Deck 1: Ancient America Before 1492

Question 1

How do historians study the past?

A) They mainly concentrate on written documents to determine the attitudes of a people.
B) They privilege physical artifacts,such as bones and buildings,over written documents.
C) They use the same methods as archaeologists to obtain information.
D) They study only public writings and ignore biased personal writings.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

How did climate change allow hunters to reach the Western Hemisphere?

A) It raised the sea level of the Bering Strait to allow ships to pass submerged icebergs.
B) More moderate temperatures allowed people to live farther north and east.
C) A long cold spell created the wide land bridge of Beringia.
D) The change in climate killed off threatening herds of mammoths and bison.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Archaic Indians who hunted the bison herds of the Great Plains were

A) skilled horsemen who utilized speed to catch animals.
B) nomads who moved constantly with their prey.
C) solitary hunters who attacked animals as they slept.
D) cautious hunters who avoided stampeding the herds.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Though ancient Americans lacked writing skills,they

A) knew how to read.
B) shared a common spoken language.
C) left detailed records of births and deaths.
D) used other kinds of symbolic representation.

Question 5

Although experts debate the exact time people began migrating to North America,the first migrants probably arrived

A) around 25,000 BP.
B) around 15,000 BP.
C) more than 1.5 million years ago.
D) fewer than 5,000 years ago.

Question 6

How do modern archaeologists study ancient peoples?

A) They rely only on written documents.
B) They rely only on what they can learn from artifacts.
C) They combine a variety of approaches.
D) They make an educated guess based on a specific natural environment.

Question 7

The distinction between the study of humans by archaeologists and the study of humans by historians is often denoted by the

A) development of architecture.
B) use of fire.
C) invention of writing.
D) use of verbal language.

Question 8

What was the reason for the early,prolonged absence of humans in the Western Hemisphere?

A) The warm climate of Africa attracted most of the earth's population.
B) Large herds of mammoths made migration to the Americas too dangerous.
C) North and South America had become detached from the continent of Pangaea.
D) Plentiful food made it unnecessary for northern European tribes to seek a different home.

Question 9

About 11,000 years ago,the Paleo-Indians faced a major crisis because

A) the temperature cooled dramatically,making it more difficult to live.
B) the large animals they hunted had difficulty adapting to a warming climate.
C) hunters had killed too many small animals,eliminating the food sources of the large mammals.
D) a lengthy drought led to a massive shortage of edible plants.

Question 10

What was the main source of food for Archaic peoples inhabiting the Great Basin?

A) Bison
B) Fish
C) Plants
D) Waterfowl

Question 11

How did the introduction of bows and arrows affect Archaic Indians?

A) Bows permitted hunters to wound animals from farther away.
B) Indians traded the costly bows and arrows for food.
C) Arrowheads were larger and heavier than spear points but equally effective.
D) New weapons allowed Great Plains hunters to abandon their nomadic lifestyle.

Question 12

How long did it take Paleo-Indians to migrate throughout the Western Hemisphere after their initial arrival?

A) 50 years
B) 100 years
C) 1,000 years
D) 10,000 years

Question 13

When Europeans arrived in 1492,Native American cultures were

A) dying off due to lack of food and environmental problems.
B) characterized by an impressive level of similarity and unity.
C) divided into about twenty groups whose members shared cultural traits.
D) so varied that they defy easy and simple description.

Question 14

How did Native American cultures adapt to the extinction of big game?

A) Native Americans adopted stationary agriculture.
B) Paleo-Indians domesticated larger animals.
C) Native Americans moved only to warm climates.
D) Paleo-Indians began foraging wild plant foods.

Question 15

What do the artifacts that have survived from the Paleo-Indian era suggest about the first Americans?

A) They specialized in hunting big mammals.
B) They developed permanent settlements along the Canadian Rockies.
C) They used bows and arrows to kill small animals.
D) They ate no plant foods.

Question 16

Archaeological evidence indicates that the California Chumash culture was characterized by

A) a highly nomadic existence.
B) a surprisingly peaceful society.
C) relatively permanent villages.
D) a population living on the edge of starvation.

Question 17

What does the term Archaic describe?

A) Hunting and gathering cultures that descended from Paleo-Indians
B) Agricultural cultures that preceded the Paleo-Indians before 13,000 BP
C) The historical events that occurred from AD 800 to AD1500
D) The historical era that begins with the development of agriculture

Question 18

Why did native peoples in California remain hunters and gatherers for hundreds of years after Europeans arrived in the Western Hemisphere?

A) Little competition existed for food sources in California.
B) Both land and ocean provided an abundant food supply.
C) The California peoples ate only fish and marine life.
D) The few tribes in the region shared acorn-gathering territory.

Question 19

Which of the following is an accurate description of Archaic Indians?

A) They depended solely on agriculture for food.
B) Most established permanent,though small,villages.
C) They hunted smaller game with traps,nets,and hooks.
D) They domesticated animals as a food source.

Question 20

The Archaic Indians in the Great Basin inhabited a region with

A) moderate temperature variations.
B) few game animals and waterfowl.
C) predominantly desert topography.
D) great environmental diversity.

Question 21

Archaic Northwest peoples took advantage of which plentiful resource for sustenance and for trade?

A) Fish
B) Acorns
C) Bison
D) Deer

Question 22

What feature characterized the settlements of the Mogollon culture?

A) Hierarchical political organization
B) Mound-building
C) Elaborate irrigation systems
D) Pit houses

Question 23

What does this ancient petroglyph tell us about the people who made it?

A) The people who crafted this were part of a farming society.
B) The people who crafted this were part of a hunting society.
C) Only women were hunters in this society.
D) This society honored its dead with large murals.

Question 24

Although the two regions had roughly the same population in 1492,the population density of North America was

A) much greater than that of England.
B) much less than that of England.
C) about the same as that of England.
D) greater than that of England in some areas and less than that of England in others.

Question 25

When did corn become a food crop for southwestern cultures?

A) AD 1620
B) AD 1492
C) 3500 BP
D) 6000 BP

Question 26

Why do archaeologists believe that the first ancient Woodland mound builders were organized into chiefdoms?

A) The legend of one chief has survived for thousands of years in the local Indian culture.
B) The lack of artifacts inside the mounds indicates that chiefs seized all valuables.
C) The complexity of the mounds suggests that one chief commanded labor from others.
D) Ancient peoples had a tendency to organize themselves into chiefdoms.

Question 27

According to Map 1.2: Native North American Cultures,what was among the most important factors in setting boundaries between ancient cultures?

A) Different environmental features
B) Distinct political systems
C) Distinct language systems
D) Different religions

Question 28

What can be inferred from the drawing "Florida Woman"?

A) That Florida had unique crops not found in other parts of America
B) That Native American women were more associated with food practices than their male counterparts
C) That corn was a major contribution of Native Americans to the rest of the world
D) That native people had many varied ways of preparing corn

Question 29

What environmental factor shaped the cultures of the Archaic peoples of the Eastern Woodland?

A) Mountains
B) Forests
C) A desert
D) The seacoast

Question 30

Why did Archaic cultures in the Southwest adopt agriculture?

A) Their climate produced predictable amounts of rainfall.
B) Fertile soil yielded surplus quantities of wild plant food.
C) There were fewer animals for hunting in the Southwest.
D) The supply of wild plant food was highly unreliable.

Question 31

Early Woodland Indians obtained food by

A) hunting deer.
B) harvesting wild corn.
C) fishing for salmon.
D) growing a variety of crops.

Question 32

What does analysis of artifacts in burial mounds reveal about the Hopewell chiefdom?

A) The people did not engage in trade with other tribes.
B) The people lacked sophisticated artisan skills.
C) Its trade network stretched across the continent.
D) Most chiefs rejected lavish personal effects.

Question 33

The Anasazi culture disappeared due to

A) a drought that lasted more than fifty years.
B) the Anasazi's loss of a series of wars with neighboring groups.
C) reasons that remain a mystery to scholars.
D) the exodus of Anasazi to the land of the great bison.

Question 34

What is a prudent estimate of the population of Native Americans in North America at the time of Columbus's arrival in the New World?

A) 500,000
B) 1 million
C) 4 million
D) 15 million

Question 35

Scholars speculate that Hopewell culture declined because

A) farming and new weapons made central authority unnecessary.
B) repeated droughts wiped out the local food supply.
C) a mysterious disease suddenly killed the entire population.
D) their desire for conquest led them to overextend their military forces.

Question 36

Experts believe that the Cahokians used woodhenges for

A) political ceremonies.
B) religious rituals.
C) burial sites.
D) celestial observations.

Question 37

How did the diet and culture of Woodland peoples change around 4000 BP?

A) They stopped eating wild plants,seeds,and nuts.
B) They abandoned their hunting-gathering lifestyle.
C) They began focusing less on hunting and more on plant gathering.
D) They adopted limited forms of plant growing.

Question 38

What can historians learn about the Anasazi people from their effigy figures?

A) That the Anasazi demonstrated sophisticated pottery methods
B) That human effigies were extremely common among the Anasazi
C) That the Anasazi people held unique burial practices that were not found elsewhere in America
D) That the Anasazi were a warlike people

Question 39

The European artist of "Ancient Agriculture" misrepresented native agricultural practices in what way?

A) The person in the drawing is male,whereas women did the bulk of agricultural work.
B) The person in the drawing is alone,whereas agricultural work was always done in groups.
C) The drawing includes corn,which was not a staple of Native American agriculture.
D) The farmer would not have been sowing new crops while other crops were bearing fruit for harvest.

Question 40

How did agriculture change Archaic cultures?

A) It encouraged the gradual establishment of permanent settlements.
B) It discouraged permanent settlements and encouraged mobility.
C) It quickly led to the disappearance of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
D) It made Native Americans more vulnerable to disease.

Question 41

Spanish conquerors exploited which weakness of the Mexica empire?

A) The empire's subjects did not see the Mexica as legitimate or fair rulers.
B) The Mexica relied too heavily on trade with neighboring cultures.
C) The political leaders were beginning a democratic reform movement.
D) Diverse tribal factions were often in conflict with one another.

Question 42

Around 2500 BP,members of Woodland cultures in the vast Mississippi Valley began to construct burial mounds and other earthworks,suggesting the existence of social and political hierarchies that archaeologists term chiefdoms.Define chiefdoms and briefly explain what archaeologists have found in burial mounds and what these objects reveal about Woodland cultures.

Question 43

Describe the ways that Eastern Woodland cultures interacted with the natural environment.What challenges and opportunities did they encounter?

Question 44

Describe the two major adaptations the Paleo-Indians made in their way of life as the mammoths and other large game they hunted became extinct.

Question 45

In AD 1492,the empire of the Mexica

A) stretched from Brazil to Mexico.
B) encompassed up to 25 million people.
C) possessed land roughly equal to that of Spain.
D) traded peacefully with neighboring groups.

Question 46

Discuss how climate shaped the lives of Ancient Americans in present-day Arizona,New Mexico,and southern portions of Utah and Colorado.How did southwestern Indians confront climate problems? How did they remain vulnerable?

Question 47

What characteristic was common across the many tribes inhabiting North America at the dawn of European colonization?

A) The use of some form of written language
B) Dependence on hunting and gathering for most of their food
C) The use of domesticated animals for hunting and agricultural production
D) A culture developed according to local natural environments

Question 48

The Mexica used an extensive tribute system to redistribute wealth from

A) the poor to the rich.
B) the nobles to the poor.
C) political leaders to religious leaders.
D) the common people to warriors.

Question 49

Describe the two major developments that made it possible for human beings to migrate to the Western Hemisphere from Asia.

Question 50

Evidence indicates that before 1492,Native Americans

A) lived in peace and harmony with one another.
B) endured constant ethnic conflicts.
C) engaged in extensive religious conflicts.
D) practiced human sacrifice.

Question 51

Explain the factors that contributed to cultural diversity among ancient peoples of present-day California.How did this compare with other regions of ancient America?

Question 52

Describe the size and scope of the Mexica Empire at the time of its discovery by the Europeans after 1492,and explain how it got to be so large in physical size and population.

Question 53

The League of Five Nations,which remained powerful well into the eighteenth century,was formed as

A) an alliance among European nations to promote New World exploration.
B) a confederation of the Aztec tribes for the purpose of establishing a trade network.
C) an alliance of Algonquian tribes to perpetuate their nomadic existence.
D) a confederation of the Iroquoian tribes for the purposes of war and diplomacy.

Question 54

The Athapascan tribes-mainly Apache and Navajo-were

A) migrants from Mesoamerica who invaded the Southwest.
B) skillful warriors who preyed on the sedentary Pueblo Indians.
C) successful farmers who grew both corn and sunflowers.
D) descendants of the Anasazi who lived in settled communities.

Question 55

The 4 million Native Americans in North America in 1492 differed in where they lived and how their cultures had adapted to their local natural environments,but they also had many similarities.Describe how these cultures were similar to one another and how they differed from the culture of Europe at the time.

Question 56

How did Native Americans relate to the natural environment?

A) They passively lived in harmony with the environment.
B) They adapted to it in order to make their lives easier without depleting resources.
C) They changed the environment in a variety of ways that served their own interests.
D) They deliberately and continually depleted resources while migrating to new areas.

Question 57

Explain how the adoption of bows and arrows affected Great Plains hunters' livelihoods.

Question 58

Eastern Woodland peoples around the time of Columbus's arrival in 1492 clustered into which three major groups?

A) Algonquian,Iroquoian,and Muskogean peoples
B) Pawnee,Mandan,and Comanche tribes
C) Apache,Navajo,and Hopi tribes
D) Sioux,Cheyenne,and Blackfeet peoples

Question 59

Evaluate the following statement about ancient Americans: The absence of written sources means that ancient human beings' history cannot be reconstructed with the detail and certainty made possible by writing.

Question 60

Which group held the most exalted position in Mexican society?

A) Priests
B) Traders
C) Warriors
D) Merchants

Question 61

Scholars believe that around 2500 BP,some Woodland cultures organized as chiefdoms.These chiefdoms produced hierarchical and centralized power structures.What do the artifacts from these cultures suggest about the roles played by chiefs? Why were these cultures not in existence at the time of European arrival?

Question 62

Ancient Americans and their descendants resided in North America for thousands of years before Europeans arrived.Write an essay in which you describe how archaeological discoveries helped scholars better understand the migration of humans into the Americas,provide an overview of the origins of these first Americans and the geological conditions that facilitated their migration,and explain how the interaction between Native Americans and the environment created the astounding variety of cultures that existed when Europeans began to explore the New World.

Question 63

When the first European explorers encountered the culture of the Mexica in the late fifteenth century,they were astounded at the complexity of Mexican society and the wealth of their empire.Explain the conditions existing within this culture that made possible the achievements of the Mexica.Include a discussion of the power structure that permeated and controlled their society.

Question 64

Beginning about 4000 BP,distinctive southwestern cultures began to depend on agriculture and build permanent settlements.Discuss the cultures and challenges of the ancient Americans found in present-day Arizona,New Mexico,Utah,and Colorado.

Question 65

Archaic hunters and gatherers throughout North America shared some common traits but also lived very differently.Write an essay that explains how various natural environments produced differing hunter-gatherer cultures.What implications did the variation in cultures have for archaic peoples?