Memorize these and you could recognize 39.7% of all Archaeology clues.
| # | Answer | Appearances | Sample Clue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stonehenge | 8 | Carbon dating puts the building of this landmark on the Salisbury Plain back to about 1988 B.C. |
| 2 | the Dead Sea Scrolls | 6 | The discovery of these beginning in 1947 yielded fragments of all the Old Testament books except Esther |
| 3 | Pompeii | 5 | Volcanic debris & ash up to 23 ft. deep helped preserve this city, 1st rediscovered in the late 16th c. |
| 4 | Machu Picchu | 5 | The citadel of this well-preserved Inca city NW of Cuzco was once surrounded by terraced gardens |
| 5 | Easter Island | 5 | The tall, large-headed statues on this Pacific island were carved from tuff, a volcanic rock |
| 6 | the Rosetta Stone | 5 | This basalt slab provided the key to deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs |
| 7 | Herculaneum | 4 | Wooden furniture & a loaf of bread in an oven have been found preserved in this city 10 miles northwest of Pompeii |
| 8 | Ur | 3 | Sir Leonard Woolley is known for his excavations of this Sumerian city with a very short name |
| 9 | the sphinx | 3 | Greek statues of this creature often have women's heads & wings, unlike the monument at Giza |
| 10 | Jericho | 3 | This city's walls tumbled down long before Kathleen Kenyon proved it's 1 of the oldest cities known |
| 11 | carbon-14 dating | 3 | This method of dating can tell the age of an artifact that is up to 40,000 years old |
| 12 | bronze | 3 | An age is named for this alloy of copper & tin, first made around 3500 B.C. |
| 13 | a dig | 3 | A synonym for the site of an excavation, it's also what archaeologists do there |
| 14 | (Heinrich) Schliemann | 3 | Inspired by Homer's epics, this German businessman discovered & excavated Ancient Troy |
| 15 | Vikings | 3 | Some yarn found on Baffin Island suggests these people visited there in the 13th century |
| 16 | catacombs | 3 | In 2009 the earliest known depictions of the Apostles from the 4th c. were found in these underground tombs in Rome |
| 17 | (Howard) Carter | 3 | This Egyptologist first became associated with Lord Carnarvon in 1906 while excavating the Theban necropolis |
| 18 | Turkey | 2 | Scholars say Hissarlik, a mount near the mouth of the Dardanelles in this country, is the site of Troy |
| 19 | Troy | 2 | Schliemann felt this city's 2nd settlement was the one of Homer's epics; now it seems to be the 7th |
| 20 | trees | 2 | Dendrochronology uses the growth rings of these to try to determine a wooden object's age |
| 21 | the Spanish Armada | 2 | In the early 1970s it was reported that the Gran Grifon, flagship of this fleet, was found in Scottish waters |
| 22 | the Iron Age | 2 | The 3rd age of the 3 age system, technically we're still in this metallic age |
| 23 | Pollen | 2 | Common dating techniques are carbon-14, counting tree rings & analyzing grains of this |
| 24 | Peru | 2 | In 1911 Hiram Bingham discovered Machu Picchu, an Inca fortress city, in this country |
| 25 | Peking Man | 2 | Early in WWII fossils of this "Man" were lost in an attempt to smuggle them out of China |
| 26 | New Mexico | 2 | The ancient Clovis culture was named for a site in this SW state where its artifacts were discovered |
| 27 | Mexico | 2 | You'll find the largest ancient ball court in this country at Chichen Itza |
| 28 | Lucy | 2 | Anthropologists now argue over the gender of this famous Australopithecene once accepted as female |
| 29 | Jamestown | 2 | A systematic excavation of this 1607 British settlement was done between 1935 & 1957 |
| 30 | jade | 2 | The tomb of Han king Liu Wu yielded his body & a shroud made of this green gemstone |
| 31 | iron | 2 | Ochre, a yellow or red oxide of this metal, was used as coloring matter in cave paintings |
| 32 | Hammurabi | 2 | In 1901 a 7' high stone stela was discovered inscribed with this Babylonian's code of laws |
| 33 | Guatemala | 2 | Ruins of Mayan temples & palaces have been found at Tikal in this country that borders Belize |
| 34 | fire | 2 | Many prehistoric paintings are so deep inside caves early man must have used this to see them |
| 35 | Egypt | 2 | What might be the earliest example of a phonetic alphabet was found in this African country in December 1999 |
| 36 | cuneiform | 2 | G.F. Grotefend and Sir Henry Rawlinson helped decipher forms of this wedge-shaped Sumerian writing |
| 37 | Crete | 2 | Beginning in 1900 Sir Arthur Evans uncovered the Palace of Minos at Knossos on this island |
| 38 | Cleopatra | 2 | In 1996 Franck Goddio found the ruins of this queen's palace in the port of Alexandria |
| 39 | China | 2 | T'ao t'ieh are monster masks found on bronze objects of this country's Shang & Chou dynasties |
| 40 | Babylon | 2 | In 1881 Claudius Rich surveyed this ancient city, including Nebuchadnezzar's summer palace |
| 41 | a circle | 2 | A cromlech is a prehistoric monument of upright stones placed, like at Stonehenge, in this shape |
| 42 | the Maya | 2 | Diego de Landa, bishop of Yucatan, helped decipher hieroglyphics of this culture & published his work in a 1566 book |
| 43 | the Incas | 2 | This Andean civilization used knotted cords called quipus to store information |
| 44 | the Anasazi | 2 | In 1996 New Mexico wildfires damaged ruins of this tribe the Navajo called "the Ancient Ones" |
| 45 | cave paintings | 2 | In 1940 in France, 4 kids looking for their dog discovered Lascaux Cave, famous for these |
| 46 | Blackbeard | 2 | In 2011 a 1-ton anchor was recovered from his ship & he turned up in the new "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie |