ANTH005 MIDTERM 2

How do archaeologist find sites?

Local Informants
environmental cues
Historical Text

What do archaeologist call the relationship between artifacts?

Association

Define the Matrix

The materials surrounding artifacts

Subsurface remote sensing

includes passive and active techniques

does not always require excavation

includes radar magnetometry and resistivity

GPS…

uses American satellites to find locations

Potassium-Argon Dating helps date…

volcanic rock

Excavation includes…

setting up a unit
detailed note taking, photography, and mapping

excavating soil in layers to observe stratigraphy

Dendrochronology

is counting growth rings on trees

What is bioturbation

natural disturbances of archaeological context

what data types are used in geographic information systems(GIS)?

vector data

raster data

LiDAR Data

What is a harris matrix?

a visual representation of the stratigraphy of a site

The provenience of an artifact is

The location it was found (X, Y, and Z measurements)

Construction sequences…

Provide relative chronologies of buildings

How can archaeologists reconstruct past environments?

seasonality studies of past organisms

botanical analysis(pollen, phytoliths, plant DNA)

soil analysis

Developed in 1949, dates organic materials up to 50,000 BP and needs to be calibrated

radiocarbon (c14) dating

Which absolute dating technique is most precise?

dendrochronology

absolute dating techniques…

assign calendar years to materials

are often reported in ranges

include uranium-thorium dating

use-related primary contexts are

when things are deposited where people acquired, produced, or used them

what type of analysis looks at change in style over time

seriation

archaeology is destructive

true

what is the best type of excavation?

it depends on you research questions

what is context?

the provenience of artifacts
the association of artifacts
the matrix surrounding artifacts

natural disasters both harm and preserve archaeological sites

true

radiocarbon dating only dates the context

false

a point used to measure the depth of an artifact or feature

datum

the study of past environments

shows past human environmental interactions

what method is best utillized in finding small organic artifacts?

flotation

archaeologist prefer relative dating techniques

false

what is the half life of carbon 14?

5730

science is the search for

fact

STUDY