1 Anthropology 176A Spring 2009 North American Archaeology May 4, 2009 Midterm Exam General Instructions: This exam is worth 100 points. (You need to earn at least 73 points on this assignment for a passing/C grade.) This is a take-home exam. You may (and are expected to) consult your lecture notes, textbook, and course reader to answer these questions. No additional research is necessary. The complete exam should not need to be more than about 6-8 double-spaced, type-written pages. Be clear and concise. Choose questions that demonstrate your breadth of knowledge and mastery of the material presented. Cite all your sources (including lecture notes) and include a complete bibliography at the end of your exam. Answers Due: Monday, May 11, 2009 (in class) Answer two (2) of the following short essay questions. Each question is worth 50 points. Choose ONE question from Section A and ONE question from Section B. Refer to the arguments of specific archaeologists and use specific archaeological examples (sites, assemblages of artifacts, etc.) to support your answers. Be sure to demonstrate your engagement with material drawn from BOTH lectures and assigned readings. Be sure to develop a clear argument in your answer. BE SURE TO COPY THE TEXT OF THE QUESTION YOU ARE ANSWERING AT THE BEGINNING OF YOUR ESSAY. INCLUDE A BIBLIOGRAPHY. Section A (Peopling the Americas and the PaleoIndians) 1) How have recent discoveries at early sites in Alaska and Siberia complicated our understanding of the first peopling of the Americas. Refer to specific evidence from specific sites in your answer. 2) Traditionally, we have thought of the PaleoIndians as highly specialized and very efficient "big-game" hunters. Discuss archaeological evidence that either supports or contests this view. Include data and examples from both the Eastern and Western parts of North America. 3) Why were the Moundbuilder Controversy and the Folsom Find such defining moments in the history of North American archaeology?2 4) Traditional models for the peopling of the Americas assume that the First Americans came over land, across the Bering Land Bridge at the end of the last ice age. How do recent archaeology discoveries either support or contest this traditional model? What holes, problems, or inconsistencies still plague this scenario? Section B (Archaeology of the Far North and Far West) 5) Summaries of Arctic prehistory often present the eastward expansion of Thule culture around A.D. 1000 as the triumph of the highly efficient and technologically superior Thule over the simpler and less well equipped Dorset. What archaeological evidence either supports or contests this interpretation. What other factors may have influenced Thule-Dorset interactions in the Canadian Arctic? 6) What archaeological evidence do we have for the emergence of social ranking and political complexity on the Northwest Coast? Discuss critically at least one model presented by archaeologists for how and why such complexity developed in this area. Discuss how specific archaeological evidence either supports or contests this model. 7) Define "optimal foraging." Discuss critically a detailed case study of the use of optimal foraging theory to explain prehistoric changes in resource exploitation (intensity, technology, organization of labor, etc.) in either California or the Great Basin. 8) Critically summarize current models for the emergence of chiefdoms among the Chumash in the Santa Barbara Channel area of Southern California. Discuss specific paleoclimatic, archaeological, and physical anthropological evidence that supports these interpretations. 9) In the Great Basin some of the earliest archaeological work was in dry cave and rockshelter sites. Why were such sites chosen as the focus of research? What advantages do such sites possess? What are some of the disadvantages or limitations of focusing on such sites? Give examples of specific cave or rockshelter sites discussed in readings or lectures and how they influenced our understanding of regional prehistory. Also discuss how changing research methods and strategies have altered our understanding of cultural developments in