Apprentice Core Lessons in Archaeology

Read through Chapter 7 and complete the following:


Chapter Summary- Provide a short summary of the contents of the chapter.


Key Terms- Define the following terms:

- Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (pg. 122)


Short Answer- In a couple of paragraphs, answer the following questions:

1) What are some examples of using archaeology for political purposes?

2) What conflicts are at the heart of disputes concerning the disturbance of burial remains?

3) Describe the ongoing conflict between New Age/ Neopagan practitioners and access to ancient sites.

Read through Chapter 8 and complete the following:


Chapter Summary- Provide a short summary of the contents of the chapter.


Key Terms- Define the following terms:

- Ancestral Spirits (pg. 146)
- Animatism (pg. 149)
- Animism (pg. 146)
- Cremation (pg. 153)
- Disarticulated Burials (pg. 147)
- Excarnation (pg. 147)
- Funerary Rites (pg. 148)
- Glyphs (pg. 144)
- Inhumation (pg. 153)
- Liminal (pg. 161)
- Middens (pg. 156)
- Monotheism (pg. 138)
- Mummification (pg. 154)
- Ossuary (pg. 147)
- Propitiation (pg 151)
- Rites of Intensification (pg. 151)
- Rite of Passage (pg. 150)
- Shaman (pg. 162)
- Stelae (pg. 144)
- Totemism (pg. 139)
- Votives (pg. 155)


Short Answer- In a couple of paragraphs, answer the following questions:

1) What are some common functions of religion?

2) What are three categories of supernatural beings are religious beliefs divided into?

3) What are the three stages of Rites of Passage? Explain each.

4) What types of events were marked by Rites of Intensification?

5) What is the role of goods buried with the dead? Give two possible explanations.

6) What role did shamans play in their societies?

Read through Chapter 9 and complete the following:


Chapter Summary- Provide a short summary of the contents of the chapter.


Key Terms- Define the following terms:

- Feature (pg. 168)
- Sedentary (pg. 167)
- Settlement (pg. 165)
- Signature (pg. 181)
- Site (pg. 166)


Short Answer- In a couple of paragraphs, answer the following questions:

1) What range of places does the term “settlement” cover?

2) What areas does settlement archaeology address?

3) Explain Central Place theory.

4) Where will the main evidence of most sites come from?

Read through Chapter 10 and complete the following:


Chapter Summary- Provide a short summary of the contents of the chapter.


Key Terms- Define the following terms:

- Attritional Bone Profile (pg. 199)
- Arable (pg. 197)
- Catastrophic Bone Profile (pg. 199)
- Diachronic Change (pg. 220)
- Entoptic (pg. 232)
- Foragers (pg. 204)
- Hunter-Gatherer (pg. 196)
- Market Exchange (pg. 218)
- Material Culture (pg. 198)
- Pastoralists (pg. 197)
- Reciprocity (pg. 217)
- Redistribution (pg. 218)
- Social Storage (pg. 214)
- Tell (pg. 206)


Short Answer- In a couple of paragraphs, answer the following questions:

1) In what ways do animals contribute to human economy?

2) What is the difference between primary animal products and secondary animal products?

3) Does the evidence suggest that humans started as scavengers or hunters? Explain.

4) What aspects do archaeologists study to figure out when domestication began?

5) What is intensification and how can it be applied?

6) What are the three main categories of exchange?

7) How are the different modes of exchange studied and analyzed?

8 ) What is the role of specialization in determining the complexity of a society?

Read through Chapter 11 and complete the following:


Chapter Summary- Provide a short summary of the contents of the chapter.


Key Terms- Define the following terms:

- Achieved Status (pg. 241)
- Ascribed Status (pg. 241)
- Bands (pg. 237)
- Chiefdoms (pg. 238)
- Clan (pg. 239)
- Kin (pg. 236)
- Moiety (pg. 239)
- Segmentary Societies (pg. 238)
- States (pg. 239)
- Tribes (pg. 238)


Short Answer- In a couple of paragraphs, answer the following questions:

1) What is Social Archaeology? Explain.

2) What is the main difference between segmented societies and chiefdoms?

3) What are the key features of states?

4) What is the difference between Achieved Status and Ascribed Status?

5) How is Gender defined in terms of the study of archaeology? How does this differ from the biological distinction of sex?

6) Explain the relationship between Ethnicity and Race.

7) What was one of the first aspects of human society to be documented by literate societies? Why do you think this is so?

Read through Chapter 12 and complete the following:


Chapter Summary- Provide a short summary of the contents of the chapter.


Short Answer- In a couple of paragraphs, answer the following questions:

1) How can you use these tips to develop your own archaeology project?

2) Identify some basic research opportunities where you live. Are there any major sites or museums close to you that could provide a basis for research?

2) Where can you get help and advice developing an archaeological project?

3) Describe the role of record keeping when conducting archaeological research? What methods are suggested in the reading?

4) When writing up your findings in a report, what are two considerations you should keep in mind?