Chapter 2 Test

Question 1

Agriculture developed separately and independently in

a. Sub-Saharan Africa.
b. Europe.
c. India.
d. Australia.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

The warming period at the end of the last Ice Age helped make agriculture possible by

a. creating generally drier conditions especially in temperate and tropical regions.
b. permitting cereal grasses to flourish.
c. contributing to the flourishing of the large mammals upon which Paleolithic peoples had relied for food.
d. None of the above

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following was NOT an outcome of domestication?

a. The impact of human beings on the environment declined.
b. Many plants and animals became reliant on human action or protection to reproduce successfully.
c. Humans consciously directed the process of evolution in both plants and animals.
d. It became impossible for humankind to return to gathering/hunting both because of the loss of skills and the growth in human numbers.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The development of agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa differed from the development of agriculture in Southwest Asia in which of the following ways?

a. Only the Fertile Crescent domesticated grain crops.
b. Only sub-Saharan Africa domesticated cattle.
c. In sub-Saharan Africa crops were domesticated in a greater variety of environments.
d. Fertile Crescent crops spread across Eurasia, while no crop from sub-Saharan Africa spread beyond Africa.

Answer 4

C

Question 5

Which of the following was NOT a challenge to the establishment of agriculture in the Americas as compared to the Afro-Eurasian world?

a. The lack of rich cereal grains to domesticate
b. The lack of other crops with which to supplement a diet of maize
c. The north/south orientation of the Americas
d. The lack of large mammals suitable for domestication

Answer 5

B

Question 6

Compared to the Americas, the domestication of animals in Southwest Asia made it easier

a. to fertilize fields.
b. to develop plow technology.
c. to rely less on hunting and fishing.
d. All of the above

Answer 6

D

Question 7

The spread of agriculture through diffusion and migration

a. resulted in the spread of language groups.
b. always benefited the gatherer-hunter peoples with whom migrants came into contact.
c. resulted in India receiving crops only from Southwest Asia.
d. resulted in the widespread dissemination of crops from New Guinea.

Answer 7

A

Question 8

Gatherer-hunter societies most often succeeded in resisting the encroachment of agricultural societies in which of the following environments?

a. Arctic environments
b. Desert environments
c. Regions of particular natural abundance
d. All of the above

Answer 8

D

Question 9

Early agricultural people

a. uniformly enjoyed a greater life expectancy than gatherer-hunters.
b. didn’t suffer from famines.
c. suffered from deadly diseases caught from domesticated animals.
d. had more leisure time than their gatherer-hunter counterparts.

Answer 9

C

Question 10

Which of the following technologies was NOT first developed by Neolithic peoples?

a. Creation of pottery
b. Stone axes and scrapers
c. Weaving of textiles
d. Metallurgy

Answer 10

B

Question 11

The “secondary product revolution”

a. occurred in both the Eastern and Western hemispheres.
b. refers to the development of new tools made of metal.
c. involved new uses for domesticated animals.
d. began in 10,000 B.C.E.

Answer 11

C

Question 12

The Agricultural Revolution

a. lessened the impact of humans on the natural environment.
b. resulted in a uniform improvement in the health of the population.
c. resulted in significant technological developments.
d. lessened the impact of smallpox and other diseases on the human population.

Answer 12

C

Question 13

Agricultural village societies

a. were usually organized in terms of kinship groups or lineages.
b. formed through the leadership of strong kings and aristocracies.
c. developed hierarchical societies with large disparities between elites and commoners.
d. formed a strong sense of patriarchy in which men dominated trades and positions of authority.

Answer 13

A

Question 14

Which of the following statements is NOT true of chiefdoms?

a. Chiefdoms included inherited positions of power and privilege.
b. Chiefdoms were widespread among the Polynesian peoples of the Pacific islands.
c. Leaders in chiefdoms relied on generosity, gift giving, or personal charisma for authority.
d. The Igbo and the Tiv of West Africa were organized as chiefdoms.

Answer 14

D

Question 15

The unique feature of the chiefdom (as compared to a stateless agricultural village) that was replicated, elaborated, and assumed to be natural in all later states and civilizations was

a. the distinction between elite and commoner based on charisma.
b. the distinction between elite and commoner based on achievement.
c. the distinction between elite and commoner based on birth.
d. None of the above

Answer 15

C

Question 16

The Agricultural Revolution resulted in

a. the growing power of humans over many other species of plants and animals.
b. greater social distinctions between people than before.
c. an unprecedented increase in the human population.
d. All of the above

Answer 16

D

Question 17

Pastoral societies differed from agricultural village societies in all of the following ways EXCEPT

a. pastoral societies relied more heavily on animals.
b. pastoral societies benefited from exchanges with agricultural societies, but agricultural societies did not benefit from exchanges with their pastoral counterparts.
c. agricultural village societies were more prevalent in the Americas than were pastoral societies.
d. pastoral societies were more mobile than agricultural societies

Answer 17

B

Question 18

Diffusion

a. refers to the taming and changing of plants and animals by humans.
b. refers to the securing of more food and resources from a smaller area of land than was possible with a gathering and hunting technology.
c. refers to the slow colonization of new lands by agricultural peoples as growing populations and pressures to expand pushed them outward.
d. refers to the gradual spread of the techniques of agriculture, and perhaps the plants and animals themselves, without the extensive movement of agricultural people.

Answer 18

D

Question 19

Domestication

a. refers to the taming and changing of plants and animals by humans.
b. refers to the securing of more food and resources from a smaller area of land than was possible with a gathering and hunting technology.
c. refers to the slow colonization of new lands by agricultural peoples as growing populations and pressures to expand pushed them outward.
d. refers to the gradual spread of the techniques of agriculture, and perhaps the plants and animals themselves, without the extensive movement of agricultural people.

Answer 19

A

Question 20

About 12,000 years ago a new global pattern of human life started to unfold as humankind began

a. to migrate and settle outside of Africa.
b. deliberately to cultivate plants.
c. tame and breed wild animals.
d. Both b and c

Answer 20

D

Question 21

Also known as the Neolithic Revolution, this is the transformation of human (and world) existence caused by the deliberate cultivation of particular plants and the deliberate taming and breeding of particular animals.

Answer 21

Agricultural revolution

Question 22

An Asian-language family whose speakers gradually became the dominant culture of the Philippines, Indonesia, and the Pacific islands, thanks to their mastery of agriculture.

Answer 22

Austronesian

Question 23

A Chinese archeological site, where the remains of a significant Neolithic village have been found.

Answer 23

Banpo

Question 24

An African-language family whose speakers gradually became the dominant culture of eastern and southern Africa, thanks to their agricultural techniques and, later, their ironworking skills.

Answer 24

Bantu

Question 25

The spread of ______-speaking peoples from their homeland in what is now southern Nigeria or Cameroon to most of Africa, in a process that started ca. 3000 b.c.e. and continued for several millennia.

Answer 25

Bantu migration

Question 26

Archeologists’ term for the diet of gathering and hunting societies, which included a wide array of plants and animals.

Answer 26

Broad spectrum diet

Question 27

An important agricultural chiefdom of North America that flourished around 1100 C.E.

Answer 27

Cahokia

Question 28

An important Neolithic site in what is now Turkey.

Answer 28

Çatalhüyük

Question 29

A societal grouping who typically relies on generosity, ritual status, or charisma rather than force to win obedience from the people.

Answer 29

Chiefdom

Question 30

A process of global warming that began around 16,000 years ago and ended about 5,000 years later, with the earth enjoying a climate similar to that of our own time; changed conditions for human beings, leading to increased population and helping to pave the way for agriculture.

Answer 30

End of the last Ice Age

Question 31

Region sometimes known as Southwest Asia that includes the modern states of Iraq, Syria, Israel/Palestine, and southern Turkey; the earliest home of agriculture.

Answer 31

Fertile Crescent

Question 32

Hoe-based agriculture, typical of early agrarian societies.
intensification: The process of getting more in return for less; for example, growing more food on a smaller plot of land.

Answer 32

Horticulture

Question 33

Site of an important early agricultural settlement of perhaps 2,000 people in present-day Israel.

Answer 33

Jericho

Question 34

The valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in present day Iraq.

Answer 34

Mesopotamia

Question 35

Often called “Aboriginals” (from the Latin ab origine, the people who had been there “from the beginning”), they continued (and to some extent still continue) to live by gathering and hunting, despite the transition to agriculture in nearby lands.

Answer 35

Native Australians

Question 36

A human society that relies on domesticated animals rather than plants as the main source of food; they lead their animals to seasonal grazing grounds rather than settling permanently in a single location.

Answer 36

Pastoral society

Question 37

A term used to describe the series of technological changes that began ca. 4000 b.c.e., as people began to develop new uses for their domesticated animals, exploiting a revolutionary new source of power.

Answer 37

“Secondary products revolution”

Question 38

Village-based agricultural societies, usually organized by kinship groups, that functioned without a formal government apparatus.

Answer 38

Stateless societies

Question 39

The wild ancestor of maize.

Answer 39

Teosinte