Deck 5: Origins Apart: the Americas and Oceania, 30,000-600 B.C.E

Question 1

All of the following is true about early settlers in the rainforests of the Caribbean islands EXCEPT:

A) They formed agricultural settlements as early as 500 BCE.
B) They built villages and terraces to grow manioc.
C) Artisans made ceramics in the shapes of animals, hinting at a shamanic religion
D) They generally avoided contact with the mainland, perhaps from fear of invasion.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

All of the following apply to the Olmecs at San Lorenzo EXCEPT:

A) They built the first important Mesoamerican center around 6000 BCE, before the major centers of Egypt were established.
B) In order to provide sufficient food, farmers cleared dense tropical rainforests to create arable fields.
C) We are not certain what they called themselves; the name "Olmec," meaning rubber people, was given to them by the Aztecs.
D) The fields were near riverbanks, where silt deposited by floods created rich soil, resulting in a high yield, about twice that in the villages of the Mexican valleys.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Quipú was:

A) A writing system similar to cuneiform.
B) A very short-lived means of record keeping.
C) A system of knotted ropes conveying information.
D) The most prevalent means of performing human sacrifices in South America.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The most prominent geographical feature of the Americas is:

A) A contiguous spine of mountain ranges extending along the entire western coast from the Rocky Mountains in the north to the Andes in the south.
B) A very even terrain extending from northern Canada to the tip of Chile and Argentina
C) Soil conditions and climate conditions conducive to growing similar crops from Canada to Argentina.
D) Generally more moderate weather conditions in southern Canada than in northern Chile.

Question 5

All of the following observations about religious or supernatural beliefs and activities apply EXCEPT:

A) Foragers began burying their dead in areas that developed into territorial centers.
B) Many of the communities' dead were buried with gifts of orange ochre.
C) Foraging bands had a very simple culture, with an unsophisticated understanding of the world.
D) Leaders of foraging bands were often shamans, people seeming to have spiritual powers.

Question 6

Basic food crops in Mesoamerica and the Andes include all EXCEPT:

A) Squash
B) Potatoes
C) Oats
D) Avocado

Question 7

All of the following are commonalities shared by societies in the Americas, Oceania, Eurasia, and Africa EXCEPT:

A) Growth and sophistication of social structures.
B) Political centralization and resistance to it.
C) The development of cities, once there was a sufficiently high population.
D) Monumental architecture for religious and political purposes.

Question 8

Mesoamerica and South America comprised six distinct geographical regions, including all of the below EXCEPT:

A) The Central American mainland and the Caribbean islands.b) Similar middens
B) The Andes Mountain region
C) The Guyana Shield and Amazon River basin.
D) The Chihuahua rainforest just below the Rio Grande.

Question 9

Excavations of Chavín, a small city in the Andean highlands, indicate that:

A) The population of the city consisted primarily of farmers and agricultural workers.
B) The population of the city, primarily priests, rulers, and craftspeople, were dependent for food upon farmers and herders in the outlying hamlets.
C) Contained underground worship centers, but have no indication of sacrifice, whether human or animal.
D) By 400 BCE, the city had surpassed its usefulness and the population began to dwindle.

Question 10

The impact of the tides and flows of the Pacific on the American climate includes all of the following EXCEPT:

A) The warm waters of the Western Pacific move toward the Aleutian Islands and down the American coast.
B) They have a moderating effect on the weather, particularly from southern Alaska to northern California.
C) The region from the coast of southern Alaska to northern California contains much of the world's temperate rain forests.
D) From California to Chile, the currents are generally warmer than the surrounding Ocean, driving fish and other marine animals away during most of the year.

Question 11

Animals in the Americas suitable for domestication included all EXCEPT:

A) Llamas
B) Alpacas
C) Turkeys
D) Horses

Question 12

One of the ways many scientists track and establish dates for the migration patterns of early Americans is through:

A) Hunting technology, particularly the design of spears and arrowheads.
B) The musical instruments, such as flutes, left at butchering sites.
C) Archeological remains showing a strong preference for agriculture over foraging.
D) The presence of a specific type of technology, called Clovis points, in both northern Eurasia and North America.

Question 13

All of the following is true of the Lapita cultural complex EXCEPT:

A) It was a system connecting the inhabitants of thousands of islands from Borneo to Melanesia.
B) The most highly demanded trade item in the complex was metal from which weapons and fish hooks could be manufactured.
C) The culture developed great sophistication in navigation and the technology involved in watercraft building.
D) Members of the culture had settled almost all of the habitable islands of the Pacific by the time they came into contact with Europeans in the sixteenth century.

Question 14

All of the statements below are true of the Inuit EXCEPT:

A) They migrated from Siberia to the northern tundra of North America about 10,000 BCE.
B) They were skilled at hunting large sea mammals.
C) They lived in pit houses, covered by walrus skin under sod.
D) Has been proven, by plant geneticist Mary Eubanks, to have taken many generations of experimentation to create a nutritious grain.

Question 15

The development and cultivation of corn:

A) Apparently took place in South America, in the vicinity of Brazil.
B) Seems to have been the result of cross-breeding more than one species of plant.
C) Took more than 12,000 years, according to carbon-dating techniques of teosinte and modern corn.
D) Has been proven, by plant geneticist Mary Eubanks, to have taken many generations of experimentation to create a nutritious grain.

Question 16

Diffusion of corn as a food for both animals and humans:

A) Occurred very slowly because there was little trade or contact within the Americas.
B) Has permanently altered global agricultural patterns over the past 300 years.
C) Has been extensive, but outside the Americas, it is primarily a trade item because it requires very specific soils and climate.
D) Is of limited economic value because other, more easily grown substances work as well and are less expensive.

Question 17

At San Lorenzo, thousands of laborers were engaged in performing all the tasks below EXCEPT:

A) Constructing a plateau and terraced platforms.
B) Quarrying huge blocks of basalt from a mountain range 70 miles away.
C) Carrying beams from which basalt blocks weighing about 18 tons were hung on slings.
D) Constructing wide moats around fields to drain water and discourage invasions.

Question 18

Between 3000 and 2000 BCE, villages in the lowlands along the Andes coast of Peru did all of the following EXCEPT:

A) Built rafts to allow them to fish farther from shore.
B) Increased crop yields through irrigation.
C) Began developing a stratified society.
D) Started making bronze plows and cooking utensils.

Question 19

The largest social class in Andean society was comprised of:

A) Farmers
B) Merchants
C) Artisans
D) Priests

Question 20

The early development of American societies parallels those in Eurasia and Africa, EXCEPT in respect to:

A) The development of urban centers for religious and trade activities.
B) The use of two-wheel horse-drawn chariots and sophisticated plows.
C) Access to agricultural sources of surplus food and means of accumulating stores.
D) The ability to design and engineer massive buildings, such as pyramids.

Question 21

Which chronological order below is correct?

A) Olmec city at San Lorenzo; Chavin de Huántar city in Andes; First known American city at Caral-Supé in Peru; Olmec city at La Venta
B) Olmec city at San Lorenzo; Chavin de Huántar city in Andes; Olmec city at La Venta; First known American city at Caral-Supé in Peru
C) Olmec city at San Lorenzo; First known American city at Caral-Supé in Peru; Chavin de Huántar city in Andes; Olmec city at La Venta
D) First known American city at Caral-Supé in Peru; Olmec city at San Lorenzo; Chavin de Huántar city in Andes; Olmec city at La Venta

Question 22

The Marajó, the most closely investigated of the early Amazonian cultures,:

A) Maize (corn)
B) Reached its height about 500 BCE
C) Built funeral mounds about 30 feet high and 750 feet long.
D) Show little sign of an existing social hierarchy.

Question 23

While there is some evidence of record keeping at Caral-Supé, in the form of "quipú," there is no ___________.

A) Writing
B) Storage facility
C) Permanent building
D) Housing space

Question 24

Although separated by thousands of miles and vast bodies of water from the peoples of Eurasia and Africa, people in the Americas were following the same pattern, moving from __________ to farming.

A) Industrial production
B) Cave dwelling
C) Shipping
D) Foraging

Question 25

The immense "heat pump" of ____________ continually spawns tropical disturbances in the eastern Atlantic.

A) The Gulf Stream
B) Interior South America and the Amazon
C) Continental North America
D) The African interior and the Sahara Desert

Question 26

A painting found at Lower Pecos dating to about 2000 BCE suggests the practice of _____________, the belief in the ability of certain individuals to communicate with spirits or inhabit the spirits of people or animals.

A) Animism
B) Shamanism
C) Formalism
D) Asceticism

Question 27

A painting of a hybrid man and animal dating to about 8000 BCE has been found in the caves of Pedra Furada in northeastern ___________.

A) Labrador
B) Venezuela
C) Brazil
D) Jamaica

Question 28

The Americas had no horses or cattle until they were brought by the Spanish in the ____________.

A) Twelfth century CE
B) Sixteenth century CE
C) Nineteenth century CE
D) Seventh century CE

Question 29

Cotton textiles dating to about 3000 BCE have been found along the coasts of ____________.

A) North and South Carolina
B) California and Oregon
C) Nicaragua and Costa Rica
D) Ecuador and Peru

Question 30

The discovery of _______________ in the ruins of Aspero on the Peruvian coast allowed scholars to connect it with Caral-Supé culture.

A) Similar pyramids
B) Similar middens
C) Similar khipus
D) Similar written documents

Question 31

The ceremonial center of _________ consisted of U-shaped ramparts built on a plaza and lined with walls of cut and polished stone.

A) Caral-Supé
B) Rapa Nui
C) Chavín de Huántar
D) San Lorenzo

Question 32

Research by plant geneticist Mary Eubanks in 2004 confirmed that teosinte had been bred with gama grass, eventually yielding ____________.

A) Millet
B) Sweet potato
C) Tomato
D) Maize (corn)

Question 33

Textile makers at Chavín combined the wool from _____________ with cotton to create a new blended cloth.

A) Horses
B) Goats
C) Llamas
D) Sheep

Question 34

La Venta ended around _________________ under circumstances as mysterious as those that destroyed San Lorenzo.

A) 600 BCE
B) 1100 BCE
C) 2700 BCE
D) 250 CE

Question 35

Hopewell mounds were concentrated in what is today southeastern Ohio, but more recent mounds (about 4500 years old) have been found in _____________.

A) North-central Florida
B) Eastern New Mexico
C) The lower Mississippi valley
D) Central Alberta

Question 36

By about 1500 CE, Taíno chiefs employed specialized craftspeople for the production of all of the following except:

A) Ceramics
B) Sugar
C) Cotton textiles
D) Stone and woodcarvings

Question 37

_________ was highly prized in Lapita culture as a material for tools and weapons in the absence of workable metals.

A) Whalebone
B) Sod
C) Taro
D) Obsidian

Question 38

An extensive _____________ storehouse of navigational information enabled Polynesian sailors to set their courses by the sun and stars and to read winds and currents.

A) Royally controlled
B) Orally transmitted
C) Heavily tool-based
D) Intricately written

Question 39

Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki was outfitted with a 29-foot mast and a cabin that could shelter its ___-man crew.

A) One
B) Twenty
C) Fourty
D) Six

Question 40

The common pattern of the production of monumental architecture for religious and political purposes is even demonstrated in monoliths of ______________

A) Caral-Supé
B) Inuit culture
C) Rapa Nui
D) Tonga

Question 41

The ___________ system was one of the world's largest trading spheres, stretching thousands of miles and including thousands of islands.

A) Indonesian
B) Lapita
C) The original Chinese name for
D) A Peruvian god

Question 42

Cities may not have developed on the larger Pacific Islands because:

A) They could simply find another island if their numbers outran their food supply.
B) Their gods had warned them against congregating in large groups.
C) Rampant disease destroyed their earliest attempts at settlements.
D) Marauding bands of Chinese sailors destroyed their walls.

Question 43

The first urban site in the Americas, Caral-Supé, was probably founded around _________.

A) 627 CE
B) 2627 BCE
C) 1607 BCE
D) 6627 BCE

Question 44

During the period from about 6000 to 4000 BCE, in what is today Mesoamerica (Mexico and Central America) and the Andes Mountains in South America, people began ___________.

A) To construct boats to sail to Rapa Nui
B) To construct earthen mounds, encompassing acres of land
C) To build ball courts and causeways
D) To settle in villages

Question 45

Cordilleras are a continuous spine of mountain ranges near or along the entire western coast of the Americas, stretching from the _______ Mountains in the north to the Andes in the south.

A) Appalachian
B) Adirondack
C) Sierra Madre
D) Rocky

Question 46

The ____________ Shield can be found in the center of South America's southern tip.

A) Patagonian
B) Brazilian
C) Gran Chaco
D) Guyana

Question 47

In El Niño cycles, large areas of abnormally warm water appear off the coasts of ____________.

A) Nicaragua and Panama
B) British Columbia and Washington State
C) Florida and Georgia
D) Peru and Chile

Question 48

In North America, where spearhead flutes were oval, they are known as __________ points.

A) Rounded
B) High
C) Louisiana
D) Clovis

Question 49

By about _____________, hunters had caused the extinction of most big mammal species in the Americas.

A) 800 BCE
B) 8000 BCE
C) 80,000 BCE
D) 800 CE

Question 50

Archaeologists can learn a great deal from what people discarded into _______________, or refuse piles.

A) Middens
B) Recycling bins
C) Liddens
D) Mittens

Question 51

Teosinte was a wild grass, native to Mesoamerica and believed to be ancestral to _____________.

A) Rice
B) Wheat
C) Maize (corn)
D) Pumpkins

Question 52

An intact quipú was found at Caral-Supé, suggesting a continuous system of _____________ up to the Incan period.

A) Iron forging
B) Alphabetic writing
C) Cloth dyeing
D) Record keeping

Question 53

The small highland city of Chavín de Huántar flourished ca. 1000-200 BCE, and it was discovered in what modern country?

A) Colombia
B) Peru
C) Mexico
D) Brazil

Question 54

The name "___________" means "rubber people" in the language of the later Aztecs and refers to the rubber tree farming for which the area was later known.

A) Mexican
B) Toltec
C) Olmec
D) Adena

Question 55

An Olmec figurine made from _________ depicts a jaguar with a human body, perhaps representing a rain god.

A) Iron
B) Gold
C) Silver
D) Jade

Question 56

The Inuit lived in pit houses framed by _________, covered with walrus skin, and piled over with sod.

A) Whale ribs
B) Timber
C) Tundra stone
D) Concrete

Question 57

Beginning in eastern Hispaniola around 500 CE, villagers supported the emergence of the _____________ chieftain society that by ca. 1500 CE comprised nearly the entire Caribbean.

A) Spanish
B) Labrador
C) La Venta
D) Taíno

Question 58

About 6000 years ago, the first seafaring people left ____________ and, together with subsequent waves of emigrants, spread out in westerly and easterly directions.

A) Hawai'i
B) New Zealand
C) Taiwan
D) Japan

Question 59

Lapita culture was created around 1600 BCE on the Bismarck Archipelago, off the eastern coast of ____________.

A) The Philippines
B) New Guinea
C) Fiji
D) Australia

Question 60

Polynesian migrants reached Easter Island (Rapa Nui) by about __________.

A) 30 CE
B) 1550 CE
C) 700 CE
D) 1600 BCE

Question 61

In 1947 Thor Heyerdahl successfully sailed from Peru to Polynesia aboard a raft named the "Kon-Tiki," after ____________.

A) The Polynesian word for "contact"
B) The Norwegian word for "boat"
C) The original Chinese name for
D) A Peruvian god

Question 62

The discovery of ____________ in Polynesia indicates that Heyerdahl may have been correct in his theory about Peruvian voyagers across the Pacific.

A) Maize (corn)
B) Sweet potato
C) Coconut
D) Guava