Deck 6: Chiefdoms and Early States in Africa and the Americas, 600 B.C.E-600 C.E

Question 1

An astronomical observatory found in Kenya and carbon dated to 300 BCE is the earliest example of the so-called ________ calendar, containing 354 days.

A) Hijra
B) Gregorian
C) Smriti
D) Borana

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Mayan writing is both a(n) ______ as well as a(n) _______ script.

A) phonetic, alphabetic
B) glyphic, syllabic
C) syllabically coded, segmentally coded
D) logographic, phonographic

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Mayan commoners represented the labor force whose __________ supported the ruling dynastic families as well as the craftspeople in the cities.

A) agricultural surplus
B) taxes
C) mined precious metals
D) military service

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The Mayan Long Count Calendar:

A) was a 260-day divinatory calendar.
B) counted the number of days elapsed since the mythical origin of the universe.
C) was based on the solar year of 365 days.
D) reset every 52 years.

Question 5

Which of these was not a similarity shared by the Americas and sub-Saharan Africa in the period 600 BCE-600 CE?

A) Overpopulation
B) Spread of villages
C) Patterns of agricultural development
D) Emergence of chiefdoms

Question 6

The preeminence of the Kingdom of Aksum after the decline of Meroë was a result of:

A) a changing climate.
B) religious freedom.
C) declining population.
D) agricultural and commercial wealth.

Question 7

The three ecological zones of West Africa are the:

A) steppe, savanna, and rain forest.
B) tundra, steppe, and savanna.
C) rain forest, tundra, and desert.
D) tundra, savanna, and rain forest.

Question 8

Mayan males were in charge of growing corn in fields which were cut into the rain forest through ________ techniques.

A) hydroponic cultivation
B) cross-pollination
C) organic farming
D) slash-and-burn cultivation

Question 9

Polytheism began to develop on top of traditional spirituality in the Americas after around:

A) 600 BCE.
B) 550 CE.
C) 2500 BCE.
D) 100 CE.

Question 10

Which of the following was a characteristic trait of the Kingdom of Meroë?

A) It was largely centralized around a recognized king.
B) Provincial towns upstream and downstream along the Nile had no form of self-rule.
C) The difference in power between the kings and the chiefs was defined by the royal control over trade.
D) The flood plain to the south of the capital was not at all suitable for agriculture.

Question 11

One of the two most powerful Mayan city-states that arose between 600 BCE and 600 CE was:

A) Machu Picchu
B) Teotihuacán
C) Cuzco
D) Tikal

Question 12

An agricultural town of up to 1,000 inhabitants, in which people know each other, requiring a person of authority to keep order, is called a:

A) kingdom
B) village
C) city
D) chiefdom

Question 13

Which of the following was not an agricultural staple among Maya villagers?

A) Corn
B) Squash
C) Barley
D) Beans

Question 14

The earliest evidence of Africans shifting from foraging to agriculture comes from the area of:

A) the Nile's First Cataract around Aswan
B) the lower Nile around Memphis
C) the middle Nile around Khartoum
D) the Nile River Delta

Question 15

Mayan script consisted of some:

A) 1000 signs.
B) 500 signs.
C) 800 signs.
D) 200 signs.

Question 16

The Kingdom of Meroë was well known in the Greco-Roman world, and it was used as the setting for the popular romance novel ______ written by Hellenistic-Greek author Heliodorus of Emesa.

A) Daphnis and Chloe
B) Aethiopica
C) The Ephesian Tale
D) Leucippe and Clitophon

Question 17

At its height, from the sixth through fourth centuries BCE, the city of Meroë encompassed:

A) 20,000 inhabitants.
B) 50,000 inhabitants.
C) 100,000 inhabitants.
D) 500,000 inhabitants.

Question 18

The Moche Valley was the location of the two largest ceremonial centers in the Andes:

A) The Temple Pyramids of Sky and Water
B) The Temple Pyramids of the Living and the Dead
C) The Temple Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon
D) The Temple Pyramids of the Heaven and the Earth

Question 19

The Mayan ball game is a feature of:

A) a scientific-industrial society and its secular practices.
B) a Stone Age society.
C) an agrarian-urban society and its chiefdom and kingdom patterns.
D) the beginnings of modern American baseball.

Question 20

Aksum:

A) became the first Christian kingdom in 333 CE.
B) became the second Christian kingdom in 333 CE.
C) became the third Christian kingdom in 333 CE.
D) did not become a Christian kingdom until well after 333 CE.

Question 21

The rulers of Teotihuacán began spectacular building projects on a scale unprecedented in Mesoamerica in the:

A) second century BCE.
B) first century BCE.
C) third century CE.
D) first century CE.

Question 22

The following was not a characteristic feature of the Teotihuacán culture:

A) The so-called talud-tablero architectural style
B) The use of obsidian
C) The cult of Quetzalcoatl
D) The absence of a ceremonial human sacrifice tradition

Question 23

Mayan calendars were:

A) Always consistent in their measurement of time.
B) All based on the solar year of 365 days.
C) Related to natural processes such as human gestation and astronomical cycles.
D) Based on sophisticated mathematics, based on calculations derived from decimals.

Question 24

The Sahara was relatively hospitable for many millennia, until around 5000-3000 BCE, when ________.

A) Summer temperatures increased steadily.
B) Farming settlements exhausted the topsoil and created a "dust bowl".
C) Nubian marauders made settled habitations impossible.
D) Monsoon rains shifted eastward.

Question 25

When the ______, the first empire to unify the Middle East, conquered Egypt, the defeated king retreated and relocated himself farther upstream on the Nile at Meroë.

A) Persians
B) Hittites
C) Assyrians
D) Babylonians

Question 26

Trade in products in Meroë was:

A) Conducted with little government interference
B) Controlled by the king
C) Strictly limited to local consumption with high tariff barriers
D) Dominated by cotton products grown to the north of the capital

Question 27

In spite of its regional orientation, Meroë was well known to the outside world, and it skirmished with the ___________ over border issues in the early first century CE.

A) Romans
B) Egyptians
C) Sasanid Persians
D) Inhabitants of Jenné-jeno

Question 28

Aksum profited from all of the following factors EXCEPT:

A) Deforestation of and nomadic raids against Meroë.
B) Trade contacts with Ethiopian guides and owners of transport animals.
C) Its proximity to the coast and one of the main transshipment ports in the Red Sea.
D) Its status as an entrepot established by gold miners in Yemen.

Question 29

Aksum became the third Christian kingdom, after ________ (301 CE) and Georgia (319 CE).

A) Rome
B) Cappadocia
C) Armenia
D) Arabia

Question 30

Aksum lost its provincial holdings in Yemen when the Sasanid Persians invaded by land and sea in _______, establishing their own proxy regime at the commercially important entrance to the Red Sea.

A) 270 CE
B) 770 CE
C) 70 CE
D) 570 CE

Question 31

One of the indications that Jenné-jeno had become a major urban center by 900 CE is:

A) That it was surrounded within a circle of half a mile diameter by 25 villages.
B) That it had reached a total population of 50,000 to 100,000 inhabitants.
C) That it had become a dwelling place for a predominantly agriculture-based population.
D) That it appears in travel narratives like the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.

Question 32

Recent analysis of phytoliths has suggested that:

A) The banana arrived with Indonesian sailors on the East African coast around 200-500 CE.
B) Indian Ocean connections between East Africa and Southeast Asia could stretch back to the fourth millennium BCE.
C) Banana species evolved independently with no contact between Southeast Asian and East African varieties.
D) Bananas, yams, and rice traveled eastward from Africa to Asia at some point in the distant past.

Question 33

The conversion of the foragers of the savanna south of the _________ rain forest to farming, from the Great Lakes westward to Angola and southward to the tip of South Africa, was the work of multiple branches of Bantus.

A) Niger
B) Nile
C) Congo
D) Senegal

Question 34

A Greek-Hellenistic source called the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea mentions Yemenis intermarrying with locals in the town of Rhapta along the __________ coast.

A) Egyptian
B) Kenyan
C) Arabian
D) Persian

Question 35

The people in the Yucatán were early on exposed to Olmec cultural influence, but ___________.

A) The Olmecs had already cleared all the arable fields and exploited the water sources in the area.
B) The Mayans spoke only one dialect of their language and considered it impossible to communicate with Olmecs.
C) It does not appear that there was much Olmec immigration as Maya culture formed.
D) The Olmecs were determined to wipe out Mayan settlements before they could establish a foothold in the region.

Question 36

One of the calendars in use among the Mayas was the Long Count Calendar, which counted the days elapsed since the mythical origin of the universe (corresponding to _______________ in the Gregorian calendar).

A) October 23, 4004 BCE
B) April 15, 514 BCE
C) August 11, 3114 BCE
D) December 25, 8000 BCE

Question 37

The final breakthrough in deciphering Mayan writing came during a conference at the Maya site of Palenque in 1973 when participants recognized the syllables k'inchi as ________.

A) Referring to the Mayan sun god as well as individual kings.
B) Containing all the available letters in the Mayan alphabet.
C) Invoking the name of a Mayan ball player.
D) Meaning the infinitive form of the verb "to be".

Question 38

Although the archaeological record is debatable, it appears that Mayan ball games took place during ____________.

A) The first day of spring in the Mayan calendar every year.
B) The preparation period for a battle with one of the kingdom's neighbors.
C) A lunar eclipse, in order to propitiate the gods.
D) Royal festivities and fertility rituals and perhaps also human sacrifices.

Question 39

In the first century CE, the rulers of Teotihuacán built the city ___________.

A) In a series of stages, finishing one section only when funding came available.
B) With public buildings in the center and housing units packed along a wall on the periphery.
C) On an urban grid along a north-south axis.
D) Out of wood, knowing that its buildings could be disassembled and transported if need arose.

Question 40

In the early 600s CE, the Moche elite dissolved, while smaller elites in nearby valleys carried on and _____________.

A) Clustered around Cahuachi, a major pilgrimage center.
B) Eventually disappeared also, sometime around 750 CE.
C) Hid within the crevices created by Nazca geoglyphs.
D) Reassembled the Moche federation by 900 CE.

Question 41

Maria Reiche's theory that the Nazca geoglyphs were ____________ inspired frequently outlandish speculation about the site.

A) Landing pads for extraterrestrial vehicles
B) Elements of a complex astronomical calendar and observatory
C) A version of GPS coordinates in which the location of sacred sites were encoded
D) Created with the help of observers in hot-air balloons

Question 42

A(n) _______ archaeologist was the first scholar to describe the Nazca geoglyphs, having observed them in 1927.

A) American
B) German
C) Peruvian
D) Swiss

Question 43

The West African inland Niger delta grew into the urbanized chiefdom of Jenné-jeno ___________

A) Due to its extensive trade networks with Meroë and Aksum.
B) Because it was threatened with attack from Bantu warriors from the Great Lakes region.
C) After a shift in monsoon rain patterns shrank the Sahara Desert and led to land reclamation.
D) With limited external interactions with other populations.

Question 44

A _______ can be defined as a city-state or a territorial state in which a ruler, claiming a divine mandate and supported by a military force, keeps order and provides for the defense against outside attacks.

A) Chiefdom
B) Republic
C) Kingdom
D) Client-state

Question 45

Between 4000 and 3100 BCE, a substantial chiefdom of Nilo-Saharan speakers had emerged in northern Sudan, then called ___________, from a Latinized Egyptian word for "gold".

A) Khartoum
B) Nubia
C) Sheba
D) Djibouti

Question 46

At its height, from the sixth through fourth centuries BCE, Meroë could best be described as a(n) ____________.

A) Absolutist monarchy
B) Merchant oligarchy
C) Democratic republic
D) Decentralized monarchy

Question 47

The most prominent geographical feature of the Americas is:

A) First century CE
B) Sixth century BCE
C) Tenth century CE
D) Fifth century CE

Question 48

The _________ coast was dry and hot, with today's Djibouti posting the highest average temperatures in the world.

A) Mediterranean Sea
B) Persian Gulf
C) Sixth Nile Cataract
D) Red Sea

Question 49

A centralizing policy characteristic for Aksum was the use of a(n) _______- based currency which facilitated the import and export of luxury goods.

A) Iron
B) Salt
C) Gold
D) Cattle

Question 50

Derived from the Arabic word for "coast", the _________ was an area of steppe or semidesert bordering the Sahara.

A) Savanna
B) Yemen
C) Zanzibar
D) Sahel

Question 51

A Ugandan scientist dated ________ phytoliths in the vicinity to the fourth millennium BCE, suggesting that contacts between Southeast Asia and East Africa went back much further than had been imagined previously.

A) Banana
B) Sorghum
C) Mango
D) Rubber

Question 52

Jan Vansina pioneered the study of ___________ linguistic and spiritual traditions, hoping to recover the roots of "African spirituality".

A) Ghanaian
B) Nigerian
C) Congolese
D) Bantu

Question 53

Around ________ Mayan towns evolved into cities, where chieftains transformed themselves into kings.

A) 600 CE
B) 600 BCE
C) 100 BCE
D) 100 CE

Question 54

Nakbé contains stepped stone pyramids, as high as ___________, with staircases to the temples on top.

A) 20 feet
B) 50 feet
C) 200 feet
D) 1200 feet

Question 55

Progress made since the 1990s in ___________ has allowed the conclusion that "Mayaland" consisted of some 15-17 fully evolved, dominant kingdoms in the central lowlands.

A) Deciphering the glyphic script
B) Excavating new temple complexes
C) Translating Spanish-language documents
D) Scientific analysis of Mayan calendars

Question 56

Mayan writing is a __________ as well as a syllabic script, numbering some 800 signs.

A) Semaphoric
B) Alphabetic
C) Cryptographic
D) Glyphic

Question 57

A basic rule in the Mayan ball game "pitz" was that the ball had to be hit with the _______ only and had to remain aloft.

A) Foot
B) Head
C) Hand
D) Hip

Question 58

By around 300 CE, Teotihuacán had grown to as many as ___________ inhabitants.

A) 100,000
B) 1,000,000
C) 10,000
D) 1000

Question 59

In the third century CE, the temple of the god of the feathered serpent, ___________ in Nahuatl, was built at Teotihuacán, in honor of the then reigning dynasty.

A) Pulque
B) K'inchi
C) Yucatán
D) Quetzalcoatl

Question 60

The earliest evidence of the emergence of the Moche chiefdoms is the __________ of the "Lord of Sipán", dated to 50 CE.

A) Temple
B) Palace
C) Tomb
D) Portrait Vessel

Question 61

During the extended cold weather and drought periods of the sixth century CE, ___________ chiefs mobilized villagers for the construction of an extensive tunnel network for irrigation.

A) Mayan
B) Nazca
C) Moche
D) Paracas

Question 62

Nazca geoglyphs contain images of all of the following animals except:

A) Whale
B) Monkey
C) Spider
D) Llama

Question 63

A stone carving found in Oaxaca, Mexico, contains a 260-day divinatory calendar which has been carbon dated to about:

A) 5000 BCE
B) 600 BCE
C) 1200 BCE
D) 100 BCE