Quiz 10 :
Explanation in Archaeology

______________ is a theoretical approach developed by the "Frankfurt School" of German social thinkers.This approach stresses that all knowledge is historical,biased communication,and thus all claims to objective knowledge are illusory

Before the New Archaeology,changes observed in the archaeological record were often explained by the idea of

The Classic Maya kings portrayed themselves as great guarantors of prosperity and stability,but during the critical 8th and 9th centuries leading up to the Maya collapse they were unable to deliver on these promises because of

The argument that large-scale irrigation alone leads to urbanization is known as the

The theoretical position in archaeology that nearly all archaeologists believe in and commands widespread respect is

In migrationist and diffusionist explanations of the past,a "people" is defined as

A notable feature of Lewis Binford's work on the origins of farming was its generality: he was seeking to explain the origins of agriculture worldwide.His is an example of a _________ approach to archaeology

The idea that the human mind evolved under the selective pressures faced by the hunter-gatherer lifestyle of Ice-age humans is an important aspect of

Robert Carneiro,a major proponent of ______________,emphasized the importance of environmental constraints and territorial limitations to explain the origins of the state

The controversial framework developed by Carl Hempel and adopted by some New Archaeologists and heavily criticized by other New Archaeologists is based on the development of universal statements and

In the 1960s,the "loss of innocence" that came with the realization that there was no well-established body of theory to underpin current archaeological methods sparked the development of

Which of the following has been put forth as a monocausal explanation for the origins of a state

Thomas Malthus has argued that human population tends to grow to the limit permitted by

One explanation for the emergence of state societies in the Maya lowlands is based on the lack of basic raw materials in the area,forcing the Maya to develop an intricate system of

______________ archaeologists stress that human actions are guided by beliefs and symbolic concepts,and that the proper object of study is the structures of thought-the ideas-of the human actors who made the artifacts and created the archaeological record

Change in the archaeological record is sometimes attributed to struggles between social classes,a result of contradictions that arise between the forces of production and the relations of production (mainly the social organization).Such an approach to understanding the past would be considered

Relying on a single dominant explanatory factor to account for a cultural change is known as a(n)

When the Spanish reached Mexico in the early 16th century they found

If,in your explanation for a cultural change (for example,the origin of the state),you stress the importance and interaction of several different factors operating at the same time,this would be considered a(n)

Some Processualists have accused Critical Theorists of believing that one person's idea is as good as any other person's idea: basically that fringe and alternative beliefs are as good as those produced by experts and trained professionals.Such a belief is also called

One thing that cognitive-processual archaeologists and functional-processual archaeologists agree upon is that

While New Archaeology was fast to investigate social structures it was slow to explore

Ian Hodder is considered to be a ________________ archaeologist

In contrast to the functional-processual approach that seeks to create generalizing explanation,a _________________ explanation,influenced by structuralism,critical theory,and neo-Marxist thought,favors an individualizing approach

Emphasizing the scientific methodology of problem statement,hypothesis formulation,and subsequent testing,______________ is an approach that stresses the dynamic relationship between the social and economic aspects of culture and the environment in understanding culture change

The idea that European Megaliths were used by elders and community leaders to manipulate the members of society into the continued recognition of their social status is an example of a

Later archaeological critiques of diffusionist explanations have shown that migrations

Around the 12th century BC,the Phoenicians developed a simplified phonetic script to write their Semitic language.By the early 1st millennium BC,the script was adapted by the Greeks to write their language,and the Greek alphabet was later modified in Italy to write Etruscan and Latin.It was through Latin that our own alphabet (known as the Roman alphabet)came to much of Europe,and later the rest of the world.This is a positive example of ____________

The concept of __________ has been introduced to permit discussion of the role of the individual in promoting change

Using a traditional Migrationist approach,it is argued that each archaeological culture is the manifestation,in material terms,of a specific

The New Archaeology is considered to be a challenge to Processual Archaeology

Marxist archaeology seeks to understand processes of change in human history through the study of contradictions between the forces of production and social organization.

Post-processual archaeology has completely replaced the New Archaeology.

Clear ethnic groups do not always stand out clearly in archaeological remains.

The short-term intentions of individuals can be referred to as agency.

Most scholars believe that the Maya collapse was monocausal.

There is no difference between Marxist and neo-Marxist thought in archaeology.

Lewis Binford is considered a processual archaeologist.

Despite its name,evolutionary archaeology has very little to do with the ideas of biological evolution.

A common criticism of the early New Archaeology (functional-processual archaeology)was that the importance of ideological and symbolic aspects of societies was ignored or undervalued.

There are a number of theories for the Maya collapse in the 9th century AD.Discuss the evidence for a collapse,and the different hypotheses to account for it,taking into account the regional variation in the timing and nature of the collapse.

Discuss the different explanations for the origins of the state.Separate your discussion between those explanations that would be considered monocausal and those that would be considered multivariate.

Compare migrationist and diffusionist explanations for change,such as the appearance of a new kind of pottery or new decorative motifs,to processual explanations for change.How does a processual approach differ from such traditional explanations?