Deck 5: The Neolithic Revolution: The Domestication of Plants and Animals

Question 1

All of the following cultural adaptations have presented serious biological consequences since the Neolithic era except:

A) a limited human diet due to reliance on a single crop
B) injury due to increased big game hunting
C) the spread of infectious disease due to crowded living conditions
D) the intensification of competition for critical resources

Answer 1

injury due to increased big game hunting

Question 2

Who were the Natufians?

A) a Neolithic culture in Southeast Asia
B) a Paleolithic culture in Europe
C) a Neolithic transition culture in Southwest Asia
D) a Mesolithic transition culture in Southwest Asia

Answer 2

a Mesolithic transition culture in Southwest Asia

Question 3

Which of the following changes did not occur during the Mesolithic?

A) shift from hunting big game to smaller game
B) shift from hunting small game to big game
C) gathering of a broad spectrum of animals
D) gathering of a broad spectrum of plants

Answer 3

shift from hunting small game to big game

Question 4

When did the Natufian culture flourish?

A) between 15,400 and 12,700 years ago
B) between 12,500 and 9,300 years ago
C) between 12,500 and 10,200 years ago
D) between 13,000 and 11,100 years ago

Question 5

The microlith became common throughout the "Old World" during the:

A) Paleolithic
B) Mesolithic
C) Neolithic
D) Eolithic

Question 6

The invention of food production occurred in both Mesoamerica and Southwest Asia through:

A) independent invention
B) diffusion
C) shared invention
D) imposition

Question 7

All of the following were associated with the Neolithic Revolution except:

A) domestication of animals
B) domestication of plants
C) increased movement away from cities
D) formation of fixed settlements

Question 8

Polished stone tools are characteristic of the:

A) Cenolithic
B) Mesolithic
C) Paleolithic
D) Neolithic

Question 9

The Mesolithic was known in the Americas as the:

A) Middle Stone Age
B) Neolithic
C) Paleolithic
D) Archaic

Question 10

What do we call communities of gardeners working with simple hand tools and using neither irrigation nor plow?

A) horticultural societies
B) agricultural societies
C) domesticated societies
D) independent societies

Question 11

In what area of the world was the Mesolithic transition less dramatic of a change from the earlier time period?

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

Question 12

Increased reliance on seafood and plants allowed people to become more:

A) primitive
B) nomadic
C) aquatic
D) sedentary

Question 13

Which of the following died out at the time of the Neolithic transition?

A) mammoths
B) musk oxen
C) reindeer
D) yaks

Question 14

When did the Neolithic transition begin?

A) around 20,000 years ago
B) around 15,000 years ago
C) around 5,000 years ago
D) around 10,000 years ago

Question 15

What tool did the Natufians use prior to the beginnings of domestication?

A) plow
B) sickle
C) reaper
D) machete

Question 16

The microlith was:

A) a pebble tool
B) a drill
C) a hammer
D) a blade

Question 17

The accidental discovery of an innovation process is referred to as a:

A) starter innovation
B) primary innovation
C) secondary innovation
D) masked innovation

Question 18

According to the text, the ultimate source of all culture change is:

A) innovation
B) diffusion
C) mutation
D) instruction

Question 19

The Neolithic climate included all of the following except:

A) increased flooding
B) replacement of hardwood forests with tundra
C) sea levels increasing
D) warming climate

Question 20

One of the ways people managed food scarcity during the Paleolithic was by:

A) decreasing the variety of food eaten
B) incorporating less favored food into their diet
C) devoting themselves to other tasks until food became available
D) increasing the amount of water they drank

Question 21

Evidence exists for some of the earliest plant domestication at:

A) Abu Grenyra
B) Abu Haridan
C) Abu Saami
D) Abu Hureyra

Question 22

Remains of domesticated animals most frequently show which skewed ratio?

A) more fat than thin animals
B) more old than young animals
C) more female remains than male
D) more male remains than female

Question 23

Which of the following became an ideal type of plant for domestication?

A) colonizer plants that grow in disturbed areas
B) settler plants that grow in well maintained gardens
C) sedentary plants that only grow in a specific environment
D) nomadic plants that only grow under specific climatic conditions

Question 24

The Oasis Theory argues that:

A) people congregated in rich areas where agriculture had already begun
B) increased rainfall contributed to the need to begin planting crops and herding
C) drought created a need for people living in the Fertile Crescent to congregate in limited areas and begin collecting grass seed
D) herding and cultivation began in areas where irrigation could be established

Question 25

Beginning about 11,000 years ago, the percentage of immature sheep eaten in Southwest Asian highlands increased to approximately what percent?

A) 75 percent
B) 50 percent
C) 65 percent
D) 90 percent

Question 26

Where is the Fertile Crescent?

A) Middle East
B) Northern Africa
C) Southeast Asia
D) Southwest Asia

Question 27

When did bones first become distinguishable between wild and domesticated sheep?

A) around 9,000 years ago
B) around 12,000 years ago
C) around 7,500 years ago
D) around 8,000 years ago

Question 28

Which of the following is believed to be the earliest plant domesticate in Southeast Asia?

A) tea
B) yams
C) sugar cane
D) oats

Question 29

What did the Natufians do to adapt their subsistence to changing climatic conditions?

A) they lived where conditions were especially severe and stored wild grass seeds in plaster lined pits
B) they followed herds of wild cattle rarely staying in one place for long
C) they used plaster to create traps for wild 2. and practiced intensive farming
D) they burned areas to attract wild animals and stored seeds of perennials

Question 30

Which of the following is an effective mutagenic agent that could have affected the course toward plant domestication among the Natufians?

A) wind
B) snow
C) water
D) fire

Question 31

The average birth spacing interval for hunters and gatherers is:

A) 4-5 years
B) 3-4 years
C) 2-3 years
D) 1-2 years

Question 32

What was most significant about the Oasis Theory?

A) it was a scientifically testable explanation for the origins of food production
B) it was the first theory that explained the origins of agriculture and herding
C) it is the only accurate hypothesis about the origins of food production
D) it is the most easily understood hypothesis on the origins of food production

Question 33

What is the clearest indicator of difference between a wild and domesticated plant?

A) stalk length
B) lack of husk
C) shape of edible parts
D) size of edible parts

Question 34

Which of the following is the earliest known domesticate?

A) oats
B) barley
C) corn
D) rye

Question 35

Where do we find terra preta?

A) northern Argentina
B) eastern Turkey
C) southern Mexico
D) central Amazonia

Question 36

In the heyday of potato cultivation in Peru, how many varieties were grown?

A) 250
B) 800
C) 3,000
D) 1,500

Question 37

All of the following are associated with plant domestication except:

A) loss of delayed seed germination
B) reduction in distasteful chemical compounds
C) reduction and loss of protective husks
D) a more fragile stem and seeds that shatter easily from the stalk

Question 38

With the end of the last glaciation, climates became:

A) significantly colder and less markedly seasonal
B) significantly warmer and more markedly seasonal
C) significantly warmer and less markedly seasonal
D) significantly colder and more markedly seasonal

Question 39

America's indigenous peoples were the first cultivators of _____ of the crops grown in the world today.

A) 10%
B) 30%
C) 60%
D) 80%

Question 40

Archaeologists have documented a sharp rise in the number of young male goats killed at a 10,000 year-old site in the Zagros Mountains, Iran. They believe this indicates domestication, as young males:

A) were slaughtered and females kept for breeding purposes
B) were selectively chosen because they were born at a significantly higher rate than females
C) would not stay in corrals and enclosures as well as females
D) would interfere in the breeding process of young females

Question 41

In the early farming community of Jericho, crops could be grown almost continuously because:

A) there was a large population to perform the labor
B) there was a large spring and fertile soils from a dried up Ice Age lake
C) there was irrigation available and the river allowed for trade
D) there was glacial deposit and plenty of stone for making walls and tools

Question 42

Terra preta occurs because of:

A) manmade chemical fertilizers
B) ancient sea deposits
C) glacial deposits
D) human intervention

Question 43

When did Neolithic agricultural villages become common in the Americas?

A) ca. 7,000 years ago
B) ca. 4,500 years ago
C) ca. 2,000 years ago
D) ca. 8,500 years ago

Question 44

Which anthropologist suggested the core-fringe-legume pattern?

A) Sidney Mintz
B) V. Gordon Childe
C) Carl Sauer
D) Robert Carneiro

Question 45

Domestication:

A) decreases productivity and increases instability
B) increases productivity and increases stability
C) increases productivity and increases instability
D) decreases productivity and increases stability

Question 46

Jericho was surrounded by:

A) a large moat
B) massive walls
C) mountain watchtowers
D) a natural river

Question 47

The potato famine of 1845-1850 occurred in what country?

A) England
B) United States
C) Ireland
D) Papua New Guinea

Question 48

Eighty percent of the world's annual tonnage of all crops is made up of how many varieties of plant species?

A) 9
B) 14
C) 12
D) 7

Question 49

Which of the following is not an animal that was first domesticated in the area of modern-day Mexico?

A) duck
B) turkey
C) dog
D) bee

Question 50

Which of the following statements is true?

A) Food foraging populations tend to have higher rates of fertility compared to farming populations
B) Farming populations tend to have higher rates of fertility compared to food foragers
C) Food foragers and farming populations have an equal rate of fertility
D) Fertility rates for food foragers and farming populations is not currently known

Question 51

Which of the following was not associated with the advent of pottery?

A) improved storage techniques
B) development of craft specialization
C) innovation in tool design
D) increased nomadism

Question 52

The hunter-gatherer birth spacing interval is primarily the result of:

A) high infant mortality rate
B) nutritional stress
C) contraceptive practices
D) breastfeeding and child-rearing techniques

Question 53

Measles were believed to be first transferred to humans from:

A) pigs
B) sheep
C) cattle
D) ducks

Question 54

Which of the following is not an accurate statement?

A) food production is not necessarily a more secure means of subsistence than food foraging
B) before food production some foragers actively managed the resources on which they depended
C) the switch from food foraging to food production allowed people to work less in subsistence pursuits
D) the switch to food production was not the result of the discovery that seeds grow into plants

Question 55

What is unique about terra preta?

A) it is found throughout the continental area and has allowed advent of civilization
B) it is evidence that early peoples kept large numbers of domesticated animals
C) it is found in an extensive area where soils are not generally rich and fertile
D) it is made from chemical fertilizers and can be transported transnationally

Question 56

Wild plant domestication:

A) took place independently across the globe
B) diffused from Mesopotamia to the rest of the world
C) only took place in Europe
D) did not happen

Question 57

The spread of ideas, customs, or practices from one culture to another is called:

A) independent invention
B) diffusion
C) primary innovation
D) secondary innovation

Question 58

Which of the following best describes typical Neolithic social structure?

A) stratified society, strict division of labor, rise of specialized social roles
B) relatively egalitarian society, strict division of labor, some specialized social roles
C) stratified society, minimal division of labor, limited specialized social roles
D) relatively egalitarian society, minimal division of labor, limited specialized social roles

Question 59

What two significant crops grown in the world today were first domesticated by American Indians?

A) potatoes and maize
B) wheat and rice
C) corn and wheat
D) oats and barley

Question 60

Which language group first originated in sub-Saharan Africa and then spread outward?

A) Swahili
B) Bantu
C) Arabic
D) Indo-European

Question 61

Which of the following is not an accurate portrayal of agricultural societies and food production?

A) they led to an overall increase in length and quality of life
B) they involved much higher work levels and an increase in disease
C) agricultural societies had diets of less variety than foragers
D) as a result of agriculture, population rate began to rise

Question 62

The ultimate source of all culture change is diffusion.

Question 63

Why is intensive agriculture considered to be a less stable means of subsistence than foraging?

A) in general, people do not like to work harder and tend to neglect crops
B) it is associated with a lower population
C) there is less species diversity in crops
D) it always depends much more on stable climatic conditions

Question 64

People managed food scarcity during the Paleolithic was by incorporating less
favored food into their diet and increased the variety of food they ate.

Question 65

In environments that were averse to the development of cultivation, societies tended to become:

A) pastoralist
B) agricultural
C) horticulturalist
D) urban

Question 66

Domestication occurred because of accidental discovery that seeds grow into plants and can be managed.

Question 67

Microliths could only be made from flint.

Question 68

During the Neolithic, the earth's environment became substantially colder.

Question 69

Food production led directly to increased sedentism.

Question 70

Enamel hypoplasia indicates:

A) arrested growth caused by famine
B) high levels of nutrition
C) increasing calcium consumption
D) consumption of soft foods

Question 71

Which form of subsistence involves intensive crop cultivation, use of plows and fertilizers, and possibly irrigation?

A) horticulture
B) pastoralism
C) agriculture
D) foraging

Question 72

In the Biocultural Connection section entitled "Paleolithic Prescriptions for the Neolithic and Beyond," anthropologists Melvin Konner and Marjorie Shostak and
Physician Boyd Eaton have suggested:

A) a new lifestyle approach that will improve people's health while maintaining a sedentary lifestyle
B) that people's health can improve with prescription medication
C) that nomadic peoples' use of alcoholic beverages was not healthy
D) that people's health will improve by returning to the lifestyle to which their bodies were adapted

Question 73

The Neolithic period began about 10,000 years ago.

Question 74

In the Biocultural Connection section entitled "Paleolithic Prescriptions for the Neolithic and Beyond," U.S. anthropologists George Armelagos and Mark Nathan
Cohen suggest that:

A) human village settlement has nothing to do with health
B) health improved as a result of human village settlement
C) there was an increase in infectious diseases with settlement into villages
D) alcohol and tobacco use decreased as a result of human village settlement

Question 75

V. Gordon Childe's hypothesis remains the most accurate explanation for the origins of food production.

Question 76

Domesticated plants and animals are no different from their wild counterparts.

Question 77

Indigenous Australians chose to continue to forage while also managing the land.

Question 78

The pre-Neolithic Natufians were known to have stored food.

Question 79

For the most part Neolithic crops were selected for:

A) higher productivity and storability rather than nutritional value
B) lower productivity, higher storability and nutritional value
C) higher productivity and higher nutritional value rather than storability
D) lower productivity and more storability and nutritional value

Question 80

Each of the following is common skeletal evidence from human Neolithic remains except:

A) less robust bones
B) increased mechanical stress on human bodies
C) less marked osteoarthritis
D) increased nutritional stress