Deck 5: Early American Societies: Connection and Isolation, 20,000 Bce - 1500 Ce

Question 1

The Pueblos were part of what culture area?

A) Southwest
B) Eastern Woodlands
C) Northwest Coast
D) Great Plains

Answer 1

Southwest

Question 2

How did Knosorov's research affect current theories regarding Mayan writing?

A) He realized that Mayan writing was phonetic.
B) He realized that the Mayan writing system was actually begun by the Toltec.
C) He realized that Mayan writing was hieroglyphic.
D) He realized that most Mayan writing centered on religion.

Answer 2

He realized that Mayan writing was hieroglyphic.

Question 3

The full-scale tribal societies differed from the complex societies in being

A) hunter-gatherers.
B) farmers.
C) semi-nomadic.
D) settled.

Answer 3

semi-nomadic.

Question 4

Which of these was a shared characteristic of the Pueblo and Mississippian cultures?

A) They lived in what is today the Southwest.
B) They were urban dwellers.
C) They lived along great rivers.
D) Large mounds were at the center of their communities.

Question 5

Why is the term "Native Americans" rejected by some historians and anthropologists?

A) because the term "Indian" was used first
B) because the first people on the continent were actually Europeans
C) because the first people on the continent were actually Africans
D) because no human life was "native" to the Western hemisphere

Question 6

Which of these is a culture area rather than a societal type?

A) full-scale tribal
B) Great Plains
C) moundbuilders
D) hunter-gatherer

Question 7

The mound builders included all EXCEPT which of these?

A) Haudenosaunee
B) Adena
C) Hopewell
D) Mississippian

Question 8

Which of the following accurately describes the first inhabitants of North America?

A) They were farmers.
B) They were very warlike.
C) They were nomadic hunter-gatherers.
D) They were not of Asian descent.

Question 9

Which of the following groups is NOT classified as a full-scale tribal society?

A) Plains
B) Apache
C) Haudenosaunee
D) Creeks

Question 10

Which of these is refuted by the dating of archaeological evidence of Monte Verde?

A) the idea that Native Americans created complex societies
B) the Bering Strait theory
C) the idea that only in Mesoamerica did Amerinds create cities
D) the idea that Amerinds entered the Americas before 5000 B.C.E.

Question 11

Which of the following is NOT one of the four principal types of preinvasion Amerind groups?

A) mound builders
B) hunter-gatherers
C) limited-scale tribal societies
D) True civilizations

Question 12

When was the Mayan writing system deciphered?

A) during the Russian Revolution
B) after WWII
C) in the 1990s
D) after the discovery of the Rosetta Stone

Question 13

The significance of the skulls found by archaeologists in Washington and Nevada is the implication that

A) all Amerinds were of central Asian origin.
B) Amerinds did not arrive in the Western hemisphere as early as previously believed.
C) some Amerinds were of African origin.
D) not all Amerinds were of Central Asian origin.

Question 14

What is another common term for the Amerinds?

A) Native Americans
B) Native Asian Indians
C) African American Indians
D) Asian Indians

Question 15

What is the significance of the archeological findings at Monte Verde?

A) The findings challenge earlier scholarship regarding the time period in which humans entered South America.
B) The findings challenge earlier scholarship regarding religious practices among Amerinds.
C) The findings challenge earlier scholarship regarding the arrival of Europeans in the Western hemisphere.
D) The findings challenge earlier scholarship regarding the writing system of the Maya.

Question 16

Which of these groups most resembled the earliest Amerinds?

A) Inuits
B) Cherokees
C) Adena
D) Creeks

Question 17

Which of the following does NOT apply to the preinvasion Eskimo?

A) They are also classified as Inuit people.
B) They never developed complex societies.
C) They were nomadic hunter-gatherers.
D) They are classified as a "Great Basin" society.

Question 18

What conclusion can be drawn from anthropological evidence regarding the origins of the Amerinds?

A) They are of African descent.
B) They are of European descent.
C) They are of Asian descent.
D) They are of Australian descent.

Question 19

Which of the following best explains the reason for the loose affiliation among the Algonquian peoples in the eastern Canadian Sub-Arctic?

A) They realized that they must cooperate in order to expel the European settlers.
B) They realized that they could grow enough crops to feed the entire tribe if they planted communal gardens instead of each family planting its own individual garden.
C) They banded together for the purposes of fishing for salmon and smoking it to ensure a year-round abundance of food.
D) They banded together for the purpose of hunting caribou.

Question 20

Which of the following does NOT accurately describe the Pueblo Indians?

A) They were grew maize, squash and beans.
B) They were nomadic.
C) They produced woven baskets and cotton cloth.
D) They developed complex irrigation techniques.

Question 21

According the Long Count calendar, when is the present world scheduled to end?

A) 2099
B) 2012
C) 2020
D) 2053

Question 22

The suggestion that contact might have occurred between the early Mississippians and the Amerinds of Mesoamerica is supported by all of these EXCEPT which?

A) the discovery of skeletons in Cahokia that had fillings in the teeth.
B) the fact that Mississippians cultivated potatoes.
C) the discovery of carefully positioned bodies in the mound excavated at Cahokia.
D) The discovery that the layout of Cahokia was similar to Mesoamerican cities.

Question 23

Who were the moundbuilders of the Ohio River valley?

A) Powhatan
B) Adena-Hopewell
C) Natchez
D) Choctaw

Question 24

Where is the Great Serpent Mound located?

A) Mexico City
B) Peru
C) Pennsylvania
D) Ohio

Question 25

The Maya resemble the Akkadians and Aryans in what sense?

A) In creating large pyramid complexes.
B) In their linguistic roots.
C) In adopting the practices of an earlier civilization.
D) In having a state religion founded on human sacrifice.

Question 26

Which tribe was known for its rigid hereditary castes such as the "Suns" and the "Stinkards"?

A) Natchez
B) Creek
C) Choctaw
D) Chickasaw

Question 27

Which of the following was NOT a Mesoamerican society?

A) Olmec
B) Maya
C) Toltec
D) Apache

Question 28

Which of the following crops was NOT one of the "three sisters"?

A) corn
B) beans
C) squash
D) potatoes

Question 29

Which of the following does NOT accurately describe Mayan society?

A) Free peasants and serfs were commoners.
B) Merchants were commoners.
C) Slavery was hereditary.
D) Priests were part of the nobility.

Question 30

Which of the following does NOT accurately portray Mayan religion?

A) The practice of bloodletting was a common ritual.
B) The Maya feared death because they thought most common people went to the underworld.
C) Only kings and priests were allowed to take part in religious rituals.
D) They were polytheistic.

Question 31

A sophisticated calendar based on solar and sacred years was a feature of which cultural area?

A) Great Basin
B) Adena-Hopewell
C) Andes Mountains
D) Mesoamerica

Question 32

Which of the following locations represents "Mesoamerica"?

A) Central and South America
B) northern Mexico and southern North America
C) southern Mexico and northern Central America
D) Mexico and northern Central America

Question 33

What unique Olmec artifacts were found at San Lorenzo?

A) elaborate burial mounds
B) sophisticated iron tools
C) huge wheeled carts
D) immense stone heads

Question 34

Which people built San Lorenzo and Tres Zapotes?

A) Olmec
B) Maya
C) Toltec
D) Apache

Question 35

Teotihuacán had about how many pyramids?

A) 10
B) 50
C) 150
D) 600

Question 36

Which of the following does NOT accurately describe the Long Count calendar?

A) It was created by the May.
B) It contained a cogwheel with 365 notches for the days of the solar year.
C) It contained a cogwheel with 260 notches for the days of the sacred almanac.
D) It was useful in the areas of astronomy and agriculture.

Question 37

Which civilization most profoundly affected the development of Mayan society?

A) Natchez
B) Olmec
C) Navajo
D) Apache

Question 38

Which North American Amerind society is most comparable to the Asian and North African river civilizations?

A) Hopewell
B) Natchez
C) Mississippians
D) Iroquois

Question 39

Which of the following does NOT accurately describe the Cheyenne?

A) They were seminomadic.
B) They were among the most highly organized Plains Indians.
C) Clan mothers appointed tribal chiefs.
D) They were buffalo hunters.

Question 40

Which region of the Western hemisphere was home to the most complex of Amerind civilizations?

A) North America
B) Mesoamerica
C) South America
D) Alaska

Question 41

Which region of the Western hemisphere was home to the Moche?

A) Eastern South America
B) northern Peru
C) the sub-Arctic
D) Mesoamerica

Question 42

Which of the following statements accurately portrays relations between the Nazca and the Moche?

A) They engaged extensively in trade.
B) They frequently engaged in conflict.
C) They eventually combined forces through intermarriage.
D) They remained isolated from each other.

Question 43

The Paiute and Shoshone were largely nomadic, Great Basin societies.

Question 44

Most Amerinds in North America developed written languages.

Question 45

Most Amerinds accept the idea that their ancestry is distinctly Asian.

Question 46

What Amerind society was centered on the Yucatán Peninsula?

A) Aztecs.
B) Incas.
C) Maya.
D) Moche.

Question 47

In which area of society did the Teotihuacanos and Maya differ greatly?

A) military
B) government
C) religion
D) commerce

Question 48

The preinvasion Eskimos never developed complex societies.

Question 49

About when did hunter-gatherers arrive in the Andes?

A) 7000 B.C.E.
B) 10,000 B.C.E.
C) 1000 B.C.E.
D) 500 B.C.E.

Question 50

When the first Spanish invaders entered central Mexico, many Amerinds showed great reverence to them because they

A) had just experienced a powerful earthquake and they believed that the gods had sent these messengers from heaven to help them.
B) hoped that the Spanish would help them defeat the Toltecs.
C) were experiencing a great famine, and the Spanish brought plenty of food.
D) believed that this was a fulfillment of Quetzalcoatl's prophecy.

Question 51

There are varying opinions regarding the cause of the collapse of Classic Mesoamerican civilization. Which viewpoint is most widely accepted today?

A) Epidemic disease destroyed Mesoamerican civilization.
B) Natural disasters destroyed Mesoamerican civilization.
C) Internal stresses destroyed Mesoamerican civilization.
D) Invasion by other Amerind tribes destroyed Mesoamerican civilization.

Question 52

Which inhabited region of the world is the least thoroughly explored?

A) North America
B) Central America
C) South America
D) Africa

Question 53

The civilization of Chavín differed greatly from that of Mesoamerica in what way?

A) Chavín lacked a ceremonial center.
B) Chavín was isolated from neighboring cultures.
C) Chavín cannot be considered a civilization.
D) Chavín had no organized religion.

Question 54

Who was the "feathered serpent"?

A) Hernán Cortés
B) Quetzalcoatl
C) Tania Proskouriakoff
D) Kukulcán

Question 55

Between 650 and 850 CE, the Maya and Teotihuacán

A) declined and collapsed.
B) merged into a single state known as Aztec.
C) reached their peak of sophistication and power.
D) were conquered by the Moche.

Question 56

How did Chimor's social structure mimic Mayan social structure?

A) Both were hierarchical
B) Both rejected the practice of slavery.
C) Both viewed artisans as nobility.
D) Both viewed priests as commoners.

Question 57

Which of the following does NOT accurately portray the landscape of west South America?

A) The Andes mountains are between Chile and Argentina.
B) Earthquakes and mudslides are common.
C) There are numerous active volcanoes.
D) The landscape mirrors the eastern region of the continent.

Question 58

Which of the following does NOT accurately represent Chavín civilization?

A) It was the first Andean society.
B) It had a strong central government.
C) It was a polytheistic civilization.
D) It was a farming civilization.

Question 59

The Aztec Empire referred to its artisans by the name

A) Mayan.
B) Chichén.
C) tolteca.
D) quetzal.

Question 60

Which of the following does NOT accurately describe the Mayan civilization?

A) complex
B) scientific
C) contemplative
D) peaceful

Question 61

Describe the Long Count Calendar and comment on its religious significance.

Question 62

Evaluate the varying proposed explanations for the fall of Mesoamerican civilization.

Question 63

How did the Mayan attempt to bridge the temporal and spiritual realms?

Question 64

Much of the available information regarding Amerinds in North America comes from the work of archaeologists and anthropologists.

Question 65

The "Three Sisters" were cultivated in Mesoamerican and Mississippian societies.

Question 66

Which Amerind civilization built walled settlements, multistoried apartments, and residences made of adobe brick?

Question 67

Hunting was the bedrock of Mayan civilization.

Question 68

Which society was first accidently discovered in the 1930s?

Question 69

How could Mayan slaves obtain freedom?

Question 70

The Romans were the first people to use the digit 0 as a placeholder.

Question 71

Some women became Mayan kings.

Question 72

How did the first humans most likely enter the Western hemisphere?

Question 73

Mayan culture was built on Mississippian foundations.

Question 74

What was the first stable empire in central Mexico after the fall of the Toltec?

Question 75

Evaluate the contributions of the Olmec to Mayan society.

Question 76

Which ancient civilization provided the basis for many of the components of Mayan culture?

Question 77

Why were the Teotihuacanos dependent on obsidian?

Question 78

Discuss the "great cycle" doctrine espoused by the Olmec and Maya.

Question 79

Why do Amerind historians have to rely heavily on the work of archeologists and anthropologists?

Question 80

What was the punishment for medical malpractice in Moche society?