UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN SESSION 2007/2008 DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENT SCHOOL OF GEOSCIENCES AY1501 INTRODUCTION TO ARCHAEOLOGY 2 Tuesday 27th

h May 2008 Time Allowed: 2 Hours Candidates must not leave the examination room between 10.30 and 11am 9-11am

SECTION A: MULTIPLE CHOICE Value of this section: 30% Recommended time: 30 minutes maximum Instructions: circle one answer for each of the following questions 1. Which method has the best potential to detect a small buried hearth? (a) ground penetrating radar (b) field walking (c) magnetometry (d) electrical resistivity (e) soil phosphate mapping 2. A Harris Matrix is: (a) a method of systematic surface survey using a grid (b) a way of representing how houses or features on a site are oriented (c) a schematic map showing how space is ordered in a house (d) a schematic representation of the sequence of cuts, layers and features on a site (e) a line that forms in bone during periods of poor nutrition or stress 3. When analysing human and animal bones, which of the following CANNOT be used to estimate the age at death? (a) wear of the bones at the knee joint (b) fusion of the epiphyses of the long bones (c) wear of the teeth (d) which teeth have erupted (e) the fusion of the sutures in the cranium 4. What was Hierakonpolis? (a) a form of ancient Egyptian writing (b) a king of Early Dynastic Egypt who was famous for building the step pyramid (c) an ancient Egyptian god who was associated with kingship (d) the site of the great pyramids that were built during the 4th Egyptian dynasty (e) the religious and political capital of Upper Egypt during the Early Dynastic Period 5. During the last Ice Age (a) Arctic Hunters inhabited what is now Scandinavia (b) Northern Europe was covered by ice sheets (c) sea levels were at their highest levels

(d) Britain became an island (e) polished stone axes were widely circulated through gift exchange 6. Complex hunter-gatherers are characterized by (a) complex kinship systems and mobility (b) sedentism and storage (c) farming (d) herding (e) the gathering of shellfish resources 7. Hunter-gatherers of the Erteblle culture (a) were highly mobile, travelling continually between many specialized hunting sites (b) survived almost entirely on deer and moose (c) were often sedentary, occupying sites for decades or more (d) erected menhirs between the borders of their hunting territories (e) exploited the rich resources of Mediterranean coastline 8. During the Epipaleolithic, Near Eastern people (a) experienced a broad-spectrum revolution (b) underwent an agricultural revolution (c) invented agriculture (d) continued to hunt and gather just as they had for millennia (e) migrated into Northwest Europe, carrying farming practices and distinctive pottery with

them

9. Which of the following statements is true? (a) Agriculture is the establishment of an artificial ecosystem in which certain plants and animals are cultivated and reared. (b) Domestication is a cultural process in which wild animals are kept in pens. (c) Cultivation is a biological process in which a plant's genetic material is altered. (d) Sedentism never precedes agriculture, since only after farmland becomes property do people want to stay in one place. (e) Domestication requires the use of irrigation. 10. In Southwest Asia, large aceramic Neolithic communities, with well-worked fields and many grazing animals, (a) seem to have led to severe environmental degradation (b) may have caused population stress (c) were eventually forced to shift to nomadic pastoralism or migrate to new territories (d) all of the above (e) answers (a) and (c) only 11. Canadian archaeologist Bruce Trigger divided early states into (a) political states and theatre states (b) warlike states and peaceful states (c) economic states and agricultural states (d) city-states and territorial states (e) poetic and theatrical states 12. Key features present in most early states include (a) high populations with many thousands to many millions of people (b) collection of taxes or tribute from their subject populations (c) the use of rice-based agriculture (d) answers (a) and (b) only (e) answers (a), (b) and (c)

13. Mesopotamian writing technology involved (a) reading the cracks and markings on oracle bones (b) knotted ropes that kept track of numbers (c) clay tablets and a stylus (d) inscriptions on stelae only (e) bamboo strips and flint knives 14. What was Uruk? (a) a Mesopotamian city (b) a language spoken in ancient Turkey (c) one of the main settlements of Bronze Age Crete (d) a deity of ancient Egypt (e) the name of the kingdom of which Troy was a part 15. The period between the end of the Harappan civilization and the Early Historic period (a) saw the first introduction of microlithic tools into South Asia (b) saw the continued absence of written script (c) saw the emergence of religious teachers, such as the Buddha (d) saw the domestication wheat and barley (e) all of the above 16. The House of the Tiles at Lerna is an example of which ancient building type? (a) a Hittite fortress (b) a Roman bathroom (c) a Mycenaean palace (d) an early Greek corridor house (e) a Cycladic citadel 17. In East Asia, farming originated in two areas: (a) the Yangzi River Valley and the Yellow River Valley (b) China and Japan (c) the Yellow River Valley and the Huang He River Valley (d) China and Korea (e) the Yellow River Valley and the Amur River Valley 18. Among the evidence for the extension of Yamato control during the 5th century (a) are new temples in western Japan, built in the state Asuka architectural style (b) are inscribed swords bearing Yamato terms and concepts (c) are oracle monuments in northern Japan, where the divinations of Yamato kings were posted (d) are human sacrifice pits in western Japan, which were only constructed by the Yamato at that time (e) the construction of elaborate key-hole burial complexes along the Yellow River. 19. Despite adopting Buddhism, Yamato rulers still venerated (a) the local kami spirits, who inhabited mountains and other natural features (b) the linga named Rajendresvara, which was housed in a royal temple (c) the Kojiki (or clan ancestors) (d) all of the above (e) animal figurines 20. Which one of these inventions and resources did the Mesoamerican cultures NOT possess? (a) writing (b) astronomy (c) the wheel (d) metal

(e) chocolate 21. The kiva was a characteristic building type of which area of ancient North America? (a) the Eastern Woodlands (b) the Pacific Northwest (c) the Southwest (d) the Arctic (e) Florida and the Southeast 22. During the 12th and 13th centuries in the Mesa Verde region (a) cliff dwellings appeared in sandstone alcoves and rockshelters (b) the northern Colorado Plateau was completely colonised by farmers (c) as the number of communities grew, territorial overlaps caused tension or conflict (d) all of the above (e) answers (a) and (c) only 23. The Hopewell era was one of (a) extremely warlike behaviour between chiefs vying for control of trade routes (b) elevated aggression as people began to build mounds and strengthen ideologies (c) low inter-group hostilities indicated by relatively few skeletal injuries (d) growing warrior iconography, seen in images of sacrificed captives (e) an aggressive expansion of the amber trade 24. In 1519 AD (a) the Aztec empire was ruled by Motecezuma II (b) Cortes arrived on the day that the Bibles Old Testament prophets had indicated that Quetzalcoatl would return (c) the Spaniards also fought with the Aztec's allies, the Tlaxcallans (d) the Spanish army numbered over 200,000 men (e) all of the above 25. The period of Maya Early Classic population decline and political crisis (a) is sometimes called the 'Hiatus' (b) is sometimes called the Crisis Horizon (c) was universal, affecting all Maya cities so far discovered (d) hit Caracol and Copn harder than any other polities (e) was largely invented by early 20th archaeologists but has since been rejected 26. What archaeological remains were discovered at Boxgrove, Suffolk? (a) remains of mammoth (b) the tibia and teeth of an adult H. sapiens (c) the tibia and teeth of an adult H. heidelbergensis (d) answers (b) and (c) only (e) none of the above 27. The famous site of Stonehenge (a) was built during a short period in the Bronze Age (b) was built over a long period and involved many stages (c) was built by Druids (d) was built by the Celts (e) was built as a folly by a local land owner 28. A menhir is (a) a type of copper or bronze dagger (b) a polished stone axe (c) a type of megalithic monument

(d) a species of wild cattle domesticated by European foragers (e) a seal-hunting harpoon 29. In Prehistoric Europe, the exchange of rare items from distant places (a) helped to establish elite identity in the Bronze Age and Iron Age (b) led to the execution of the criminals found in bogs (c) motivated Tacitus to write about the Celts (d) was replaced by the brewing of alcoholic beverages in the Neolithic (e) was largely impossible due to language barriers 30. What were the Five Boroughs? (a) sub-divisions within Britannia Secunda (b) Viking polities in the Danelaw (c) the ancient kingdoms of Ireland (d) the British tribes that Boudicca led against the Romans (e) districts of Londinium (London)

SECTION B: SHORT ANSWERS Value of this section: 40% (10% per question) Recommended time: 1 hour (15 minutes per question) Instructions: Answer four questions in total from this section. Use examples and case studies of your choice to support your answers. 1. What do archaeologists look for in aerial and satellite photographs when they are trying to find archaeological sites, and what conditions improve the visibility of sites in these images? 2. Compare and contrast the preservation conditions on dryland and wetland sites, the types of artefacts and environmental remains that can be expected to be found on each, and why. 3. Explain how the daily activities of humans and animals can have an impact on the appearance and composition of their bones. 4. Why would hunter-gatherer societies practice storage, and what forms of storage are there? Support your answer using relevant ethnographic and archaeological case-studies. 5. What are the main forms, causes and consequences of agricultural intensification? Illustrate your answer by referring to at least one archaeological case-study. 6. What kind of settlement was atalhyk? Explain the main features of the site and provide an overview of its layout and long-term development. What does the archaeology tell us about the economy, social life and religious beliefs of its occupants? 7. What was the function of early writing? Choose one example of an early writing tradition and describe the main features of the social, economic and political context in which it emerged. What kinds of information can and cannot be recovered from these sources? 8. What can the archaeology of dining customs tell us about the diversity of life in Roman Britain? 9. What was the significance of the Epic of Gilgamesh in its original cultural context and what does this early text tell us about past social life? 10. What might hillforts have been used for in the British Iron Age? Illustrate your answer with reference to at least two examples.

SECTION C: ESSAY Recommended time: 30 minutes Value of this section: 30% Instructions: Answer one of the following questions. Use examples and case studies of your choice to support your answers. 1. Evaluate the extent to which experimental archaeology and ethnoarchaeology contribute to archaeological interpretations of past societies. Support your answer with examples and case studies of your choice. 2. To what extent did post-glacial hunter-gatherers participate in the transition to farming in northwest Europe? Discuss drawing on relevant case-studies. 3. According to a traditional view of history, Roman Britain began with the invasion of AD 43 and ended with the withdrawal of the legions in AD 410. Using examples from archaeology, discuss whether this notion can still be sustained today.