Book 1, Chapter 1

Question 1

How old is the Earth? (page 15)

Answer 1

About 4.5 billion years.

Question 2

When did the first hominins appear? (page 17)

Answer 2

About 6 million years ago.

Question 3

When was fire first tamed? (page 17)

Answer 3

Certainly by 500,000 years ago and possibly by 1.8 million years ago.

Question 4

When did Homo Neanderthalensis disappear? (page 14)

Answer 4

About 20,000 YA.

Question 5

When did the first Chinese agricultural settlements arise? (page 15)

Answer 5

c. 7,000 YA.

Question 6

Why is a low-positioned larynx important? (page 20)

Answer 6

It allows for a wide variety of vocal sounds (such as is needed for speech).

Question 7

Which hominin was the first hominin with a low larynx? (page 21)

Answer 7

Homo erectus.

Question 8

What is a hyoid bone and why is it important? (page 20)

Answer 8

The hyoid bone is a small, U-shaped bone at the root of the tongue and that is necessary for speech.

Question 9

How old is the oldest found hyoid bone and which species of hominin possessed it first, according to the most recent archaeology? (page 20)

Answer 9

The oldest hyoid is about 400,000 years old and was possessed by Homo heidelbegensis.

Question 10

What was the final evolution that allowed for fully articulate speech and when did it occur? (page 21)

Answer 10

The base of the skull evolved and physically allowed for full speech about 300,000 YA.

Question 11

What was the “Great Leap Forward”? (page 21)

Answer 11

It was a period of rapid development of hominin speech abilities that allowed for the equivalent of modern languages.

Question 12

What are the oldest decorated artifcats to date and how old are they? Why are they significant? (page 21)

Answer 12

They are perforated shell beads found in Blombos Cave, South Africa that were given holes, perhaps so as to be strung on a necklace. They are about 75,000 years old and are the oldest works of art discovered to date.

Question 13

When did the most recent Ice Age begin? (page 22)

Answer 13

About 1.5 million years ago.

Question 14

What is the actual definition of an “ice age”? (page 22)

Answer 14

“…a period of fluctuating climate conditions punctuated by periods of intense cold.”

Question 15

When did the Earth’s magnetic field last reverse? (page 22)

Answer 15

About 780,000 YA.

Question 16

When did the last ice age end? (page 23)

Answer 16

About 15,000 to 10,000 YA.

Question 17

What is an interglacial period? (page 23)

Answer 17

A period between glacial (icy) periods of “brief, volatile intervals of warmer conditions”.

Question 18

What kind of climatic period are we currently in? (page 23)

Answer 18

An interglacial that began around 10,000 YA.

Question 19

When did the human migration out of Africa take place? (page 26)

Answer 19

Toward the end of the last ice age about 50,000 YA.

Question 20

Who were the Cro-Magnons? (page 26)

Answer 20

An array of cold-adapted hunter-gatherer societies living in Central and Western Europe from 40,000 BCE to 10,000 BCE.

Question 21

What is a continental shelf? (page 29)

Answer 21

An area of land connecting the continents that is now covered by higher sea levels.

Question 22

What was Sunda? (page 29)

Answer 22

The continental shelf that stretched from Southeast Asia into the Pacific and that was separated from New Guinea and Australia by only very short stretches of open water.

Question 23

What was Sahul? (page 29)

Answer 23

A continental shelf that linked New Guinea and Australia.

Question 24

When did the earliest Homo sapiens arrive in mainland Southeast Asia? (page 29)

Answer 24

Sometime before 50,000 YA.

Question 25

When were the Solomon Islands first colonized by Homo sapiens? (page 29)

Answer 25

About 35,000 YA from New Guinea.

Question 26

When was Australia first colonized and from where? (page 29)

Answer 26

By about 45,000 YA and from Southeast Asia and Sahul.

Question 27

When did outrigger canoes and open-water navigation techniques allow Homo sapiens to make long-range open-water voyages in the Pacific? (page 29)

Answer 27

After about 1000 BCE.

Question 28

What was Beringia?

Answer 28

The low-lying land bridge joining Siberia to Alaska that existed above water until about 10,000 YA.

Question 29

When did the first Homo sapiens arrive in the Americas and from where did they immediately come in Asia? (page 29)

Answer 29

“Most scientists agree that the first Americans were Siberian hunters who crossed this bridge [Beringia] into Alaska about 15,000 years ago, toward the end of the Ice Age.”

Question 30

Who were the first hominins to bury their dead and when was the earliest burial? (page 29)

Answer 30

“Neanderthals first buried their dead about 50,000 years ago.”

Question 31

When had agriculture become almost universal wherever it was possible? (page 36)

Answer 31

By about 6,000 YA.

Question 32

What was the first domesticated cereal and when and where was it first grown? (page 36)

Answer 32

Einkorn, a variety of wheat, was first domesticated in southeastern Turkey about 10,000 BCE.

Question 33

When was corn first domesticated and what was it developed from? (page 36)

Answer 33

It was first domesticated around 5,000 BCE and was developed from a form of wild grass, teosinte.

Question 34

When and where were potatoes first domesticated and grown? (page 36)

Answer 34

Potatoes were a highland Andean crop domesticated at an unknown date before 5,000 BCE.

Question 35

When were potatoes introduced to Europe? (page 36)

Answer 35

Sometime during the 17th century.

Question 36

When and where was rice first domesticated? (page 37)

Answer 36

Rice was cultivated in several separate locations, but was grown as early as 8500 BCE in China’s Yangtzi River Valley.

Question 37

When and where were goats first domesticated and how were they most likely first domesticated? (page 37)

Answer 37

Probably in the Middle East around about 10,000 BCE. They were probably first domesticated by putting young animals and entire herds in pens together in order to take advantage of their sociable nature.

Question 38

When were sheep first domesticated? (page 37)

Answer 38

Around 10,000 BCE in the Fertile Crescent.

Question 39

When did farming first reach Europe? (page 37)

Answer 39

Farming spread to Europe from southeast Asia by about 6,000 BCE, going across the Mediterranean and then northward. It developed slight variations depending on the associated crafts and architectural style as it spread.

Question 40

When and where did the wheel originate and how did it probably originate? (page 44)

Answer 40

The wheel originated in Mesopotamia in the 5th millennium BCE and was probably adapted from the potter’s wheel.

Question 41

Who was Horus Aha? (page 45)

Answer 41

Also often called Menes, King Horus Aha became the first ruler of a unified Egypt around 3000 BCE. His predecessor, Narmer, an Upper Egyptian chieftain, may have unified Egypt with military victories, but Horus was the first to claim divinity as well as kingship as the living god Horus on Earth.

Question 42

When did the first Egyptian villages arise and how did this probably happen? (page 45)

Answer 42

They developed around the 4th millenium BCE and probably began as connected groups of dwelling villages.

Question 43

By what time had writing definitely appeared in the world? (page 45)

Answer 43

By 3100 BCE, written scripts were in use in both Egypt and Mesopotamia.