Deck 8: The Peoples and Civilizations of the Americas

Question 1

Which of the following statements concerning the comparison of developments in the Americas with that of other classical civilizations is true?

A) No civilizations emerged in the Americas that were in any way comparable to those of Asia and the Mediterranean.
B) American civilizations lacked the systems of writing and the urbanism found in other civilizations.
C) American civilizations did display some parallels with developments in Asia and north Africa.
D) American civilizations paralleled the classical elements of Asia and the Mediterranean almost exactly.

Answer 1

American civilizations did display some parallels with developments in Asia and north Africa.

Question 2

What was one of the major differences between the resources available in the Americas and those in Asia and the Mediterranean?

A) American Indians domesticated plants whose caloric output was greater than any of the grains raised in Europe or Asia.
B) American civilization never developed the means to construct the types of monumental architecture found in other civilizations.
C) American civilization had greater access to animal power than did the civilizations of the Old World.
D) Due to the difficult topography in which they developed, American civilizations did not establish sedentary agriculture.

Answer 2

American Indians domesticated plants whose caloric output was greater than any of the grains raised in Europe or Asia.

Question 3

According to most archeologists, how did Homo sapiens get to the Americas?

A) Various types of Homo sapiens developed in the Americas.
B) They crossed a land bridge from Asia during the last ice age.
C) They crossed from Asia, probably Japan, in boats.
D) They crossed from Asia during a pluvial period (warmer climate and heavier rainfall).

Answer 3

They crossed a land bridge from Asia during the last ice age.

Question 4

What accounts for the migration of Homo sapiens to North America?

A) A drought made agriculture impossible in the northern Asian steppes.
B) Migrations of pastoral nomads into the Asian steppes forced the indigenous population to leave.
C) The Asian steppes could not support the population, forcing migration to new areas.
D) Migrant hunters probably followed large game animals.

Question 5

For what date is there archaeological evidence of human presence in the Americas?

A) 20,000 B.C.E.
B) 10,000 B.C.E.
C) 9500 B.C.E.
D) 5000 B.C.E.

Question 6

Why did the great mammal herds of the Americas diminish and in some cases disappear entirely?

A) There never were any large mammals in the Americas.
B) In addition to climatic change, they may have been hunted to extinction.
C) Archaeological evidence points to widespread disease, perhaps associated with climatic change.
D) Closed off from other herds, inbreeding resulted in weakening of the species until they succumbed to genetic failure.

Question 7

What is the linguistic pattern for American Indians?

A) All Indian languages are derived from few parent stocks, indicating a common migration stock.
B) There are only two major Indian language groups, suggesting a limited diversity among the early migrants to the Americas.
C) There were 2000 Indian languages in the 16th century derived from a number of parent language stocks, suggesting cultural diversity among migrants.
D) There are thousands of Indian languages, none of them bearing any resemblance to any other.

Question 8

Which of the following statements concerning American contacts with the Old World prior to the fifteenth century is correct?

A) There are Old World artifacts, Japanese pottery, that have been discovered in Peruvian urban cultures.
B) There is nothing to suggest any contact with European or Asian civilizations.
C) There is circumstantial evidence, similarities in pottery design, similar plants, that suggests contact, but no physical evidence of any kind.
D) American writing systems can be directly associated to Chinese ideographical systems.

Question 9

Which of the following was NOT a disadvantage for Americans when they eventually did come in contact with other civilizations?

A) A simple material culture poor in metallurgical and weapon-making skills
B) A lack of large mammals as a protein source and a power source
C) An isolation from diseases common to Europeans, thus lack of immunities
D) A failure to develop sophisticated political systems

Question 10

Which of the following best describes Archaic cultures in the Americas?

A) They increasingly depended on the gathering of wild fruits and other plant foods, made baskets, and utilized grinding tools to prepare the roots and plants they collected for food.
B) Archaic cultures were typified by hunting and gathering bands that continued to follow the herds of large mammals as late as 3000 B.C.E.
C) Archaic cultures constructed major urban centers that served a primarily religious function supported by agricultural populations in surrounding regions.
D) They consisted of small villages of multi-story adobe buildings sheltered from the weather and attack by surrounding cliffs.

Question 11

What is the earliest date of evidence for cultivation in highland Peru?

A) 10,000 B.C.E.
B) 7000 B.C.E.
C) 4000 B.C.E.
D) 2000 B.C.E.

Question 12

What staple crop of American agriculture was domesticated in central Mexico by 4000 B.C.E.?

A) Potatoes
B) Manioc
C) Wheat
D) Maize

Question 13

How widely distributed was the agricultural production of maize?

A) Throughout Mesoamerica
B) Throughout South America
C) Throughout Mesoamerica and South America
D) Throughout Mesoamerica, South America, and North America

Question 14

What was the staple crop developed in the lowland areas of South America, particularly in the Amazon basin?

A) Potatoes
B) Manioc
C) Wheat
D) Maize

Question 15

What was the staple crop of people in the highland regions of South America?

A) Potatoes
B) Manioc
C) Wheat
D) Maize

Question 16

Which of the following were not developed in the Americas ?

A) The wheel
B) The plow
C) Iron
D) All of the above

Question 17

Which of the following was NOT typical of the level of social organization described as a chiefdom?

A) Social stratification with priests, nobles, and commoners
B) Central towns featuring temple complexes
C) The absence of clan organization
D) Hereditary rulers called chieftains

Question 18

Which of the following statements most accurately describes the geography of Mesoamerica?

A) Most of the region is desert with a small tropical zone in the south.
B) From the tropical lowlands of the north the land falls again to an arid zone in the south.
C) Mesoamerica is a complex patchwork of zones that are divided vertically into cooler highlands, tropical lowlands and coasts, and an intermediate temperate zone.
D) Most of the region is a flat featureless plain covered by a virtually impenetrable sod.

Question 19

At approximately what date did the domestication of plants begin in Mesoamerica?

A) 10,000 B.C.E.
B) 8000 B.C.E.
C) 5000 B.C.E.
D) 2000 B.C.E.

Question 20

The first civilization to arise in Mesoamerica was that of the

A) Olmecs.
B) Zapotecs.
C) Toltecs.
D) Aztecs.

Question 21

In what region of Mesoamerica did the Olmec civilization originate?

A) Tropical Guatemala
B) The highlands of the central plateau
C) Near Teotihuacan
D) On the southeastern coast of Mexico

Question 22

What were the most impressive Olmec sites in Mesoamerica?

A) Monte Alban
B) San Lorenzo and La Venta
C) Teotihuacan
D) Tihuanaco and Huari

Question 23

What monumental sculptures did the Olmec civilization produce?

A) Manioc
B) Calendars
C) Stone heads
D) Stone hands

Question 24

What was the major ceremonial center of the Zapotec culture?

A) Monte Alban
B) La Venta
C) Teotihuacan
D) Tihuanaco

Question 25

What are the dates of the Mesoamerican Preclassic period?

A) 7000 - 2000 B.C.E.
B) 5000 - 1000 B.C.E.
C) 3000 - 500 B.C.E.
D) 2000 - 300 B.C.E.

Question 26

What are the dates of the Mesoamerican Classic period?

A) 3000 - 500 B.C.E.
B) 2000 - 300 B.C.E.
C) 300 B.C. - 500 C.E.
D) 150 - 900 C.E.

Question 27

What was the major ceremonial and political center of the central Mexican highlands during the Mesoamerican Classic period?

A) Monte Alban
B) La Venta
C) Teotihuacan
D) Tihuanco

Question 28

Which of the following attributes was NOT found in the Classic civilization of the central valley of Mexico?

A) A large urban center with a temple complex featuring enormous pyramids
B) A population perhaps as high as 200,000
C) Evidence of social stratification consisting of priests, nobles, and commoners
D) Worship of a single god, the Feathered Serpent

Question 29

What culture emerged during the Mesoamerican Classic period in tropical lowlands of Mexico and Guatemala?

A) Olmecs
B) Mayas
C) Toltecs
D) Zapotecs

Question 30

Which of the following characteristics of the Mayan calendar was different from other Mesoamerican calendrical systems?

A) Recurring cycles of different length
B) Cycles of 52 years were regarded as sacred
C) The ?long count? created a fixed date of origin -- 3114 B.C.
D) Belief in great cycles of creation and destruction of the universe

Question 31

Which of the following statements about the Mayan culture is NOT true?

A) They possessed a sophisticated calendrical system based on both a sacred cycle and the solar year.
B) Despite their technological sophistication, the Maya failed to develop a system of writing.
C) The Maya cosmos consisted of a flat Earth with dominant deities at its center and cardinal points to support the heavens.
D) There were numbers of city-states in Mayan civilization that engaged in virtually constant warfare.

Question 32

What culture succeeded Teotihuacan in the central plateau of Mesoamerica?

A) Zapotecs
B) Aztecs
C) Toltecs
D) Mixtecs

Question 33

Which people lived in the cave dwellings at Mesa Verde?

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

Question 34

Which of the following was NOT a Mesoamerican civilization?

A) Zapotecs
B) Olmecs
C) Anasazi
D) Toltecs

Question 35

What seems to account for the decline of the cultures of southwestern North America?

A) Epidemic disease
B) A long period of drought in the 13th century
C) An invasion of the Nahuatl-speaking Toltecs
D) Widespread flooding of the canyons and valleys in which the cultures flourished

Question 36

What are kivas?

A) Shell middens associated with Archaic hunting and gathering cultures
B) Mounds associated with North American mound-building cultures
C) Pyramids found at Teotihuacan
D) Circular pits used for ceremonial purposes in Anasazi culture

Question 37

Which of the following peoples did NOT live in the Andean region of South America?

A) Hopewell
B) Chavin
C) Nasca
D) Moche

Question 38

How did the topography of the Andean region influence the development of civilization?

A) The unsuitability of the Andean region for any form of agriculture limited the development of civilizations there.
B) The existence of pastoral nomadism in the Andean region led to an impermanent population base, as on the fringes of Asian and Mediterranean civilizations.
C) The arid coastal valleys demanded irrigation, and this spurred population growth and social complexity leading to the development of civilizations as in the early river -valley civilizations of Asia and the Middle East.
D) The many flat plains provided ample opportunities for widespread development of sedentary agricultural communities.

Question 39

Why is the verticality of Andean topography important in determining the nature of cultures there?

A) Because most of the upper areas of the Andean region were uninhabitable, it was necessary for people to control the lower elevations.
B) Because the Andean region is divided into microecologies vertically, it became important for people to control as many different vertical ecological zones as possible.
C) Because of the aridity of the lower valleys, people struggled to control the upper zones to establish sedentary agriculture.
D) Because of the absence of domesticated animals in the Andean region, it was necessary to control those ecological zones suitable for agriculture.

Question 40

Which culture is associated with the ?First Horizon? in Andean civilization?

A) Mochica
B) Tihuanaco
C) Chimu
D) Chavin

Question 41

Which of the following was NOT typical of Chavin culture?

A) Ceremonial centers with large stone buildings
B) Simple forms of irrigation
C) Domestication of sheep
D) Artistic motifs associated with a cult or system of religious beliefs

Question 42

Which of the following statements most accurately reflects the social and political organization of the Andean region after the decline of Chavin culture ca. 300 B.C.E.?

A) It was a period of regional centers without political unity, but produced some of the Andean world?s finest art.
B) It was a period typified by the rise of a centralized empire with its center located near Cuzco in the mountains.
C) Andean society reverted to hunting and gathering social groups with little evidence for sedentary agriculture.
D) Andean society became part of the more prosperous empire of Teotihuacan as the Mexican state successfully extended its control to South America.

Question 43

In 300 C.E. the ?Intermediate Horizon? was associated with the emergence of what two political centers?

A) Teotihuacan and Tikal
B) Palenque and Chichen Itza
C) Moche and Chan
D) Tihuanaco and Huari

Question 44

Who conquered the Chimu state in 1465?

A) The Huacas
B) The Aztecs
C) The Moche
D) The Incas

Question 45

The decline of the ?Intermediate Horizon? in Andean civilization coincided with what event in Mesoamerican civilization?

A) The rise of Mayan culture and the urban temple complex at Teotihuacan
B) The Archaic period
C) The end of the Classic period
D) The emergence of Olmec civilization during the Preclassic period

Question 46

Which of the following was NOT a principle of Andean political, social, and economic organization?

A) control of a number of ecological niches at different altitudes to ensure self-sufficiency
B) composition of society into households which together recognized some form of kinship into ayllus
C) consolidation into a single language group
D) the principle of reciprocal social obligations

Question 47

Which animal was found in the Andean region?

A) Llamas
B) Buffalo
C) Horses
D) Sheep

Question 48

Which of the following statements concerning Andean ayllus is most correct?

A) Ayllus only existed in the more primitive social units typical of early Andean civilization.
B) All members of an ayllu were regarded as social equals with equal access to community property.
C) Members of an ayllu practiced marriage endogamy -- they married outside their kinship group.
D) All members of an ayllu traced descent from a common ancestor.

Question 49

Which of the following was NOT a cultural difference between Mesoamerican and Andean civilizations?

A) Greater metallurgical technology in Andean civilization
B) The existence of pastoralism in Andean civilization
C) The existence of writing in Mesoamerican civilization
D) Political unification into regional empires in Mesoamerica

Question 50

What is the generally accepted theory for how humans migrated to the Americas? About when did they arrive?

Question 51

When did sedentary agricultural societies emerge in the Americas? What were the staples of American agriculture? How did sedentary agriculture affect social and political organization?

Question 52

What were the major civilizations of Preclassic and Classic Mesoamerica? How were these civilizations organized socially, politically, economically?

Question 53

What were the major similarities and difference between Mesoamerican and Andean civilizations?

Question 54

What were the bases for the organization of society among the Andes civilizations?