Long Answer Questions

Question 1

Outline some of the key discoveries that lead to the widespread acceptance of the ‘antiquity of man’

Answer 1

• Previously not believed: Cerunia, Saints relics
• 19th century enlightenment, changing attitudes, less belief in Biblical history.
• Gower Peninsula, Wales, 1823, discovery of “Red Lady of Paviland” and mammoth remains.
• Gray’s Inn Lane Handaxe, mammoth teeth found in London, 1671.
• Charles Lyell and Alfred Russel Wallace books published in the 1860s. Growing ideas about human evolution.

Question 2

Assess the social role played by material culture

Answer 2

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Question 3

‘Landscapes should not be viewed simply as an economic resource’ Discuss.

Answer 3

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Question 4

Assess the relative merits of geophysical and aerial survey

Answer 4

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Question 5

Compare the types of information you may receive about diet from three different classes of evidence in the archaeological record

Answer 5

• Hair
• Bones
• Plant Macrofossils

Question 6

Briefly summarise the principles of dendrochronology. What are the advantages and disadvantages of dendrochronology as a dating technique?

Answer 6

• Dating used tree rings
• Ad:
• Dis:

Question 7

Briefly describe post-processualism in archaeology theory. What are its goals and approach, and how did it differ from processual archaeology?

Answer 7

• Recent, e.g Ian Hodder at Catalhoyuk
• Explanation, inductive approach
• More focus on individual, identity, multivocality
• Feminist and indigenous arch

Question 8

Name and briefly describe two major contributions of Lewis Binford to archaeology.

Answer 8

-Ethnoarchaeology e.g Nunamuit

Question 9

Compare the kinds of information that carbonised and waterlogged plant macrofossils can give us.

Answer 9

• Carbonised:Bias towards dense parts as flimsy parts will burn away.
• Waterlogged: Bias towards plants near to bodies of water.

Question 10

Outline some of the cultural and natural processes that impact the preservation of archaeological sites. What challenges do these present to archaeologists?

Answer 10

-Schiffers c-transforms and n-transforms. c-transforms e.g building development, stealing objects, ploughing, n-transforms e.g weather, erosion, animal burrowing. Objects removed from their context, not preserved properly, removed from stratigraphic layer, decay of organic substances.

Question 11

Describe some of the main ways in which archaeologists can gather information prior to excavation.

Answer 11

• Desk based assessment: Photographs, history, local knowledge, nearby sites.
• Aerial photography, lidar, geophysical survey
• Surface collection and fieldwalking

Question 12

How might ancient lipid biomolecules help us to reconstruct the use of a vessel in antiquity.

Answer 12

• Biomarkers show what was stored

- E.g dyes, honey, wax

Question 13

‘Buildings structure social interaction. As such, there is an inevitable relationship between the spatial and the social order’. Discuss using examples.

Answer 13

• Mongolian yurts

- Indonesian Taraja.

Question 14

Describe an example of ethnoarchaeology and what can be learned from it that is useful for archaeologists.

Answer 14

• Lewis Binford, Nunamuit, 1930s. Studied their diet, process of getting and processing food, and waste. Shows the formation of animal bone waste in the archaeological record for populations living a similar lifestyle.