A good way to study is:

1.  Learn the vocabulary words as well as the root words.  For example learn what the terms wikiup, paddle and anvil, mortar hopper mean.  Make flash cards to learn the root words, especially for the first test.  Click for a link to the $5 Words.

2.  List all of the material culture objects you can think of for each unit:  wikiup, obsidian blade, pottery, mortar hopper, metate and mano, pine nuts, tules, deer disguise, etc.

Let's use a tule balsa for an example.  Simply apply the five journalistic inquiries: WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY, and you will be sure to hit all of the important things.

WHO?  Used by the Paiute of the Great Basin, the Pomo of Northcentral CA, the Yokuts, etc.

WHAT? a canoe made from bundles of tules tied together with tule rope

WHEN? archaic times

WHERE? still and slow moving water, ie lakes, marshes, ponds, estuaries, bays

WHY? to gather sea food, water fowl and plants; to transport goods

2.  List all of the most important resources of an area and determine the material culture objects they are converted into:  tules, pine trees, clay, hematite, deer grass, rabbit, deer, etc.

Let's use tules as an example and list as many uses as we can abd make note of any special techniques.

duck decoys (stuffed into a pelt), clothing and mats (loom woven), housing (mats or bent poles covered with thatch), boats (bundled and covered with pitch or asphalt sealant), food (root and pollen), rope, traps, weirs, shoes, baskets (twined).

3.  Learn the imports, exports, unique products.