Deck 10: The Great Diaspora

Question 1

During the late Ice Age, the Sahara was

A)a vast grassland.
B)wetter than present conditions.
C)dry, if not drier than modern times.
D)75% covered with glaciers.

Answer 1

dry, if not drier than modern times.

Question 2

Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS)radiocarbon dates the Grotte de Chauvet cave paintings to around

A)35,000 B.C.
B)2500 B.C.
C)7000 B.C.
D)22,500 B.C.

Answer 2

35,000 B.C.

Question 3

The first signs of human settlement appeared along the banks of the Huang Ho River in the grasslands of Mongolia just before

A)35,000 years ago.
B)10,000 years ago.
C)5,000 years ago.
D)50,000 years ago.

Answer 3

35,000 years ago.

Question 4

During the last glaciation, what geographical feature joined extreme northwestern Siberia and Alaska?

A)the Bering land bridge.
B)the Yukon.
C)the Verkhene-Trotiskaya site.
D)none of these

Question 5

The site in Oregon's Cascade Range where a scatter of human feces was found dates to 12,300 years ago is called

A)the Paisley Five-Mile Point.
B)the Debra L. Friedkin site.
C)Valsequillo.
D)Fort Rock Cave.

Question 6

Although we cannot yet rule out that earlier settlement may be found someday, consistent distributions of human settlement in the New World currently date to

A)35,000 years ago.
B)15,000 years ago.
C)50,000 years ago.
D)6,000 years ago.

Question 7

All of the following is true of the Clovis people EXCEPT

A)they were purely big-game hunters.
B)they preyed on bison.
C)their tool kit was highly portable.
D)they used atlatls to kill their quarry.

Question 8

Discuss evidence that indicates when Homo sapiens appeared in Southeast Asia. Why is this timing significant?

Question 9

Describe the four interrelated foundations of Cro-Magnon technology.

Question 10

Discuss the limitations of archaeology in northern China, northeastern Siberia, and Alaska. What modern technologies can you think of that may open up this territory to research in the future?

Question 11

Explain how "stone artifacts" can be potentially misleading. How it is possible to prove that such objects were made by prehistoric people and are not products of natural processes?

Question 12

Henri Breuil classified the late Ice Age cultures of southwestern France into several basic cultural traditions, which culminated in which culture that dates to about 18,000 to 12,000 years ago?

A)burin makers.
B)Magdalenian.
C)Cro-Magnon.
D)Wallacian.

Question 13

Cro-Magnon chisel-like stone tools made on a blade used for grooving stone, antler, bone, and wood are called

A)burins.
B)blade cores.
C)scrapers.
D)groove-and-splinter tools.

Question 14

The large landmass made up of the present day islands of Sulawesi and Timor in Southeast Asia was known as

A)Wallacea.
B)Pangea.
C)Sunda.
D)Sahul.

Question 15

The Ice Age landmass made up of New Guinea, Australia, and the now flooded shelf between them was known as

A)Sunda.
B)Sahul.
C)Wallacea.
D)Pangea.

Question 16

Homo sapiens had appeared in Southeast Asia by at least

A)20,000 years ago.
B)25,000 years ago.
C)50,000 years ago.
D)55,000 years ago.

Question 17

The primary method used to date the archaeological record from between about 40,000 years ago and the past 2,000 years is known as

A)dendrochronology.
B)potassium-argon dating.
C)radiocarbon dating.
D)historical documentation.

Question 18

Human occupation in what is now Australia is well documented by 35,000 years ago, but may extend

A)15,000 years earlier.
B)25,000 years earlier.
C)35,000 years earlier.
D)45,000 years earlier.

Question 19

The Willandra lakes region in Australia contains the earliest human remains, with shell middens and campsites dating from at least as early as

A)26,000 years ago.
B)10,000 to 15,000 years ago.
C)50,000 years ago.
D)2,000 years ago.

Question 20

The first fully modern Europeans are known to physical anthropologists as

A)Homo ergaster.
B)Homo neadertalensis.
C)Cro-Magnons.
D)Homo sapiens.

Question 21

The Neanderthals vanished by

A)30,000 years ago.
B)20,000 years ago
C)10,000 years ago.
D)5,000 years ago.

Question 22

All of the following were preferred by Cro-Magnons for blade cores EXCEPT

A)chert
B)antlers
C)flint
D)obsidian

Question 23

The Cro-Magnons' primary stone tool-making objective was to produce

A)fire.
B)blades.
C)axes.
D)clothing.

Question 24

Name three sites famous for Cro-Magnon art and discuss the characteristics each site is known for. Given the differences and the similarities among the sites, why is it difficult for us to interpret this art?