Archaeology & Anthropology

Question 1

What is stratigraphy?

Answer 1

The natural layering of soil and rock.

Question 2

What is mottling?

Answer 2

Refers to the mixing of soil layers. This happens when soil is dug up then reburied. It is detectable to the human eye.

Question 3

In class, the professor said the layers of soil are labelled A-E. How many layers of soil exist?

Answer 3

5.

Question 4

True or False: A body wrapped in a non-permeable container (shower curtain or a cooler) will increase surrounding vegetation growth

Answer 4

False, this only occurs if the body is buried on its own or in a PERMEABLE container (cardboard).

Question 5

True or False: Both increased and decreased vegetation growth in an area are indicators a body may be buried in said location?

Answer 5

True. Increased vegetation means there may be a body decomposing fueling plant growth. Decreased vegetation indicates a body was buried in a non-permeable container. Fluids from decomposition are prevented from entering the soil and plant root growth is impeded.

Question 6

Yucca and periwinkle are examples of plants that are commonly found in g _ y _. These plants are associated with African Americans.

Answer 6

Grave yards.

Question 7

What is taphonomy?

Answer 7

It’s natural postmortem processes that impact a body. Examples include bone bleaching and animals disturbing corpses.

Question 8

What are clandestine graves?

Answer 8

These graves are 2.5 feet deep or less. They often found near water or rarely traveled roads.

Question 9

What is the least effort principle?

Answer 9

When people hide bodies they typically want to use the least effort. They’re likely to hide bodies close to the entrance/exit, kill in a familiar location, and hide the body quickly at night. Disposal tends to be simple and occur in rural locations.

Question 10

What’s the difference between the body’s temporal age and its chronological age?

Answer 10

Temporal Age- Where does the skeleton fit in the course of history?
Chronological Age- How old was the person when they died?

Question 11

True or False: Most bodies are found during organized searches.

Answer 11

False, most bodies are found by accident.

Question 12

True or False: We can tell handedness, trauma, pathology, identifying attributes, and occupational indicators from bones.

Answer 12

True.

Question 13

What is an auger and what does it do?

Answer 13

It is a stainless steel pipe with a handle on top. It goes into the soil to look for evidence of soil mottling.

Question 14

What is a probe and what does it do?

Answer 14

A stainless steel tube with a sharp tip. It is placed into the ground to look for soft soil, which is an indicator that the ground has been recently disturbed.

Question 15

How does Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) help find bodies?

Answer 15

The GPR sends radar waves into the ground and receives them. Objects in the ground cause waves to reflect back differently.

Question 16

True or False, Steps in the examination process:

1) Determine if the sample is bone.
2) Determine if the bone is human or animal.
3) If it is animal bone then forensic investigation automatically stops.

Answer 16

1) True.
2) True.
3) False. Forensic investigation continues if the animals were poached, hunted out of season, or abused.

Question 17

True or False, Steps in the examination process (CONTINUED):

1) If the bone is human then we must determine if it is contemporary or archaeological.
2) Determine the minimum number of individuals.

Answer 17

1) True.
2) True.
3) False, we can determine age and biological sex from bone but we cannot establish gender identity.

Question 18

True or False: Cranial deformation is common in archaeological bone as it was a cultural tradition for some groups in the past.

Answer 18

True.

Question 19

True or False: Intentional cranial deformation had severe cognitive effects. Cradle-boarding was especially detrimental to cognitive functioning.

Answer 19

False, it did not have cognitive effects. Cradle-boarding did not influence cognition.