Roots Chapter 1

Question 1

How old is the earliest known Humanoid bone fragment?

Answer 1

5 million years old

Question 2

Where was the 5 million year old jaw and molar fragment found and when?

Answer 2

Tabran, Kenya in 1984

Question 3

Humans share 98% of their genetic material with which animal?

Answer 3

chimpanzees

Question 4

Who was Homo habilis?

Answer 4

Means “skillful man”–they were the first tool makers. They lived 2.5-1.8 million years ago.

Question 5

In the early 1990’s, what did archeologists discover in a gully in Ethiopia?

Answer 5

48 small, sharp-edged slivers of volcanic stone and 3 fi st-size cutters, probably designed to hack through the skins of animals and to butcher their carcasses.

Question 6

On what continent did humanoids first appear and become toolmakers?

Answer 6

Africa

Question 7

What two physical characteristics made it possible for early humans to start making tools?

Answer 7

Larger brain. Agile hands.

Question 8

Early humans were different from people today in what ways?

Answer 8

Brain size, height, general physical makeup.

Question 9

Who were Homo sapiens?

Answer 9

“The man who knows”–closely related to man today.

Question 10

What humanoid subtype split off from Homo sapiens around 370,000 years ago and then disappeared around 28,000 years ago,

Answer 10

Neanderthals

Question 11

What was the human economy based on in the Paleolithic Era (Old Stone Age)?

Answer 11

hunting, fishing, gathering wild foods

Question 12

Toward the end of the Paleolithic Era (about 30,000-10,000 years ago), what human subspecies appeared in Europe?

Answer 12

Cro-Magnon Man

Question 13

What are two things Cro-Magnon man is well known for?

Answer 13

They were very efficient hunters and they created realistic cave paintings.

Question 14

What are two famous sites for cave paintings?

Answer 14

Lascaux in France and Altamira in Spain.

Question 15

What were the “Venuses” sculptures?

Answer 15

Paleolithic statuettes of female figures that represented fertility or a fertility goddess.

Question 16

Groups of 13 marks have been found on tusks, stones, and bones. What could they mean about Paleolithic cultures?

Answer 16

They may mean they developed a lunar calendar of 13 months so they could plan hunting and food gathering.

Question 17

What was the climate like during the age of Cro-Magnon man.

Answer 17

It was much colder–Europe was experiencing a glacial age.

Question 18

What were some of the changes in Europe as the last Ice Age ended?

Answer 18

Some species of animals moved north (reindeer), others became extinct (wooly mammoth) and new groups of humans moved into Europe with new technology such as bows and arrows, and fishing nets and canoes.

Question 19

What is the New Stone Age called?

Answer 19

Neolithic Era

Question 20

What happened during the Neolithic Revolution?

Answer 20

Development of agriculture

Domistication of animals

Question 21

What changes in lifestyle came about because of the change to agriculture?

Answer 21

1. People started to live in permanent shelters 2. People formed larger communities 3. People could control their own food supply (wheat, barley, pigs, sheep, etc. )

Question 22

What were two new problems for society during the Neolithic Era?

Answer 22

1. More social stratification 2. More diseases

Question 23

Why do some researchers say people were less healthy in the Neolithic Era?

Answer 23

1. Living in communities closer to each other, diseases spread more easily. 2. Long distance trade exposed people to more germs. 3. Depending on agriculture made man more vulnerable to climate problems such as drought, which affected the food supply.

Question 24

Where did the Neolithic Revolution develop?

Answer 24

Near East and spread from there but it also developed independently in China and Central/South America.

Question 25

What were two results of a more complex society during the Neolithic Era?

Answer 25

1. More social hierarchy 2. More specialization in jobs

Question 26

What did the development of pottery make possible?

Answer 26

Able to store and transport goods better.

Question 27

What was the earliest Neolithic town discovered?

Answer 27

Jericho (In Palestine, lowest city on Earth)

Question 28

How is carbon 14 used to date organisms?

Answer 28

All living organisms collect radioactive isotope carbon 14 from their environment. After death, their carbon 14 atoms disintegrate at a known rate. This makes it possible to determine the approximate age of the organism by measuring the amount of carbon 14 remaining in it.

Question 29

What was Çatal Hüyük?

Answer 29

Village in southern Turkey from 6500 - 6000 BC. Known for pottery, woven cloth, more varied food, better weapons technology.

Question 30

What was Tepe Yahye?

Answer 30

Town in South Central Iran from 4500 BCE, known for pottery and bone handled sickles.

Question 31

What was Jarmo?

Answer 31

Town in Iraq that showed evidence of beads, jewelry, and more complicated tools showing more specialization in crafts.

Question 32

What were some of the effects of agriculture?

Answer 32

animal domestication/ temples

pottery/ weaving

craft specialization/ new weapons

political centralization

Question 33

By 4000 BCE, some Neolithic villages were beginning to use what?

Answer 33

copper tools

Question 34

During the millennium (4000–3000 b.c.), what were some of the major changes coming to civilization?

Answer 34

the building of the world’s first cities

the development of large-scale irrigation systems in Mesopotamia and Egypt

the invention of writing/ the first appearance of wheeled conveyances

the birth of the state/ the smelting of tin and copper into bronze

Question 35

What was the advantage of using bronze to produce tools and weapons?

Answer 35

Bronze was much stronger than the other metals used before it.

Question 36

Where does the world “civilization” come from?

Answer 36

from the Latin word “civitas” (city)

Question 37

In the ancient world, most people did not live in cities but yet they were very important to early civilizations. Why?

Answer 37

The city or urban settlement was the focal point of political authority, tax collection, commerce, religious practice, intellectual activity, literature, and art.

Question 38

What made life in towns possible?

Answer 38

Agriculture in the countryside and villages made town life possible since the city dwellers did not have to grow food to survive and they could collect taxes and tribute from the countryside.

Question 39

During the Bronze Age, who mostly used the new metal tools and weapons?

Answer 39

Military and priestly elites–this led to more stratification of society.

Question 40

What are two important factors in the rise of civilization?

Answer 40

Metal tools, writing.

Question 41

Where was Uruk and why was it important?

Answer 41

Mesopotamia–temple scribes kept accounts with the first picture writing

Question 42

Besides the middle east, where else did civilizations arise independently?

Answer 42

Indus Valley in India–around 2500 BCE

On the banks of the Huang Ho (Yellow River) in China–around 1500 BCE

Much later in the Americas

Question 43

What was going on in Europe during the Bronze Age?

Answer 43

Did not have cities or writing so not strictly a “civilization” but they did have copper and bronze and religious monuments such as Stonehenge

Question 44

Where was Varna and what was found there?

Answer 44

Bulgaria near the Black Sea.

A treasure of metal ornaments was found in a burial site dating from 4600-4200 BCE.

Question 45

What is a factor that scholars use in explaining the rise of civilizations in different places in the world?

Answer 45

People had to learn to deal with environmental challenges such as the flooding of rivers: the Tigris and Euphrates (Mesopotamia) , Nile (Egypt), Indus (India), and Huang (China) All created fertile soils to support agriculture once societies learned to control the floods.