty-first century?

A) The "New Archaeology" of the 1960s has for the most part been uncritically accepted by nearly all archaeologists, and currently dominates archaeological thought.
B) Archaeology is today very diverse, representing many different theoretical perspectives; there is no single, defining, dominating trend.
C) Whatever public interest and involvement archaeology once experienced has dramatically diminished; archaeology as a discipline is at the risk of extinction.
D) Archaeology today, as it was throughout the entire history of archaeology, is heavily dominated by white males, with virtually no involvement by woman and other minorities.

Question 23

As investigators came to recognize considerable continuities between the unknown prehistoric past and the Native American population of the historic period,

A) scholars saw that living Native Americans were relevant to the interpretation of archaeological remains.
B) the differences between European and American archaeology disappeared.
C) speculation arose that Native Americans were one of the Lost Tribes of Israel.
D) the study of American Indians was no longer an important domain in Western scholarship.

Question 24

Based on the level of public support,

A) more archaeology will be needed in the future.
B) less archaeology will be needed in the future.
C) archaeology has no future.
D) archaeology will increasingly be a pastime of wealthy.

Question 25

The contribution of women to the development of archaeology is best summed up by which statement?

A) Women contributed nothing; it wasn't until the 1960s during the fight for civil rights that any women were accepted into the archaeological community and allowed to conduct archaeological research.
B) Women contributed very little; archaeological research was completely dominated by men throughout the development of archaeology, and is still heavily dominated by men today.
C) Although women did contribute to the development of archaeology, their contributions are less well-known than those of men because they were excluded from traditional communication networks.
D) Throughout the development of archaeology, the contributions of men and women have been roughly equal, and these contributions are equally as well known today; this is a testament to the early development of women's rights in America.

Question 26

In 1572 Matthew Parker, Queen Elizabeth's archbishop of Canterbury, formed the Society of Antiquaries, devoted to the study of Anglo-Saxon law and writings. The Society of Antiquaries used ancient documents to demonstrate that William the Conqueror did not actually create English Common Law. King James ordered the dissolution of the Society in 1614. These events best exemplify

A) "restoring the dead to life" remains a fair definition of the everyday business of archaeology.
B) the overall goal of British antiquarianism was to map, record, and preserve national treasures.
C) the study of the past is often controversial.
D) the history of archaeology reflects a changing relationship to ancient objects.

Question 27

New World archaeology is rarely if ever involved in ethical dilemmas, in large part because it deals with the material remains of past cultures that have no living descendants.

Question 28

The "New Archaeology" of the 1960s:

A) insisted on the contribution of archaeology to general anthropological theory.
B) advocated the importance of scientific methods.
C) argued that archaeologists should always work from representative samples.
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 29

The year 1859 is important to archaeology because

A) Charles Lyell published the book The Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man.
B) Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species.
C) Classical Archaeology began as a field of archaeology.
D) Hugh Falconer visited Abbeville to examine disputed evidence from French gravel pits.

Question 30

Gertrude Caton-Thompson made significant contributions to archaeology because:

A) she felt that archaeologists should focus their research on the artifacts found in tombs and temples, and spent her entire career devoted to their study.
B) she felt that much could be learned by studying settlements and was the first archaeologist to excavate a village site in Egypt.
C) she believed that archaeologists were responsible for protecting themselves in the field and slept with a revolver beside her pillow.
D) None of the answers are correct.

Question 31

Lewis Binford is responsible for establishing a concern for methods in reconstructing the past. This became known as

A) culture history.
B) stratification.
C) New Archaeology.
D) archaeology.

Question 32

Culture history is:

A) the kind of archaeology practiced during Renaissance times, primarily focused on the reconstruction of classical civilizations.
B) a breakthrough in archaeological thought that rejected simple descriptions of cultural development through time for more comprehensive interpretations of past lifeways.
C) the kind of archaeology practiced during the early to mid-20th century, in which changes in artifact frequencies through time were explained by diffusion of ideas or migration of people.
D) the kind of archaeology most frequently practiced today by Americanist archaeologists.

Question 33

Archaeology is about ancient objects, referred to as

A) stratigraphy.
B) middens.
C) potsherds.
D) artifacts.

Question 34

Archaeologists are often involved with the general public because:

A) archaeology is of tremendous public interest; the public wants to know about the past.
B) archaeology depends on public support for its livelihood, and so consequently it owes something back to the public.
C) archaeology is of tremendous public interest; the public wants to know about the past and archaeology depends on public support for its livelihood, and so consequently it owes something back to the public.
D) None of the answers; archaeologists avoid the public because the public might loot their sites.

Question 35

Midden is a term that refers to

A) charcoal, bones of animals and stone implements in an archaeological context.
B) trash heaps created by people.
C) fragments of pottery.
D) a site's physical structure.

Question 36

Stratigraphy is a term that applies to

A) decades of archaeological research.
B) techniques used by indigenous African peoples to create a structure.
C) a site's physical structure produced by deposition and sediments.
D) manufacture of pottery and implements.

Question 37

Documenting how material culture changed over time and space is referred to as

A) evolution.
B) stratigraphy.
C) culture history.
D) sedimentation.

Question 38

The "New Archaeology" of the 1960s:

A) was actually not new at all; it marked a continuation of the same way archaeology had been practiced for many decades, and provides only an arbitrary temporal division in the history of archaeology.
B) was an approach that emphasized the understanding of underlying cultural processes and the use of the scientific method.
C) is sometimes called processual archaeology today.
D) was an approach that emphasized the understanding of underlying cultural processes and the use of the scientific method and is sometimes called processual archaeology today.

Question 39

Alfred Kidder is important to archaeology because

A) he discounted aerial reconnaissance as a means to discover new ruins.
B) he amassed a staff of untrained citizens to conduct archaeological investigations.
C) he maintained that an archaeologist was a moldy variety of anthropologist.
D) he found little support to suggest that Pecos Pueblo was viable for more than one century.

Question 40

The person most responsible for the development and popularization of the "New Archaeology" in the 1960s was:

A) Walter W. Taylor.
B) Lewis R. Binford.
C) H. Marie Wormington.
D) Kathleen A. Deagan.

Question 41

Culture history is the most frequently practiced kind of archaeology today, especially in America.

Question 42

Classical archaeology is concerned primarily with the "classical" civilizations of the Mediterranean, such as Greece and Rome, and the Near East.

Question 43

Archaeology enjoys enormous public interest that suggests more archaeology will be needed in the future.

Question 44

A. V. Kidder argued against the interdisciplinary involvement of specialists in archaeological research because they lacked the necessary anthropological training.

Question 45

Today, historical archaeology is a means of discovering predictable relationships between human adaptive strategies, ideology, and patterned variability in the archaeological record.

Question 46

Lewis R. Binford is a firm supporter of the concept that the goal of archaeology is to "dig up the past" and discover as much of the past as possible.

Question 47

A midden is a refuse deposit resulting from human activities, generally consisting of sediment.

Question 48

An antiquarian is a person concerned more with the people of the past than with the objects of the past.

Question 49

Today, there are fewer women and minorities involved in the profession of archaeology than ever before.

Question 50

An artifact is any movable object that has been used, modified, or manufactured by humans.

Question 51

Most archeologists are employed by federal agencies and private "cultural resource management" firms.