Quiz - Dating Methods and Chronology

The idea that something is older (or younger) relative to something else is the basis of _______ dating.

Absolute dating allows archaeologists to describe the age of sites, sequences and artefacts in

What type of dating has been used to date early out-of-Africa expansions of humanity?

Before World War II most reliable absolute dates were _______ ones devised from texts such as the Egyptian King Lists.

The fixed point in time in the Christian world is often taken as the birth of Christ, and given in years as AD 1. AD stands for

Within calendric systems, the birth of Jesus or the Prophet’s departure from Mecca (the Hegira) are examples of

Percolating groundwater has a significant effect on the composition of bone. The increase of ______ and _______ found in the bone absorbed from the groundwater can be measured and lead to a relative date.

The great 19th Century master of the typological sequence was

Working at _________ in Upper Egypt, Flinders Petrie was able to pioneer the method of contextual seriation by identifying 7 successive stages of predynastic graves.

Battleship curves in frequency seriation indicate

The field of lexicostatistics studies changes in

Deep-sea cores provide a framework for a relative chronology of the

A ________ is the term used when a king list or other historical record is not linked to our calendar.

Using coins to date archaeological deposits provides

Varves, a pre-WWII dating method, provided the most accurate means of absolute dating in

Dendrochronology was developed by __________, an American astronomer, in the 1930s.

Some of the oldest trees on Earth, __________ were used in pioneering research on dendrochronology.

Samples used for radiocarbon dating usually consist of organic materials from archaeological sites. Organic materials include

By measuring the hydration layer on obsidian tools, known to increase over time, an estimate of age may be established. Such a technique, known as obsidian hydration, is considered a __________ method of dating.

Which absolute dating technique was used to help resolve the long-standing controversy over the age of the Turin Shroud?

Uranium series dating is particularly useful for the period ___________ years ago.

Thermoluminescence, optical dating, and electron spin resonance are also dating methods dependent on radioactive decay, but indirectly through

A good example of the use of thermoluminescence is the dating of the __________ from the Jos Plateau, Nigeria.

Optical dating is similar to thermoluminescence, but is used to date minerals which have been exposed to ______ rather than heat.

Electron Spin Resonance (ESR)’s most successful application is in the dating of

Absolute dating is sometimes known as

What type of dating technique has been applied to organic material discovered in prehistoric paintings, including human blood found in the paint of Wargata Mina Cave in Tasmania?

When the volcano on Thera erupted, the prehistoric site of __________ was buried.

Dating the eruption of Thera (Santorini) has proven difficult, and a host of methods have been applied to determine the date, including

Rice cultivation began in the Yangzi Valley, China, around

According to C.J. Thomsen’s three-part organisation of tools for the Old World, stone artefacts preceded iron artefacts which preceded bronze artefacts. True or False?

To avoid cultural insensitivity many scholars use the term bce (before the Common Era) when referring to specific dates. True or False?

Frequency seriation relies principally on the chronological ordering of artefacts. True or False?

Glottochronology attempts to use a formula to date the divergence of languages. True or False?

Minor fluctations in glacial periods are known as stadials and interstadials. True or False?

Ice cores from the Artic and Antarctic have yielded disappointing sequences of climate oscillations. True or False?

Melting ice sheets each year leads to the formation in lakes of annual deposits of sediment known as varves. True or False?

Potassium-argon dating is used to date early hominid sites in Africa. True or False?

Fission-track dating is useful in dating suitable rocks that contain or are adjacent to those containing archaeological evidence. True or False?