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CHAPTER 2: Research Methods in Anthropology
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Archaeologists and paleoanthropologists rely on all of the following types of evidence to discover the
past except __________.
a. artifacts
b. ecofacts
c. features
d. books
2. The most common artifacts of the past are __________.
a. wooden tools
b. stone tools
c. iron tools
d. plastic tools
3. _________ are simply holes dug by humans that are later filled with garbage or eroded soil.
a. Dumps
b. Living floors
c. Hearths
d. Pits
4. Pollen found at an archaeological site is a good example of a(n) __________.
a. artifact
b. ecofact
c. fossil
d. feature
5. Fossils are __________.
a. rare.
b. particularly informative about human biological evolution.
c. common.
d. both A and B.
6. Which of the following is not an example of a feature?
a. a building
b. a hearth
c. a midden
d. a stone axe
7. A midden is a __________.
a. garbage dump
b. palace
c. bog
d. none of the above
8. Sites are known and suspected locations of human activity in the past that contain __________.
a. a record of that activity
b. wealth beyond our dreams
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c. human buildings
d. none of the above
9. Which of the following create(s) sites?
a. volcanic activity
b. erosion
c. natural processes through which soils are built up
d. all of the above
10. Pedestrian survey is __________.
a. high tech
b. low tech
c. both A and B
d. neither A nor B
11. The remote sensing technique that is based upon the fact that the earth has a strong magnetic field that
varies by what is beneath the ground is called __________.
a. soil interface radar
b. ground penetrating radar
c. geomagnetic sensing
d. excavation
12. Excavation has two goals: to find every scrap of evidence (or a statistically representative sample)
about the past that a given site holds, and to __________.
a. find the buried treasure there
b. prove that evolution is a fact
c. find the missing link
d. record the horizontal and vertical location of that evidence with precision
13. Compared with paleoanthropologists, archaeologists are more concerned with
recovering intact __________.
a. features
b. fossils
c. ecofacts
d. artifacts
14. Absolute dating is also called __________.
a. relative dating
b. chronometric dating
c. correct dating
d. stratigraphy dating
15. The complete analysis of every detail of a site, usually considered very destructive in nature, is called
__________.
a. excavation
b. conservation
c. reconstruction
d. analysis.
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16. The discovery of an area of hard, reddish, even slightly magnetic soil, often surrounded by charcoal
and ash means the archaeologist has found __________.
a. a pit
b. a hearth
c. a living floor
d. an ancient grill
17. The comparison of individuals, families, households, communities, or districts is known as a(n)
__________.
a. within-culture comparison
b. regional controlled comparison
c. cross examination comparison
d. cross-cultural comparison
18. The description and in-depth analysis of a culture or society is known as __________.
a. ethnology
b. participant observation
c. ethnography
d. fieldwork
19. Conclusions drawn from cross-cultural research can be applied to __________.
a.only one society
b. all societies
c. the society from which the anthropologist comes
d. academic circles
20. Ethnohistorical data consists of all of the following EXCEPT __________.
a. accounts by explorers
b. government documents
c. a missionary’s account
d. fossil evidence
21. The most well-known chronometric dating method is __________.
a. stratigraphic dating
b. Potassium-Argon dating
c. radiocarbon dating
d. fission-track dating
22. Potassium argon dating can be used to date samples from 5,000 years up to __________.
a. 300,000 years old
b. 3 million years old
c. 30 million years old
d. 3 billion years old
23. After about __________ years, the amount of 14C remaining in the organic matter is too small to
permit reliable dating.
a. 40,000
b. 5,000
c. 50,000
d. 100,000
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24. _________ has been extremely useful in East Africa, where volcanic events have occurred frequently
since the Miocene.
a. Potassium-argon dating
b. Uranium-series dating
c. Paleomagnetic dating
d. Fission-track dating
25. Radiocarbon has a half-life of __________.
a. 2, 720 years
b. 5, 730 years
c. 75 years
d. 7,500 years
26. A study based on descriptive materials about a single society at more than one point in time is known
as __________.
a. ethnology
b. ethnography
c. ethnohistory
d. ethnoanthropology
27. An item of human manufacture that spread widely over short periods of time, or that disappeared or
changed fairly rapidly is called a(n) __________.
a. ecofact
b. artifact
c. indicator artifact
d. indicating stratum
28. A natural object that a human has used or affected is __________.
a. an artifact
b. an ecofact
c. a feature
d. a fossil
29. All of the following are examples of fossils except __________.
a. a tree root
b. an impression of an insect on a stone
c. an animal’s skeleton
d. a wooden tool
30. Places where humans lived and worked which are usually full of minute pieces of garbage, such as
seeds, small stone flakes or beads are known as __________.
a. hearths
b. pits
c.living centers
d. living floors
31. A type of site that allows archaeologists to distinguish the sequence of site occupations is called a(n)
__________.
a. stratified site
b. living floor site
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c. taphonomic site
d. informative site
32.__________ techniques allow archaeologists and paleoanthropologists to find archaeological deposits
from an isolated location, attempting to detect subtle changes called __________.
a. Remote control; anomalies
b. Remote sensing; anomalies
c. Isolation detection; strata
d. Isolated sensing; stratification
Essay Questions
33. List and discuss the differences between relative and absolute dating techniques.
34. List and compare/contrast the four kinds of evidence that archaeologists and paleoanthropologists use
in learning about the past.
35. What can archaeologists learn from examining ceramics?
36. Discuss the two ways in which archaeologists find sites.
37. How does an archaeologist decide what method or methods of dating to use in specific cases?
38. Discuss several ways in which archaeological sites are created.
39. .List some valuable information that paleoanthropologists can glean from fossils.
40. Provide an example and discussion of the importance of analyzing archaeological material in context.
41. How do archaeologists determine a living floor at an archaeological site?
42. Discuss several ethical dilemmas archaeologists may face.
Multiple Choice Answer Key
1. d 26
2. b 26-27
3. d 27
4. b 27
5. d 27
6. d 27
7. a 28
8. a 28
9. d 28
10. b 28
11. c 29
12. d 29
13. a 29
14. b 30
15. a 29
16. b 27
17. a 24
18. c 24
19. b 25
20. d 25
21. c 30
22. d 32
23. c 30-31
24. a 32
25. b 30-31
26. c 25
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27. c 30
28. b 26
29. a 27
30. d 27
31. a 28
32. b 29
