Deck 10: Societies and Networks in the Americas and the Pacific 300–1200

Question 1

What united Mesoamerica as a regional society was a common _____________ that produced similar patterns of elite status, political power, and economic control.

A) language
B) ideology
C) religion
D) ancestry

Answer 1

B

Question 2

During the classical era in Mesoamerica,

A) both bronze and iron metallurgy were in use
B) bronze, but not iron, metallurgy was in use
C) iron, but not bronze, metallurgy was in use
D) neither bronze nor iron metallurgy were in use

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Scholars have traced the origins of Mesoamerican cultural and political traditions to the ancient _______ civilization.

A) Olmec
B) Inca
C) Maya
D) Aztec

Answer 3

A

Question 4

As a tool for agricultural production, __________ was essential.

A) obsidian
B) iron
C) the horse
D) the donkey

Question 5

In Mesoamerican myths, Tollan is

A) an otherworldly garden where the gods were brought into being
B) the place where the gods created human beings
C) the equivalent of heaven
D) the equivalent of hell

Question 6

Most scholars believe that in its formative stages, Teotihuacán was ruled by

A) an elected government
B) a single hereditary king
C) a cadre of priests
D) a military elite

Question 7

In Mayan culture, ch'ulel was

A) the title given by the Maya to the rulers of their city-states
B) "Book of Council," later written down in the Latin alphabet after the Spanish conquest
C) the sacred essence contained in human blood that made it a potent offering to the gods
D) the ballgame played as a solemn restaging of the mythical contest in which the Hero Twins triumphed over the lords of the underworld

Question 8

According to the accounts of Spanish conquerors, Mayan

A) women could not inherit property
B) sons inherited from fathers and daughters inherited from mothers
C) women could inherit property, but only as widows
D) women could inherit items of value, but not land

Question 9

Communication between North and South America in this period was hampered by

A) thick tropical forests covering the Isthmus of Panama
B) an apparently impenetrable language barrier
C) religious disagreements
D) near-constant warfare

Question 10

The Andean region did not develop the tradition of ________________ seen in Mesoamerica.

A) metalworking
B) irrigation
C) animal husbandry
D) writing and record keeping

Question 11

Scholars have determined that the Moche society suffered through a drought lasting more than thirty years in the late sixth century on the basis of

A) evidence from tree rings
B) geological evidence
C) written testimony collected by the Spanish
D) pottery findings

Question 12

In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the Chimú state expanded into neighboring valleys to

A) obtain victims for blood sacrifice
B) tap additional land and water supplies
C) escape the harsh weather caused by El Niño
D) trade with the Maya

Question 13

Local groups of farmers known to the Inca as ayllu typically owned lands in different locations and ecological zones

A) to grow different types of crops
B) so they could rotate their fields and leave some fallow
C) to minimize risk of crop failures
D) to take advantage of uneven weather patterns

Question 14

The collapse of Tiwanaku around 1000 seems to have been caused by

A) conquest by Wari
B) prolonged drought
C) civil unrest
D) the arrival of the Spanish

Question 15

Agriculture emerged as a way of life in North America after ________ was introduced from Mesoamerica around 1000 B.C.E.

A) the potato
B) maize
C) raised-field agriculture
D) the llama

Question 16

The eventual adoption of maize as a staple food northern Mexico and the southwestern United States was made possible in part by

A) the domestication of beasts of burden
B) changing climate
C) the difficulty of obtaining salt
D) the introduction of the bow and arrow

Question 17

The dwelling spaces in the pueblos in Chaco Canyon were arranged in

A) semicircular arcs
B) concentric circles
C) a rectangular grid
D) along spokes radiating from a central point

Question 18

Which of the following was NOT one of the revolutionary technologies introduced to the eastern woodland societies in North America beginning around 700 CE?

A) irrigation
B) the bow and arrow
C) maize farming
D) the flint hoe

Question 19

The term _________________ describes the spread of common technologies, cultural practices, and forms of social and political organization among Mississippi Valley farming societies from the eighth century onward.

A) Mississippian evolution
B) Mississippian emergence
C) Northeastern emergence
D) Northeastern epidemic

Question 20

Many of Cahokia's mounds served as platforms for buildings and ________ was an index of prestige.

A) proximity to the central mound
B) complexity
C) width
D) height

Question 21

The scale and complexity of the settlements and ritual complexes at Cahokia were _____________ in North America.

A) found only west of the Mississippi
B) nonexistent
C) absent after around 1000 CE
D) unique

Question 22

The second wave of migrations across the Pacific islands was different from the first in that

A) it fostered a culturally unified set of islands known as Polynesia
B) the people did not modify their livelihoods and social and political institutions to suit the resources of their island habitats
C) it took place in much smaller vessels
D) it was contained to the area of the Pacific around Samoa

Question 23

Of the Polynesian islands, only Fiji

A) lost contact with Tonga
B) maintained contact with Melanesia
C) participated in trade
D) developed a highly stratified society

Question 24

Before humans arrived, the islands of Remote Oceania

A) lacked plant and animal species suitable for human food consumption
B) lacked plant species suitable for human food consumption, but were populated by pigs and chickens
C) lacked animal species suitable for human food consumption, but were home to yams, taro, bananas and other edible plants
D) were pristine natural worlds with abundant plant and animal life suitable for human food consumption

Question 25

On many islands, _____________ began to strain resources after 1100.

A) the arrival of Europeans
B) persistent drought
C) population pressure
D) crop failures

Question 26

After Easter Island's ecology was devastated by the clearing of the island's forests, the remaining people subsisted mainly on

A) irrigation farming
B) cassava
C) fishing
D) trade

Question 27

The formation of separate ethnic groups from common ancestors is known as

A) evolution
B) ethnogenesis
C) ethnology
D) endogamy

Question 28

The languages spoken on Bougainville are

A) Papuan or Austronesian
B) Lapita
C) mostly Papuan or Austronesia, with a few that linguists struggle to classify
D) unlike anything spoken elsewhere in the Pacific Islands

Question 29

The pattern of isolated village life on Bougainville was probably reinforced by traditions of matrilineal descent and marriage within the group, also known as

A) evolution
B) ethnogenesis
C) ethnology
D) endogamy

Question 30

The role of the _______________ is to redistribute wealth among members of the community to ensure the well-being of all, but he does not hold a position above the rest of society.

A) Polynesian chief
B) Papuan leader
C) Buin chief
D) Melanesian big man