Deck 9: Food: Getting It, Growing It, Eating It, and Passing It Around

Question 1

A society's techniques for acquiring food resources is/are its:

A) shopping habits
B) economy
C) subsistence pattern
D) market system

Answer 1

subsistence pattern

Question 2

Humans probably began meat-eating as:

A) scavengers
B) big game hunters
C) herders
D) fishermen

Answer 2

scavengers

Question 3

Big game hunting probably became important:

A) on the savannas of Africa
B) in the tropical forests
C) in glacial areas during the Pleistocene
D) only in recent times after the advent of farming

Answer 3

in glacial areas during the Pleistocene

Question 4

For most hunter-gatherer societies, most of the diet comes from:

A) hunted meat
B) gathered plants
C) domesticated food sources
D) fish and small game

Question 5

Anthropologist formerly emphasized hunting among hunter-gatherers for all the following reasons EXCEPT:

A) it was the major source of food
B) hunting was seen as the more exciting and romantic endeavor
C) hunter-gatherers themselves placed a social emphasis on hunting
D) hunting is a more dangerous, more tenuous activity

Question 6

The farming ideas of the Soviet scientist Lysenko did not work because they were based on:

A) religious belief
B) Marxist-Leninist social theory
C) Lamarckian ideas about evolution
D) Mendelian genetics

Question 7

Foraging is a synonym for:

A) hunting-gathering
B) horticulture
C) agriculture
D) pastoralism

Question 8

Which is most accurate regarding foraging societies in the world today?

A) there are about 30,000 foragers left
B) there are millions of people who still rely on foraged food
C) there are no societies left that are true foragers
D) foragers are isolated so we don't know how many are left

Question 9

Why have anthropologists traditionally focused so much on the study of foraging groups?

A) they are simple societies and so easy to study
B) all humans were foragers for over 90% of human history
C) they are exotic and interesting
D) they are technologically simple and don't complain about being photographed

Question 10

Foraging societies are egalitarian. This means that:

A) there are no important differences among the people
B) people are equal in wealth although not in status
C) people are equal in status although not in wealth
D) there are no recognized, formalized status or wealth differences

Question 11

Which is the most accurate statement about foraging societies?

A) they are usually on the brink of starvation
B) they have to try hard to increase their birth rate to maintain their population
C) they have to practice methods to limit their birth rate
D) they are now extinct because they could not produce enough food

Question 12

Which of the following characteristics is NOT typical of foraging societies?

A) egalitarian
B) polytheistic
C) nomadic
D) individual land holdings

Question 13

The division of labor typical among foragers is that:

A) individual jobs are done by individual specialists
B) men hunt and women gather
C) pretty much everyone does every important task
D) the lower classes do most of the manual labor

Question 14

The egalitarian San from the Kalahari of southern Africa have one symbol of differential status. It is that:

A) good hunters get more meat from the kill
B) women who gather more plants have more power
C) successful healers sometimes have more than one wife
D) larger individual groups have the right to a larger territory

Question 15

For the San, "insulting the meat" is a means of:

A) maintaining their egalitarian outlook
B) keeping anthropologists from feeling superior
C) keeping less powerful men from achieving higher status
D) showing the spirit of the dead animal the superiority of humans

Question 16

The first evidence of food production comes from about:

A) 250,000 years ago
B) 100,000 years ago, with the first modern humans
C) 12,000 years ago
D) around the beginning of the Christian era

Question 17

Evidence for the transition to food producing is in all the following forms EXCEPT:

A) artifacts used in food producing and processing
B) remains of ancient grains
C) ancient paintings of people planting
D) biological differences between wild and domestic plants and animals

Question 18

Intensive foraging refers to:

A) the overexploitation of an environment by hunting and gathering
B) large scale farming or herding
C) the exploitation of new food sources after the final glacial recession
D) extra energy put into foraging to stave off starvation

Question 19

The exploitation of new food sources available in some areas after the final recession of the Pleistocene glaciers 12,000 years ago is known as:

A) food producing
B) intensive foraging
C) horticulture
D) domestication

Question 20

Archaeologist Kent Flannery suggests that farming probably began:

A) in the midst of areas of rich natural resources
B) in areas of poor natural resources
C) in the tropics
D) in poor areas at the margins of rich ones

Question 21

The first animal species to be domesticated was probably:

A) cattle
B) corn
C) reindeer
D) dogs

Question 22

Evidence of the domestic dog goes back to:

A) 100,000 years ago
B) 35,000 years ago
C) 12,000 years ago
D) 7, 000 years ago

Question 23

Other than the dog, domestic animals begin to appear about:

A) 35,000 years ago
B) 10,000 years ago
C) 5, 000 years ago
D) 2,000 years ago, around the beginning of the Common Era

Question 24

Which of the following was NOT a New World domesticate?

A) llamas
B) turkeys
C) guinea pigs
D) bison (buffalo)

Question 25

Which is NOT a reason for the lateness of domestication in the New World?

A) humans didn't enter the New World until later
B) the early humans in the New World were not as intellectually advanced
C) there were fewer domesticable species in the New World
D) important wild food sources were found in great abundance

Question 26

Which of the following was NOT a New World domesticate?

A) maize (corn)
B) wheat
C) beans
D) potatoes

Question 27

In the Old World, which species were the earliest to leave evidence of domestication?

A) sheep, goats, and cattle
B) pigs
C) camels
D) horses

Question 28

Which is NOT evidence of early animal domestication?

A) biological differences between wild and domestic animals
B) detailed written records about selective breeding procedures
C) large numbers of bones of elderly animals found at sites
D) clay tokens used to keep track of trade involving animals

Question 29

The first evidence for plant domestication is ____________ years old.

A) 35,000
B) 11,000
C) 5,000
D) 2,000

Question 30

The first evidence for plant domestication comes from:

A) Southwest Asia
B) Asia
C) Africa
D) Europe

Question 31

Which is NOT evidence of early plant domestication?

A) differences between wild and domestic plants
B) presence of tools used for harvesting and processing
C) pottery and baskets for food storage
D) written records about planting, harvesting, and storage

Question 32

Which is NOT a typical feature of horticulture?

A) human energy source
B) digging sticks
C) hoes
D) plows

Question 33

Which is NOT generally true of horticultural societies?

A) full-time labor specialists
B) polytheism
C) larger populations than foragers
D) more sedentary than foragers

Question 34

Agriculture, as opposed to horticulture, is found in:

A) areas of richer natural resources and better climates
B) more tropical areas
C) areas that require more advanced farming technologies
D) areas with large populations to support

Question 35

Which is generally NOT true of agricultural societies?

A) use of animal labor and complex tools
B) full-time labor specialists
C) large, sedentary populations
D) lack of social stratification

Question 36

The term "civilization" refers in anthropology to:

A) societies that have ethics and morals
B) societies without warfare and violence
C) the presence of cities and their characteristics
D) the presence of highly developed forms of art and literature

Question 37

Which of the following is NOT a defining characteristic of civilization?

A) record keeping
B) peaceful coexistence with neighbors
C) metallurgy
D) centralized government

Question 38

Pastoral societies are defined as those that:

A) have domesticated animals
B) herd animals as the basis of their subsistence
C) live outside of urban settings
D) are nomadic

Question 39

Which is NOT true of pastoralists?

A) egalitarian with regard to all resources
B) emphasis on animal herds
C) sexual division
D) nomadism or semi-nomadism

Question 40

Many anthropologists distinguish industrial societies from agricultural ones on the basis of:

A) major food source
B) population size
C) use of mechanical sources of energy
D) degree of social stratification

Question 41

The form of goods and services distribution among foragers is:

A) general reciprocity
B) balanced reciprocity
C) redistribution
D) market system

Question 42

I helped your family move to a new home, so now that I am moving, I expect your family to help me. This is an example of:

A) general reciprocity
B) balanced reciprocity
C) redistribution
D) market system

Question 43

A market system is distinguished by the presence of:

A) large, open-air stalls for selling products
B) centralized government control
C) money and a profit motive
D) international trade networks

Question 44

Which of the following is NOT an example of redistribution?

A) the Kwakiutl potlatch
B) our income tax system
C) contributions to charitable organizations
D) meat distribution among the San

Question 45

A society in which socioeconomic strata are stable and unchanging is a _______society.

A) rank
B) class
C) egalitarian
D) caste

Question 46

The Hutterites, with regard to their internal economics, could be considered a ______ society.

A) rank
B) class
C) egalitarian
D) caste

Question 47

What is the most accurate description of the relative importance of hunting versus gathering in foraging societies in terms of nutrition? In terms of place in society?

Question 48

Why has anthropology long had an emphasis on the study of foraging societies?

Question 49

It makes sense that foraging societies would be egalitarian. Explain why.

Question 50

What steps do foraging societies take to maintain their social and economic egalitarianism?

Question 51

Counter the common idea that foraging societies are always living at the brink of starvation.

Question 52

What is the San practice that Richard Lee calls "insulting the meat,"
and what purpose does it serve?

Question 53

What kinds of evidence do we have for the transition to food producing?

Question 54

Under what circumstances do we think some peoples first abandoned a foraging way of life and started producing their food?

Question 55

What was the first animal to be domesticated? How do we know the early remains of this animal are a domesticated version?

Question 56

Why does domestication of plants and animals appear later in the New World than in the Old World?

Question 57

Why are many of the earliest domesticated plants members of the grass family?

Question 58

Distinguish between horticulture and agriculture? What essential characteristics may we expect to find in societies practicing each type of subsistence?

Question 59

"Agriculture is better than horticulture."
Comment on this statement.

Question 60

What do we mean by civilization in anthropology? Under what circumstances did civilizations arise? What features define a civilization?

Question 61

In what ways has agriculture had negative impacts on human life?

Question 62

Define pastoralism and tell what features we may expect to find among pastoral societies.

Question 63

The text says that "industrialism is just a very complex form of [the agricultural subsistence pattern]."
Explain.

Question 64

The Kwakiutl potlatch, our income tax and welfare systems, and charitable organizations are all examples of a mechanism of goods and services distribution. What is it? How does it work?

Question 65

Comment on the idea that the world population crisis must be solved by changing the reproductive habits and rates mostly of third world countries.