Michaelmas

Question 1

What did Pitt-Rivers contribute to archaeology?

Answer 1

importance of military approach and emphasised publication/recording.

Question 2

What is the difference between how bulk finds and small finds are treated during excavation?

Answer 2

store small finds separately to bulk finds

Question 3

What do field archaeologists mean by the term ‘context’

Answer 3

where an artefact is excavated

Question 4

How did WWII effect the development of British archaeology?

Answer 4

In the aftermath of WWII there was a rise of urban archaeology following the blitz, and deeper stratigraphy.

Question 5

What is stratigraphy and why is it important?

Answer 5

the analysis of the order and position of layers of archaeological remains.

Question 6

What did Mortimer and Tessa Wheeler contribute to archaeology?

Answer 6

realised the importance of stratigraphy for establishing relative ages

Question 7

-It is a right, not a privilege to study archaeological human remainders

Answer 7

false

Question 8

-Age-at-death estimation is more accurate in non-adult skeletons then in adult individuals

Answer 8

True

Question 9

-Preservation of human bones is not affected by climate

Answer 9

False

Question 10

-Biological sex estimation is most accurate when using the skull

Answer 10

False

Question 11

2. Name FOUR methods of analysis that can be used to study human skeletal remains. Which is the most common method?

Answer 11

Macroscopic → most common approach to study
Radiography → use of CT scanning
Microscopic → histology
Biomolecular - aDNA or stable isotopic analysis

Question 12

3. State which of the following morphological features are indicative of female sex

Answer 12

Wide u-shaped sciatic notch and subpubic angle; sacrum more straight

Question 13

State which of the following morphological features are indicative of male sex

Answer 13

Narrow v-shaped sciatic notch and sub-pubic angle; sacrum more curved

Question 14

4. Name FIVE limitations of human palaeopathology

Answer 14

Most diseases affect soft tissues
many diseases affect bone in similar ways
Takes a while for diseases to have an impact - only chronic

Question 15

Name 4 crops cultivated in Neolithic Europe

Answer 15

Wheat, oat, barely, corn

Question 16

List 5 negative effects of urban post medieval environment visible in human skeletal remains

Answer 16

Overcrowding strains resources 
Impacts mortality rates 
Trauma 
Rickets 
Stunted growth

Question 17

Name one iron tool used for agriculture prior to the Romans arrival in Britain

Answer 17

Mouldboard plough

Question 18

What’s one area the Romans advanced

Answer 18

Granaries

Question 19

Iron tool introduced by the Romans

Answer 19

Grass cutting scythe

Question 20

What ways are water supply linked to health and disease?

Answer 20

Cholera outbreaks
No running water
Poor sanitation
Diseases like TB, typhoid and smallpox

Question 21

What symptoms are associated with vitamin D deficiency

Answer 21

Poor bone development/ rickets

Question 22

Where in the human skeleton does enamel hypoplasia occur and what does it indicate?

Answer 22

Teeth - it is caused by malnutrition, premature birth or viral/ bacterial infection

Question 23

Name the 4 main forest trees of Atlantic Europe

Answer 23

Oak, ash, lime and elm

Question 24

Where in the human skeleton do you find Cribra orbitalia and what does this condition indicate?

Answer 24

Orbital roof - anaemia or malnutrition

Question 25

What are the five main stages in processing a free threshing crop?

Answer 25

``` Threshing Winnowing Coarse sieving Fine sieving Hand cleaning ```

Question 26

What were the most common place taxa found in the guts of the graubelle man?

Answer 26

Barley, grass, knotweed, emmer wheat, oat, weeds, he was thought to have been eating fine sieve residue

Question 27

what are the main 5 animals of the last 15,000 years?

Answer 27

AUROCHS, ELK, RED DEER, ROE DEER, WILD BOAR.

Question 28

Techniques to test ecology…

Answer 28

corering for pollen/ insects/ice cores

Question 29

Pollen coring

Answer 29

- sample the core at chosen intervals - Identify several hundred pollen grains in each sample. - calculate percentage in each sample.

Question 30

Why can’t we see undergrowth pollen?

Answer 30

- Undergrowth pollen is not present but this doesn’t mean it wasn’t there….. - Pollen was required for large mammals’ food and shelter - Humans were present (Mesolithic hunter – gatherers) - Hazel was present and wouldn’t regenerate under closed canopy

Question 31

Gerhard Bersu

Answer 31

identified wooden building impact of the soil, and pioneered the use of aerial photography

Question 32

Brian Hope Taylor

Answer 32

Used large open area excavation

Question 33

what affects preservation?

Answer 33

inhumation , cremation Coffin, shroud, depth Acidity of soil Disturbance (tree roots and drainage ditches) Length of time buried Age - youth have less mineralised, older may have osteoporosis Cold, Peruvian mummy, Bog body (due to lack of O2 and bacteris

Question 34

4 diseases that affect the skeleton

Answer 34

Dental disease - Caries, periapical lesions, Tuberculosis - associated with poverty, poor living conditions Venereal Syphilis - later stages affect the skeletons of sufferers eg) cranial Leprosy - affects the facial bones, fingers and toes

Question 35

describe Medieval agriculture

Answer 35

Primitive and badly organised? Ridge and furrow, open field system Crop rotation system Well organised, not primitive

Question 36

how are bones often found?

Answer 36

Human skeletons often complete Animal bones often smashed by human action (precisely what we want to understand) Bones may never reach the site worked on Bones broken for marrow (v nutritious and fatty yum) Dogs!! Domestic dogs eat away at softer bones more than harder bones Bones also destroyed by acid etching ~ digesting by stomach acid

Question 37

Name four categories of animal bone that are underrepresented if excavation deposits are not sieved

Answer 37

fish bones, carpals, loose teeth, cremated bones

Question 38

What were the main FOUR species of domestic animal (in addition to the dog) that were present in Neolithic Britain?

Answer 38

goats, pigs, cattle, sheep

Question 39

Name the THREE main animal products/uses originally argued to comprise the ‘Secondary Products Revolution’. Which has subsequently been shown to be of much greater antiquity?

Answer 39

cattle for traction and dairy, sheep for wool | lipids from dairy present in ceramics from 7000 BC

Question 40

How do the animal remains AND the plant remains and granaries at Arbeia suggest that the Romans mobilised and utilised agricultural products?

Answer 40

south shields granaries had storage for 3,200 tons of grain | there was organisation between who got what meat, commandant get sirloins and the soldiers get the feet

Question 41

List five factors that affect the taphonomy of animal bone assemblages

Answer 41

acidity, carbonisation, waterlogging, butchery, burial

Question 42

How do you tell the difference between domestic and wild species of a) goat and b) cattle

Answer 42

cattle - domesticated are smaller, high mortality of young cattle goats - domesticated are larger

Question 43

List five things one can tell from studying the animal bones from a site

Answer 43

``` potential trade hunting practices diet domestication ritual ```

Question 44

Name FIVE domestic animals you might find in a zooarchaeological assemblage in Iceland.

Answer 44

sheep, pigs, cows, horses

Question 45

Name FIVE anthropogenic uses of birch trees that are apparent from the Icelandic archaeological record.

Answer 45

``` building houses building long boats clearing for pastures firewood making weapons ```

Question 46

What is a) tephra, b) tephrochronology and c) the Landnám tephra?

Answer 46

Tephra - particulate material erupted from a volcano Tephrochronology is based on the identification, correlation and dating of tephra. landnam eruption just before Viking arrival allows differentiation

Question 47

Name FIVE types of human impact on the environment that both pre-date and post-date the 19th century cal AD.

Answer 47

deforestation, infrastructure, domestication, smoke pollution, waste pollution

Question 48

What is ‘Landnám’, when did it occur in Iceland and what impact did it have on the environment of Iceland?

Answer 48

a volcano which erupted just before the Viking arrival, before the eruption Lots of peat bogs and well preserved lakes Pre-settlement vegetation of over 27% of landmass covered in mixed birch-willow woodland.