Deck 3: Reconstructing the Past: Analysis and Interpretation

Question 1

The study of human remains in the archaeological record

A) can help researchers reconstruct former ecological conditions.
B) contributes a significant amount of information to understanding our past.
C) is illegal in Canada.
D) cannot link past populations to contemporary populations.
E) is impossible because human bone and animal bone can't be differentiated.

Answer 1

contributes a significant amount of information to understanding our past.

Question 2

Coprolites, or fossilized feces,

A) only preserve evidence of meat in the diet.
B) only preserve evidence of plant foods in the diet.
C) are often preserved in cave sites due to dry conditions.
D) can tell us everything an individual had in their previous meal.
E) can tell us what an individual's diet was like over their life.

Answer 2

are often preserved in cave sites due to dry conditions.

Question 3

Which of the following human skeletal traits is not commonly used to assess sex of adults?

A) Greater sciatic notch width.
B) Jaw angle.
C) Presence of an occipital protuberance.
D) Post-orbital depth.
E) Chin shape.

Answer 3

Post-orbital depth.

Question 4

The photosynthetic pathway for tropical plants is called the

A) C1 pathway.
B) C2 pathway.
C) C3 pathway.
D) C4 pathway.
E) C5 pathway.

Question 5

A source of evidence for reconstructing past climates is

A) oxygen isotope ratios.
B) carbon isotope ratios.
C) nitrogen isotope ratios.
D) the level of strontium.
E) aDNA.

Question 6

Osteology and skeletal biology are names for the same sub-discipline of physical anthropology -- the study of human biological remains from past populations.

Question 7

The study of faunal (animal) skeletal remains from an archaeological site would be the work of a

A) paleoanthropologist.
B) bioarchaeologist.
C) zoologist.
D) paleontologist.
E) zooarchaeologist.

Question 8

Research concerned with the distribution of human occupations sites across the landscape, and the relationship of structures within a community is called

A) paleodemography.
B) taphonomy.
C) paleoarchaeology.
D) urban anthropology.
E) settlement archaeology.

Question 9

Increasingly, palaeopathologists have become aware that

A) human behaviour and culture play a significant role in the distribution of infectious diseases.
B) they should employ only microscopic examination techniques in their research.
C) they are primarily interested in genetically-caused diseases.
D) they should focus mainly on diseases that killed infants and children.
E) they must make conclusions about the general health of a population for their work to be credible.

Question 10

In their analysis of 64 individuals from a historic cemetery in Newmarket, Ontario, Dr. Anne Katzenberg and Dr. Susan Pfeiffer observed that

A) nitrogen isotope ratios fell rapidly from birth to one year of age.
B) nitrogen isotope ratios rose rapidly from birth to one year of age.
C) nitrogen isotope ratios rose rapidly after one year of age.
D) nitrogen isotope ratios remained steady from birth to two years of age.
E) nitrogen isotope ratios remained below average for all individuals.

Question 11

The study of ancient DNA (aDNA) received a significant boost with the development of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique -- a method for the accurate recovery of even minute amounts of DNA. This research advancement also created a new research problem;

A) now there are so many samples that could be tested, there is no way they can all be analyzed.
B) analysis is now only possible, worldwide, in three highly specialized lab.
C) there is now a much greater possibility of contamination of ancient DNA samples with DNA from lab workers.
D) the ancient DNA sequences recovered by the PCR technique are scrambled.
E) any ancient DNA recovered is damaged and degraded by the PCR technique.

Question 12

Because of ________, archaeologists now know that butchering an animal leads to different microscopic wear patterns or polishes on the edge of tools

A) experimental archaeology
B) ethnology
C) ethnoarchaeology
D) molecular archaeology
E) paleoethnobotany

Question 13

Which of the following is not an aspect of palaeodemography?

A) the identification of archaeological evidence for economic and trade links between ancient societies
B) the study of the age structure of a past population
C) the study of the sex structure of a past population
D) the analysis of patterns of mortality, fertility and population growth
E) the analysis of archaeological evidence that would reflect settlement size

Question 14

In their study of the Mayan Empire, anthropologists Dr. Lori Wright, Dr. Christine White and Dr. Katherine Emory all demonstrated using stable isotope analysis that

A) reduced food resources led to demographic collapse.
B) ecological factors led to the demographic collapse.
C) deer meat was the source of demographic collapse.
D) ecological factors did not play a role in demographic collapse.
E) economic factors resulted in demographic collapse.

Question 15

What are the two key factors that affect stationarity in population?

A) Growth and migration.
B) Immigration and emigration.
C) Infant mortality and age at death.
D) Age structure and migration.
E) Population size and life expectancy at birth.

Question 16

Regardless of what artifacts of made of, they are analysed for

A) their size and shape.
B) how they were made.
C) their form or type.
D) all of the above
E) A and C only

Question 17

________ occurs when elements of a society's culture are first taken up by neighbouring socieites and gradually spread farther and farther afield.

A) Innovation
B) Diffusion
C) Direct contact
D) Intermediate contact
E) Migration

Question 18

Skeletal analyses that examine the pubic symphysis of the pelvis, the closure of the sutures between bones of the skull, and the morphology of the sternal end of the fourth rib are not

A) skeletal age indicator techniques.
B) techniques that employ macroscopic observations.
C) adult ageing techniques.
D) techniques that employ microscopic observations.
E) techniques that focus on age-related changes in bone morphology.

Question 19

Sex determination of male skeletal material is best achieved with the skull, but in females the pelvis is the most reliable indicator of sex.

Question 20

The work of Dr. Aubrey Cannon at the site of Namu (near Bella Coola on British Columbia's coast), is an example of the use of this type of archaeological evidence.

A) artifactual evidence
B) skeletal evidence
C) paleodemographic evidence
D) zooarchaeological evidence
E) paleopathological evidence

Question 21

Biochemical analyses of carbon isotope ratios can tell researchers what types of plants people consumed.

Question 22

Why might infant skeletons have high ¹⁵N levels compared to the skeletons of older children?

Question 23

Temporal and spatial differences in most disease patterns are largely the result of cultural differences in behaviour.

Question 24

Animals associated with human populations may reflect the kinds of foods consumed.

Question 25

Ethnographic analogy is the notion that the demography of recent or contemporary hunter-gatherer and forager populations, can always be used as a realistic model for prehistoric populations.

Question 26

Age estimation for an adult is much easier and more accurate than age estimation for a child.

Question 27

The goal of experimental archaeology is to reproduce or replicate technological traits and patterns observed in the archaeological record.

Question 28

Phytoliths may be collected from artifacts, teeth, and feces.

Question 29

The basic assumption of palaeopathology is that the more often you see evidence for a specific disease in the archaeological record, the greater the risk of illness or death from that disease for individuals in the living population who were exposed to it.Is this a valid assumption? Why or why not?

Question 30

Reconstructing aspects of social systems from the archaeological record is possible by understanding the social context in which material culture accumulates.

Question 31

One area of focus in ancient DNA research has been the analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to trace maternal biological lineages.

Question 32

Skeletal evidence of health in the past is limited to the effects of infectious diseases.