Deck 1: The Origins of Human Societies, to C.A 2000 B.C.E.

Question 1

Which of the following inferences is most plausible, given findings of textiles, pottery, and baskets made by modern humans more than 20,000 years ago?

A) Modern humans possessed advanced engineering and architectural techniques.
B) Modern humans traded with other archaic peoples to get valuable finished goods.
C) Modern humans had enough access to food and other natural resources to need to store surpluses.

Answer 1

Modern humans had enough access to food and other natural resources to need to store surpluses.

Question 2

Which of the following describe an impact humans had on natural systems during domestication?

A) Humans, usually women, selected seeds to propagate from plants they knew would bear fruit.
B) Humans eliminated invasive species that threatened their efforts to cultivate domestic plants.
C) Humans caused the extinction of many prey animals through overhunting.

Answer 2

Humans, usually women, selected seeds to propagate from plants they knew would bear fruit.

Question 3

Which of the following impacts on the natural environment resulted from intensive harvesting of natural resources by settled human communities?

A) Deforestation
B) Global warming
C) Earthquakes

Answer 3

Deforestation

Question 4

How did religion change as a result of urbanization and greater connections between early human communities?

A) It became more diverse and decentralized.
B) It became more standardized as part of a city's identity.
C) Most cities began worshipping the same god.

Question 5

How did metalworking technology influence relations between early human states?

A) It made warfare more deadly.
B) It was used as a common currency.
C) It gave craftsmen a much higher status.

Question 6

Which piece of archaeological evidence best suggests that early humans were capable of creative expression and artistic techniques?

A) The Laetoli footprints
B) DNA research on Native American remains
C) The Altamira cave painting

Question 7

Which is a plausible assumption, given the presence of Homo erectus fossils found on Pacific islands?

A) They could gather material and assemble watercraft.
B) They evolved at a time when the Pacific islands were connected by land.
C) They were transported there by later humans.

Question 8

Which of the following limits the precision of archaeological methods in studying the early human past?

A) Past climate conditions
B) Inaccessibility of remains
C) A lack of written records

Question 9

Which piece of archaeological evidence best suggests that early humans practiced religious rituals?

A) Göbekli Tepe dating to about 11,000 years ago
B) Hand axes found in China dating to about 500,000 years ago
C) Pottery found in China dating to about 20,000 years ago

Question 10

How did early urban life contribute to the rise of social hierarchies?

A) Cities were rife with crime, leading many to become dependent on threatening powerful people.
B) Cities were places of wealth and specialization, which created groups with more wealth and authority than others.
C) Cities were typically taken over by Indo-European pastoralists, who imposed their own laws.

Question 11

How did relying on farming as a means of subsistence affect human communities?

A) It led most to become farmers, dramatically increasing the food supply.
B) It allowed some people to specialize in other crafts instead of producing food.
C) It led to more dispersed settlements over acres of farmland.

Question 12

What were the risks of relying on farming as a means of subsistence?

A) Farms depended on natural systems and could be attacked.
B) Farms did not allow people to live in one place for very long.
C) Farms were difficult to operate for more than a few years.

Question 13

Early humans often used which of the following to clear and manage land intended for farming?

A) Fertilizers
B) Toxic plants
C) Fire

Question 14

Which of the following early human practices was primarily used to facilitate connections between early human communities?

A) Religion
B) Taxation
C) Writing

Question 15

Which of the following was not a reason that early cities arose?

A) To protect against diseases
B) To serve as meeting places for trade and religious activities
C) To house artisans, craftsmen, and leaders who did not farm themselves

Question 16

What probably caused an increase in salinity of soils in Neolithic farming communities?

A) Overirrigation
B) Droughts
C) Unseasonable precipitation

Question 17

Which of the following is a consequence of the domestication of animals?

A) Farming became easier.
B) Food resources became scarcer.
C) Humans were less likely to contract diseases.

Question 18

Which piece of archaeological evidence best suggests that residents of Çatal Hüyük were connected to vast trade networks?

A) The remains of Chinese tea plants
B) The remains of baskets made from date palm leaves
C) The remains of a beer brewing facility

Question 19

Where did trade among early human communities mostly take place?

A) In early cities
B) In meeting houses on the border
C) On farms

Question 20

Which of the following was the most immediate consequence of Homo habilis 's ability to use tools?

A) A more varied diet
B) The development of mathematics
C) Walking on two instead of four feet

Question 21

Explain how modern humans spread across the globe.

Question 22

Why did agriculture spread in Eurasia along an east-west line?

A) Rising sea levels prevented any north-south movement.
B) Movement along the east-west latitude did not involve drastic climate changes and thus agricultural movement was easy.
C) Animals naturally migrate east-west with the seasons bringing plant seeds with them.

Question 23

Why is Africa considered the "cradle of the human species"?

A) All evidence of Homo sapiens sapiens is found there.
B) The most recent evidence of Neanderthals has been found there.
C) Most of the oldest evidence of Homo sapiens sapiens has been found there.

Question 24

Which of the following Neolithic practices might be considered the first attempt to generate wealth?

A) Storage of personal food surpluses
B) Trade in fine bronzework
C) Domestication of animals

Question 25

Why were rivers so important to early human settlements?

A) They supported cultivation of nutrient-rich plants like wheat.
B) They served as vital connections between peoples.
C) They provided a source of power for mechanical production.

Question 26

About when did modern humans ( Homo sapiens sapiens ) appear?

A) About 200,000 years ago
B) About 40,000-100,000 years ago
C) About 10,000 years ago

Question 27

Why did modern human lifeways tended to promote cooperation in groups?

Question 28

What spaces did Neolithic city-dwellers create for religious worship?

A) Large statues
B) Large temples
C) Large pyramids

Question 29

What disadvantage did the domestication of animals bring?

A) Domestication provided a ready supply of meat without hunting, producing antisocial behaviors.
B) Domesticated animals turned on their masters causing wounds that were often fatal.
C) Domesticated animals passed on diseases from animals to humans.

Question 30

Why was the "Fertile Crescent" so fertile?

A) It was served by two major rivers.
B) It was the natural home to many different domesticable animals.
C) It rarely flooded or experienced natural disasters.

Question 31

Which figures were at the top of most Neolithic hierarchies?

A) Kings
B) Priests and shamans
C) Deities

Question 32

Why did modern humans migrate across the world?

Question 33

Why do we suspect that humans had developed language by 20,000 years ago?

Question 34

What was the first metal to be worked by humans into tools?

A) Iron
B) Bronze
C) Copper

Question 35

What consequences did the regular generation of a food surplus through farming have on early human ways of living?

A) It allowed humans to develop culture.
B) It allowed humans to produce tools and special goods.
C) It allowed humans to live in stable family groups.

Question 36

Describe the differences between Homo erectus and Homo habilis .

Question 37

What does the existence of market and shop buildings in early cities suggest?

A) Early human communities only occasionally produced enough goods to trade.
B) Early urban communities had extensive contact with other urban communities.
C) Early human communities did not value trade enough to make it central to their cities.

Question 38

Food shortages may have become more common with agriculture than with hunting and gathering for what reason?

A) With agriculture, people stopped hunting and lived entirely off plants.
B) People would not eat food grown through cultivation.
C) Farmers depended upon fewer plants and thus were susceptible to drought or bad harvests.

Question 39

Which of the following was required in order to maintain Neolithic farm production?

A) A cooler, wetter climate that exists today in most regions
B) Knowledge about how to create fertilizers and irrigation works
C) A division of labor that created a class of field laborers

Question 40

Describe the differences between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens sapiens .

Question 41

To what extent were modern humans capable of creative expression not directly necessary for survival?

Question 42

What was the purpose of trade between early human communities?

Question 43

In what ways did farming make human life more secure?

Question 44

How did writing enable relations between early human communities?

Question 45

How did the rise of cities affect the rise of trade?

Question 46

Why was the development of language so important to modern humans?

A) It allowed modern humans to write histories of their origin for later humans such as ourselves.
B) It allowed modern humans to transmit culture, information, and other things more easily and more widely.
C) It allowed modern humans to communicate with archaic human species such as Neanderthals.

Question 47

Describe each stage of human evolution, according to current scientific understanding.

Question 48

How did the rise of agriculture change the way communities divided labor among their members?

Question 49

What was the relationship between early cities and the rise of specialisms such as metalworking?

Question 50

How did animal domestication affect modern human living conditions?

Question 51

When had modern humans reached every continent?

A) About 20,000 years ago
B) About 70,000 years ago
C) About 10,000 years ago

Question 52

To what extent did early modern humans participate in culture, defined as transmittable norms and practices?

Question 53

What political problems were shared based on evidence from many early cities?

Question 54

For what purposes were the first animals domesticated?

Question 55

What was the relationship between farming and the formation of early cities?

Question 56

What agricultural practices did modern humans begin from about 10000 BCE?

Question 57

In what ways did farming make human life less secure?

Question 58

What were the key components of early human religions?

Question 59

How did the rise of agriculture affect modern human living conditions?

Question 60

How did modern human life depend on environmental conditions?

Question 61

How did the rise of cities affect early human religions?

Question 62

Which of the following practices defines the Neolithic period, according to most scholars?

A) Farming
B) Hunting
C) Language

Question 63

Which of the following is true about the genetic differences between modern humans?

A) There are different branches of the modern human species.
B) There are many different species of modern humans.
C) These differences mean only that we look different to one another and are otherwise insignificant.

Question 64

How did a reliance on hunting and gathering affect modern human societies?

A) It tended to encourage cooperation and prevented great disparities of wealth within communities.
B) It usually brought human communities into regular conflict with one another.
C) It led to very harsh living conditions with no time for creative expression.

Question 65

How did a change in diet during the Neolithic period affect the role of women?

A) Neolithic women probably were relegated to subservient roles as food preparers only.
B) Neolithic women probably enjoyed an important status because of their knowledge of domesticable plants.
C) Neolithic women probably were not affected by changes in diet during this time.