Archmidterm1Answers

Front 1

What constitutes data in archaeology?

Back 1

Observations made on all objects and their contexts.

Front 2

One of the ways in which anthropologists study culture is through an ideational perspective. An ideational perspective:

Back 2

Focuses on ideas, symbols, and mental structures as driving forces in shaping human behavior.

Front 3

The Mazama ash has been dated at numerous locations in the western US to 6900 years old. This means that if an archaeologist finds the Mazama ash in a stratified context, he or she knows that everything above it is less than 6900 years old, and everything below it is more than 6900 years old. The Mazama ash is an example of a:

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Marker bed

Front 4

Remote sensing is very useful in archaeological sites because it:

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Aids archaeologists by giving some indication of where features may be situated.

Front 5

The upper part of a soil where active organic and mechanical decomposition of geological and organic material occurs is the:

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A horizon

Front 6

Which of the following is the term for a natural formation process in which freeze/thaw activity in a soil selectively pushes larger artifacts to the surface of site?

Back 6

Cryoturbation

Front 7

What is this an example of: If the construction of a pueblo in 500 BP unearths remains of a pithouse constructed in 1000 BP, and the older pithouse remains are brought to the surface.

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Reverse stratigraphy

Front 8

The distribution of archaeological sites across a region.

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Settlement pattern

Front 9

If an archaeologist excavates one archaeological site, and makes generalizations about the prehistoric society as a whole from what he or she finds at that one site, then the generalizations will most likely be:

Back 9

Biased, representing only part of the range of activities that the society was involved in.

Front 10

In the Smithsonian site number 26CH798, the number "26" stands for:

Back 10

The number of the state (arranged alphabetically) in which the site is located.

Front 11

A geologic process whereby particulates are removed either by filtering of water through an already deposited matrix or by flood events that wash the matrix away

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Deflation

Front 12

GIS was able to show that Chacoan roads did not follow the path of least resistance across the landscape. This can most likely be explained by:

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The fact that the roads held a symbolic rather than purely economic value to the Ancestral Pueblo people.

Front 13

One of the goals of archaeology is to:

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To develop interpretations for explaining the human behaviors that led to patterns of evidence recorded

Front 14

A “tipi ring” was used in class to illustrate the geographic context of which type of site?

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Surface

Front 15

Which period of uselife that is an intentional act can occur during any of three of the other periods?

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Discard

Front 16

Which of the following contexts variants covers such as actions as the midden formation?

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Primary transpose

Front 17

The stratigraphy of an archaeological site is formed by:

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human behavior and natural processes

Front 18

Which of the following sampling strategies might you use if you were excavating an area the consisted of a grassland zone, a forested area, and floodplain and wanted to get an even sample from each area?

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Stratified sample

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Systematically expose the horizontal extent of data while preserving stratigraphic information.

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area excavation

Front 20

A long narrow excavation used to explore the vertical and horizontal dimensions and nature of a site along one axis.

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trench excavation

Front 21

Used primarily to probe the depth of subsurface archaeological deposits at a site.

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test pit excavation

Front 22

An excavation that follows buried strata or features along one horizontal dimension.

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tunnel excavation

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An excavation where the stratigraphic information is not preserved.

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stripping excavation

Front 24

Give meaning to the remains/traces recovered from the archaeological record.

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archaeological interpretation

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The physical remains/traces produced by past human activities/behaviors on the world.

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archaeological record

Front 26

The means used by archaeologists to finds, recover, preserve, describe and analyze the remains/traces of past human activities/behaviors

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archaeological methods

Front 27

The information/ideas used to assess the meaning of the physical remains/traces of past human activity/behavior.

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archaeological theory

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archaeology

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the study of past humans and their behaviors through their material remains

Front 29

Research perspective that emphasizes technology, ecology, demography, and economics in defining human behavior (culture as adaptation)

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adaptive perspective

Front 30

The evaluation of temporal (formation) and depositional (transformation) meaning of observed strata (the observed layering of matrices and features)

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stratigraphy

Front 31

An easily identified geologic layer whose age has been independently confirmed at numerous locations and whose presence can therefore be used to date archaeological and geological sediments

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marker bed

Front 32

Methods for identifying difficult to see or completely hidden/buried archaeological remains without physical disturbance

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remote sensing

Front 33

2 classes of remote sensing

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aerial/satellite, subsurface

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A layer where clays accumulate that are transported downward by water

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B layer

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A layer that consists of the unaltered or slightly altered parent material

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C layer

Front 36

A natural formation process in which trees and other plants affect the districution of artifacts within an archaeological site

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floralturbation

Front 37

A natural formation process in which animals affect the distribution of material within an archaeological site

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faunalturbation

Front 38

A natural formation process in which wet/dry cycles in clay-rich soils push artifacts upward as the sediment swells and then moves them down as cracks form during dry cycles

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argilliturbation

Front 39

A natural formation process in which artifacts are moved downslope through gravity, sometimes assisted by precipitation runoff

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graviturbation

Front 40

- The result when one sediment is unearthed by human or natural actions and moved elsewhere, whereby the latest material will be deposited on the bottom of the new sediment, and progressively earlier material will be deposited higher and higher in the stratigraphy

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reverse stratigraphy

Front 41

the movements and activities reconstructed from a settlement pattern

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settlement system

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Smithsonian number

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a number (the state’s position alphabetically), a letter abbreviation of the county, and the site’s sequential number within the county

Front 43

An unprotected location exposed to the elements

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open context

Front 44

A single occupation site with deposits on the surface only

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surface context

Front 45

A site found in an underground location (e.g., a cave)

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underground context

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Not usually a place as much as the form the site takes (e.g., a shipwreck)

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underwater context

Front 47

loss can occur during...

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acquisition, manufacture, use

Front 48

The first sample unit is selected at random, and all other units are selected by a predetermined interval from the first

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systematic sample

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Each sample unit has a statistically = chance of selection

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simple random sampling

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Sampling that ignores assumptions of greater or lesser likelihood

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probabilistic sampling

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Sampling based on assumptions of greater or lesser likelihood

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non-probabilistic sampling