Deck 14: North America

Question 1

All projectile points in North America are ultimately derived from the ancient

A)Donner point.
B)Clovis point.
C)Aleutian point.
D)Siberian point.

Answer 1

Clovis point.

Question 2

Panalauca Cave, Peru, which dates to 2500 B.C., has yielded evidence of early cultivation of what crop?

A)potatoes
B)quinoa
C)maize
D)teosinte

Answer 2

quinoa

Question 3

Which of the following is the widespread desert farming culture centered in southern Arizona that flourished from c. 300 B.C. to A.D. 1500?

A)Hohokam
B)Ancestral Pueblo
C)Adena
D)Mississippian

Answer 3

Hohokam

Question 4

Which of the following is the major American Southwestern cultural tradition that centered on what is now known as the Four Corners region that reached its peak in A.D. 1100?

A)Hohokam
B)Ancestral Pueblo
C)Adena
D)Mississippian

Question 5

Which of the following, which is sometimes called the Early Woodland, is the North American culture dating to between 500 B.C. and A.D. 400 centered on the Ohio River valley?

A)Hohokam
B)Ancestral Pueblo
C)Adena
D)Mississippian

Question 6

Which of the following, centered in the southeastern region of what is now the United States, is the most elaborate prehistoric cultural tradition to flourish in North America?

A)Hohokam
B)Ancestral Pueblo
C)Adena
D)Mississippian

Question 7

Mesa Verde is a series of canyons in Colorado famous for their multiroom dwellings dating to

A)the 13th century A.D.
B)1400 B.C.
C)2500 B.C.
D)between A.D. 1100 and 1130

Question 8

List and describe at least three methods for reconstructing ancient diets.

Question 9

Define dendrochronology. Explain the methods used in this study. How has this methodology been used in the Southwestern United States?

Question 10

Explain Kent Flannery's hypothesis on plant domestication in Mesoamerica. What evidence supports this hypothesis? Can you think of potential exceptions to this explanation?

Question 11

Discuss the possible reasons for the decline of the Hopewell tradition. What civilization replaced the Hopewell tradition? What staple agricultural product played a role in this transition, and why?

Question 12

Moundville in what is now west-central Alabama flourished as early as A.D. 1250 and went into decline after

A)A.D. 1550.
B)A.D. 1450.
C)A.D. 1776.
D)A.D. 1680.

Question 13

All of the following were major centers of native plant domestication in the Americas EXCEPT

A)highland and lowland Central America.
B)the highlands of the Central Andes.
C)the coastline of California.
D)the southeastern United States.

Question 14

The densest hunter-gatherer populations in North America congregated in river valleys and

A)coastlines.
B)lakeshores.
C)mixed-conifer forests.
D)alpine forests.

Question 15

All of the following contributed to the rise of more complex hunter-gatherer societies along the Pacific Coast of North American EXCEPT

A)abundant and predictable food sources.
B)increasingly efficient technology.
C)sedentary settlements.
D)slash and burn agriculture.

Question 16

Which of the following animals was tamed by ancient Americans?

A)dog
B)guinea pig
C)turkey
D)all of these are correct

Question 17

The best archaeological evidence for early maize cultivation comes from

A)the Tehuacán Valley in southern Mexico.
B)Machu Pichu in Peru.
C)Mesa Verde in Colorado.
D)the Ohio Valley.

Question 18

Maize first entered the American Southwest during a period of higher than average rainfall, between

A)2000 and 1500 B.C.
B)1500 and 1000 B.C.
C)A.D. 100 and 500.
D)5000 and 6000 B.C.

Question 19

Early peoples who lived in what is now the southwestern United States gathered many plants, including all of the following EXCEPT

A)yucca seeds.
B)cacti.
C)potatoes.
D)sunflower seeds.

Question 20

The ""great houses,"" or large pueblos of Chaco Canyon contained many luxury items, including

A)turquoise.
B)copper bells.
C)skeletons of macaws.
D)all of these are correct.

Question 21

Chaco Canyon, used for more than two centuries, was the center of a remarkable flowering of which culture?

A)Hohokam
B)Mogollan
C)Mississippian
D)Ancestral Pueblo

Question 22

A kiva in the Ancestral Pueblo tradition is a

A)fireplace.
B)bread oven.
C)ceremonial room.
D)burial mound.

Question 23

Some groups of Paleo-Indian populations had settled along the southern California coastline and on offshore islands by

A)9000 B.C.
B)5000 B.C.
C)1000 B.C.
D)A.D. 1000.

Question 24

Discuss the notion that successors of Mississippian society would have flourished and evolved into a full-fledged state-organized society if Europeans had not arrived on the continent. What limitations do experts cite regarding this notion? Can you think of any adaptations early peoples could have made to overcome these limitations?