Test 2 Keywords

Question 1

Absolute Dating

Answer 1

Absolute dating provides a computed numerical age in contrast with relative dating which provides only an order of events

Question 2

Relative Dating

Answer 2

is the science determining the relative order of past events, without necessarily determining their absolute age

Question 3

Absoute Dating Types

Answer 3

Potassium / Argon
Argon / Argon
OSL - Optical
Radiocarbon Dating
Dendrochronology -tree rings

Question 4

Relative Dating types

Answer 4

Seriation
Cross Dating
Stratigraphy

Question 5

OSL dating

Answer 5

Optical dating is a method of determining how long ago minerals were last exposed to daylight.

Question 6

Potassium / Argon dating

Answer 6

is a radiometric dating method used in geochronology and archaeology. It is based on measurement of the product of the radioactive decay of an isotope of potassium (K) into argon (Ar).

Question 7

Argon / Argon

Answer 7

a radiometric dating method invented to supersede potassium-argon (K/Ar) dating in accuracy. The older method required two samples for dating while the newer method requires only one.

Question 8

Radiocarbon Dating

Answer 8

a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 (14C) to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years

Question 9

Dendrochronology

Answer 9

the scientific method of dating based on the analysis of patterns of tree rings, also known as growth rings

Question 10

Seriation

Answer 10

a relative dating method in which assemblages or artifacts from numerous sites, in the same culture, are placed in chronological order.

Question 11

Cross Dating

Answer 11

a technique that ensures each individual tree ring is assigned its exact year of formation.

Question 12

Stratigraphy

Answer 12

a branch of geology which studies rock layers and layering (stratification)

Question 13

Archeology

Answer 13

the study of human activity in the past, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes

Question 14

Material Culture

Answer 14

refers to the relationship between artifacts and social relations

Question 15

Garbology

Answer 15

the study of (mostly modern) refuse and trash

Question 16

Law of Uniformitarianism

Answer 16

the assumption that the same natural laws and processes that operate in the universe now, have always operated in the universe in the past and apply everywhere in the universe.

Question 17

Law of Superposition

Answer 17

Sedimentary layers are deposited in a time sequence, with the oldest on the bottom and the youngest on the top.

Question 18

Artifact

Answer 18

something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest

Question 19

Ecofact

Answer 19

Strictly, natural materials that have been used by humans, for example the remains of plants and animals that were eaten by a given community.

Question 20

Feature

Answer 20

some human non-portable activity that generally has a vertical characteristic to it in relation to site stratigraphy. Examples of features are pits, walls, and ditches

Question 21

Excavation

Answer 21

the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains.

Question 22

Survey

Answer 22

the method by which archaeologists (often landscape archaeologists) search for archaeological sites and collect information about the location, distribution and organization of past human cultures across a large area

Question 23

Remote Sensing

Answer 23

he acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object.

Question 24

Flotation

Answer 24

involves using water to process soil or feature fill to recover tiny artifacts.

Question 25

Typology

Answer 25

the result of the classification of things according to their physical characteristics

Question 26

Core

Answer 26

the basic raw material building block for a stone tool.

Question 27

Flake

Answer 27

A stone fragment removed from a core or from another flake by percussion or pressure, serving as a preform or as a tool or blade itself

Question 28

Brian Haydens Feasting Model

Answer 28

this theory states that agriculture was the necessary result of ostentatious displays of power. By habitually throwing feasts as a means of exerting dominance, large quantities of food had to be assembled.

Question 29

Pat McGoverns Beer model

Answer 29

Alcohol driven, As early as 9000 BP finds evidence of brewing on pottery remnants

Question 30

Fertile Crescent

Answer 30

a crescent-shaped region containing the comparatively moist and fertile land of otherwise arid and semi-arid Western Asia, and the Nile Valley and Nile Delta of northeast Africa.

Question 31

PPNA

Answer 31

Larger sites
Communal Structures
New Burial Practices—Ancestor worship?

Question 32

PPNB

Answer 32

Pre-Pottery Neolithic B

Question 33

Childe’s 10 Trait list

Answer 33

1) Large and dense populations
2) Full-scale specialization of labor/craft specialization
3) Class structured society with ruling elite
4) Cultural solidarity
5) A state-level organization with a bureaucracy and military apparatus and a defined political domain with territorial boundaries

6) Monumental public works (Temples, irrigation systems)
7) Standardized monumental artwork reflecting a shared cultural system
8) Long-distance trade
9) Writing
10) Predictive scientific knowledge

Question 34

Corporate State

Answer 34

A council of rulers

Question 35

Network

Answer 35

A king or supreme leader

Question 36

Wittfogel Irrigation Hypothesis

Answer 36

Wittfogel believed that the development of irrigation works in such areas as Mesopotamia and Egypt led to the use of mass labour, to an organizational hierarchy for coordinating and directing its activities, and to government control for ensuring proper distribution of the water

Question 37

Carneiro’s Warfare Hypothesis

Answer 37

the constraints of the environment interact with population pressures and warfare to form states

Question 38

Bryan Hayden’s Aggrandizer Hypothesis

Answer 38

According to Brian Hayden, the game changing factor is surplus. While there must have been “aggrandizer” personalities in egalitarian groups, conditions of scarcity kept their greedier inclinations in check.

Question 39

Definition of a State

Answer 39

A society characterized by a strong centralized government, socio-economic class divisions, a market economy and large populations. Settlements are substantial and may be classified as cities with formal planning and monumental architecture. States represent the most complicated form of social and political organization so far recognized.