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ANT100 – ARCH Refined Exam
Questions And Solutions
Archaeological record - answers✔✔What survives from the past, and how can we interpret
it?
Field work: finding and excavating sites
Dating: how old is it
Sum of all physical evidence about the past that survives to the present
Objects plus their context
Historical Archaeology - answers✔✔Archaeology with aid of historic records
Often documents do not give the complete picture, and only archaeology can fill the gaps
E.g. how did commoners live?
Classical Archaeology - answers✔✔Specialized subdiscipline
Classical civilizations of Greece and Rome from about 700BCE - 500BCE
Allied with art history, history
Archaeology and Science - answers✔✔Science is the systematic pursuit of knowledge about
natural phenomena
Archaeology interacts with many different sciences:
-Geology - understanding what types if stone were selected for tools
-Biology - identification of bones of extinct species
-Physics and chemistry - radiocarbon dating
-Astronomy - was Stonehenge aligned with the summer solstice?
Archaeology and History - answers✔✔Both study the past
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History is based in written documents; archaeology on material culture
History is limited to at most 5,000 years; less than 100 in some regions
History - limited primarily to literate societies
Written records tend to focus on the rich and powerful
Factors that affect the archaeological record - answers✔✔Not all behaviour will leave traces
Because all intervening cultural and natural processes, the archaeological record is not
usually a direct reflection of past behaviour
Archaeologists must avoid the "Pompeii Premise"
-Everything is still there, where they were supposed to be
-Gives a perfect record for archaeologists
-Have, in a sense, the people of Pompeii
-Different stores and businesses have been preserved
-Usually poor preservation
Artifact - answers✔✔Any object made or modified by people
Archaeologists specialize in particular types: stone tools, ceramics, wood technology
Form (size and shape)
Technology (how it was made)
Style (colour, texture, decoration)
Ecofact - answers✔✔Natural objects used or affected by people
Zooarchaeology
-Study of animal remains in the archaeological record
-Domestication, hunting patterns, etc.
Paleoethnobotany
-The study of plant remains in the archaeological records
-Seeds, pollen, phytoliths
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Feature - answers✔✔Non-portable material remains resulting from human activity (houses,
fireplaces)
Midden - a concentrated area of refuse (garbage heaps)
Simple features - hearths, burials, storage pits, post holes
Complex features - buildings, houses temples, granaries
Sites - answers✔✔A place where evidence of past human activity is preserved
Spatial clusters of artifacts, features, or ecofacts
Boundaries may be well or poorly defined
Site may be complex (city) or simple (kill site)
Region - answers✔✔Largest and most flexible spatial cluster
Defined
-Geographically - river, drainage, a valley, an island
-Ecologically - boreal forest, arctic
-Culturally - area occupied the Huron-Wendat
Regions allow the investigation of entire cultural system
Particularly important for subsistence, social organization
Archaeological site - answers✔✔A place where evidence of past human activity is preserved
How do artifacts enter the archaeological record? - answers✔✔Acquisition
-Raw material acquired either directly through trade
Manufacture
-Modification of raw materials
Use
-Utilization can leave traces on the artifact; use can also be interpreted from where the artifact
is found
Deposition
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-Entry of the material into the archaeological record, through loss or discard
Processes that affect the archaeological record - answers✔✔Natural factors
-Climate - temperature and humidity
-Extreme wet, dry, or cold preservation of organics
-Biological factors - decay, rodents, carnivores
-Soil chemistry - can destroy (acid) or preserve (fossilize)
-Catastrophic events - volcanoes, earthquakes
Cultural factors
-Large scale human events - war
-Looting - encouraged by the antiquities market
-Disturbance through industrial or agricultural development - changes the context of
materials within the archaeological site
As a result, the archeological record is highly disturbed
Context - answers✔✔The provenience and associations of an artifact or feature in space and
time
Provenience
-Three dimensional location of an artifact or feature
Association
-Two or more items occurring together
-Usually found in the same level, feature, etc.
-E.g. artifacts associated with burial
Context is critical for understanding the archaeological record
Field Work - answers✔✔Survey and excavation
Survey
-The systematic search for archaeological sites
-Yields data on site, size, distribution, number, form
