ARCH0100 Field Archaeology in the Ancient World
Second Hourly Exam; 4/12/10
Section A: Multiple Choice//True or False?: DO EIGHT OUT OF TEN QUESTIONS
Spell out ‘True’ and ‘False’ (3 points each; 10 minutes for the entire section)
1)
If a museum was concerned to prove the authenticity of a ceramic vessel in
its possession, what technique would you first recommend to verify its
antiquity? a) Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA), b) Thermoluminescence
(TL), c) Potassium-Argon (K-Ar), d) radiocarbon analysis, particularly AMS
2)
Which of these is the best example of anthropogenic landscape change? a)
isostatic uplift, b) deforestation, c) palynology, d) coastal change
3)
Stomach contents are our best evidence for the ‘average diet’ in antiquity. True
or False?
4)
An attritional age profile in an animal population suggests: a) occurrence of a
mass destruction such as a bison drive; b) death by starvation or predation, c)
differential preservation of the faunal remains
5)
Dendrochronologists use local samples of wood to develop regional and global
a) correlations with ice cores, b) Harris lines, c) calibration curves, d) master
sequences
6)
Terminus ante quem means: a) the date after which an event must have occurred;
b) the absolute date of any artifact or feature; c) the date before which an event
must have occurred; d) the level or ‘terminus’ where excavation ceases; e) none
of the above
7)
Flotation of archaeological deposits from sites of historic (e.g. textually
documented) periods is essentially a waste of time. True or False?
8)
It doesn’t really matter how microfauna reached their final point of deposition on
an archaeological site. True or False?
9)
Trace element analysis is proving most helpful in procedures of aging human
remains. True or False?
10)
Which of these might it NOT be possible to learn from a Bog Body? a) sex; b)
general age, c) tooth health, d) physical cause of death, e) hair color, f) precisely
why (s)he died, g) we know all of this
Section B: Short Answers: CHOOSE TWO ONLY
(15 points each; 8 minutes each)
1)
In the pot shed of your excavation, you are given 20 pots to study. What might
you do to make sense of them? (smashing not an option)
2)
Name and briefly describe two forms of relative dating, and two forms of
absolute dating. Very briefly, when would you use these techniques? When
would you not use them?
3)
Man does not live by bread alone... but then how can archaeologists tell what
people ate, and how well people ate, in the past? Name four techniques that are
available to us, and identify their relative strengths and weaknesses. Give as
many specific examples as possible.
4)
Identify three types of regional environmental or climatic change, and briefly
explain how archaeologists can investigate these processes.
5)
Name two good things about radiocarbon dating, and then name two potential
problems with the technique.
Section C: Archaeological Situations: CHOOSE TWO ONLY
(20 points each; 12 minutes each)
1)
The cops have just caught you scraping road kill off the highway. You explain,
smugly, that you are an expert in faunal remains and keep a study collection of
dead animals for research purposes. They don’t understand your job, and don’t
believe you can learn anything about ancient societies from animal bones alone.
You have twelve minutes to talk yourself out of a ticket.
2)
The shoe is now on the other foot. Sadly, the police are hunting for traces of two
abducted individuals, who have now been missing for quite some time. The
public is on the look out, and chance finds of ‘bones’ are continually being
reported. Budget cuts mean they no longer have a forensic pathologist on the
force, so they are turning to you for help making sense of these remains. What
might you be able to tell them about these bones? Be specific about the signs you
would look for, and the details you could give them.
3)
When is a ‘fake’ a fake? Identify and discuss at least two cases of apparent
archaeological fakes or frauds mentioned so far in this course. How were they
‘exposed’?
4)
A long-lost uncle dies, leaving you a large sum of money. The bad news is the
money must be spent on creating a ‘museum to teach the children of Providence
about the practice of archaeology — particularly the archaeology of the ancient
world of Greece and Rome’. What might you choose to ‘display’ in your
museum? What factors would you want to consider in making the museum
accessible and interesting for children?