Deck 6: Getting Food

Question 1

Complex foraging societies like the Tlingit and the Nimpkish tend to have more __________ than most other foraging societies.

A) social inequality
B) elaborate folklore
C) reliance on hunting
D) balanced gender roles

Answer 1

social inequality

Question 2

Europeans who first saw the way South Pacific islanders maintained their gardens thought they were simply lazy. Why do they really allow their gardens to grow in such a messy state?

A) The jumbled roots minimize erosion in the loose volcanic soil.
B) They spend most of their days foraging, and don't have time to maintain tidy gardens.
C) Islanders believe their gardens should look as much like the jungle as possible.
D) They had only recently discovered horticulture, and their methods were still unrefined.

Answer 2

The jumbled roots minimize erosion in the loose volcanic soil.

Question 3

Ester Boserup argues that the intensification of agriculture is __________.

A) not likely to develop naturally out of horticulture
B) associated with greater social equality
C) not linked to population growth
D) dependent upon a slow progression from animal husbandry and horticulture

Answer 3

not likely to develop naturally out of horticulture

Question 4

What herding strategies do contemporary Saami use?

A) The Norwegian government now regulates reindeer herding.
B) They still herd animals, but have switched to sheep and goats.
C) They maintain their traditional nomadic lifestyle.
D) There are no longer any reindeer herders among the Saami.

Question 5

By "food collection," anthropologists mean the obtaining of food from __________.

A) wild plants and animals
B) wild plants only
C) domesticated plants and animals
D) plants, wild and domesticated

Question 6

On what factors is the division of labor based in most foraging societies?

A) gender and age
B) wealth and gender
C) age and status
D) status and wealth

Question 7

From where do most traditional pastoralists get their animal protein?

A) the milk and blood of the animals they raise
B) trading wool for cheese and yogurt in cities
C) the meat of the animals they raise
D) buying meat with cash earned through wage labor

Question 8

What subsistence strategy characterized most of human history?

A) food collection
B) irrigation agriculture
C) horticulture
D) pastoralism

Question 9

In what activity do Yanomamö participate as part of their subsistence strategy?

A) hunting monkeys with bow and arrow
B) raising cattle and sheep
C) using irrigation to control farmland
D) planting coconut and banana trees

Question 10

Which of the following is characteristic of foraging societies?

A) small group size consisting of related families
B) semi-permanent settled villages
C) social hierarchies reflected in ownership of land and wealthy possessions
D) high levels of social differentiation

Question 11

In what region do we see the very first evidence of a changeover to food production, dating to around 8000 B.C.?

A) the Near East
B) the Indus Valley
C) Mesoamerica
D) eastern Europe

Question 12

Studies of two aboriginal Australian groups and one African foraging group suggest that foraging societies spend __________ time getting food than most agricultural societies.

A) less
B) more
C) about the same amount of D_ much more

Question 13

What did Paul Roscoe discover to be closely associated with a New Guinean foraging society's dependence on fishing?

A) population density
B) family structure
C) women's status
D) protein intake

Question 14

What form of horticulture involves working the land for a short time, then leaving it idle for a few years?

A) shifting cultivation
B) monocropping
C) cash cropping
D) permanent cultivation

Question 15

How do Samoan villagers earn money to buy items such as machetes, kerosene, and flour?

A) They sell dried coconut meat to be made into coconut oil.
B) They sell traditional pieces of art to tourists.
C) They trade breadfruit with villagers on neighboring islands.
D) They raise sheep and sell the milk and wool.

Question 16

Most of the Ngatatjara's food supply is gathered by __________ and is __________.

A) women; plant food
B) men; plant foods
C) women; meat
D) men; meat

Question 17

Which type of subsistence strategy has been practiced at one time in almost all areas of the earth?

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

Question 18

Beginning about __________ years ago, people in some regions began to depend less on big game and more on relatively stationary food resources such as fish, small game, and wild plants.

A) 14,000
B) 6,000
C) 10,000
D) 3,000

Question 19

Why must we be cautious about drawing inferences about our past from the lifestyles of modern foraging societies?

A) Like all societies, foraging societies have evolved and are still evolving.
B) Our ancestors had regular interactions with other societies, while modern foragers remain isolated.
C) Contemporary foragers live in environments that ancient foragers never used.
D) Modern foraging societies represent an artificial return to what people believe were the "old" ways.

Question 20

What is one of the major consequences of horticulture?

A) more sedentary way of life
B) lower population density
C) strict egalitarianism
D) reliance on hunted game for protein

Question 21

What is the role of cotton in the agricultural communities of rural Greece?

A) It is an important cash crop.
B) It is used to make warm clothing for the cold Greek nights.
C) Cotton is the major food for the communities' sheep.
D) Cotton is traded in an informal barter system with neighboring communities.

Question 22

In which region are foraging societies least likely to be found today?

A) temperate climates
B) dense tropical forests
C) deserts
D) the Arctic

Question 23

Anthropologists have concluded that the physical environment by itself has a __________, rather than a __________, effect on the major types of subsistence.

A) restraining; determining
B) definitive; determining
C) definitive; restraining
D) positive; negative

Question 24

In which areas is intensive agriculture unlikely to supplant horticulture?

A) tropical forests
B) the Arctic
C) plains
D) temperate climates

Question 25

Societies that engage in pastoralism are characterized by __________.

A) small, highly mobile groups
B) a dependence on small animals like chickens or pigs
C) living in densely forested environments
D) a very high birth rate

Question 26

How might we best describe the subsistence strategies of contemporary cultures?

A) Most people today are food producers.
B) Most people today are foragers, supplemented with small-scale animal husbandry.
C) There is a roughly equal balance between foraging and food-producing cultures.
D) Most people today are foragers.

Question 27

Some believe that food production was adopted across the world within a span of only a few thousand years due to worldwide population pressure. With whose research does this position best align?

A) Mark Cohen
B) Ester Boserup
C) Lewis Binford
D) Kent Flannery

Question 28

What do Lewis Binford and Kent Flannery suggest must have influenced the changeover to food production?

A) Population growth pushed people out of optimal areas, and they turned to food production to try to reproduce the resources they once had.
B) People settled first, then realized that they would have to produce food to sustain their permanent residence patterns.
C) There was an economic incentive for foragers to become food producers.
D) Food production was spread culturally through contact with neighboring communities.

Question 29

Which of the following factors may have contributed to the decline of the earliest city-states in Mesopotamia?

A) salinization
B) drought
C) overpopulation
D) flooding

Question 30

One characteristic of pastoral societies is __________.

A) dependence on trade with agriculturalists
B) large settlements
C) permanent settlements
D) dependence exclusively on meat for food

Question 31

The spread of agriculture may be linked to the need for __________.

A) territorial expansion
B) more food
C) permanent housing
D) saving animals

Question 32

If climate change is involved in the emergence of agriculture, the transition may have occurred when __________ no longer provided sufficient resources to support the population.

A) sedentary foraging
B) nomadic foraging
C) slash-and-burn horticulture
D) animal husbandry

Question 33

Which of these trends is associated with the increasing commercialization of agriculture?

A) A smaller proportion of society is involved in food production.
B) People are choosing to eat more locally produced foods.
C) Technology is being used to grow a wider variety of crops on a single field.
D) More food production is controlled by family-run operations.

Question 34

Although food production is not necessarily __________ than food collection, it is generally __________ per unit of land.

A) easier; more productive
B) harder; more productive
C) easier; less productive
D) harder; less productive

Question 35

Which of these is a consequence of intensive agriculture?

A) a high degree of craft specialization
B) a simple political organization
C) a transient, nomadic lifestyle
D) smaller population groups

Question 36

Individual families in pastoral societies are most likely to own __________.

A) animals
B) grazing lands
C) permanent dwelling places
D) land for cultivating crops

Question 37

In which of these environments would you be least likely to find a pastoralist society?

A) mountains
B) savannas
C) prairies
D) steppes

Question 38

Which of the following animals are least likely to be a source of food in a horticultural society?

A) camels
B) sheep
C) chicken
D) pigs

Question 39

What herding system allows animals to roam over a large area and requires little surveillance?

A) extensive
B) intensive
C) internal
D) external

Question 40

Using the anthropological definition, which of the following is an example of horticulture?

A) shifting cultivation
B) decorative flower gardening
C) large fields of cash crops
D) greenhouses for growing plants

Question 41

Compared to food-collectors, horticulturalists generally __________.

A) get more food from a given area
B) are more nomadic
C) are more sparsely populated
D) have fewer differences in prestige between people

Question 42

What is the difference between foraging and food production?

A) Foraging uses only wild plants and animals, while food production cultivates and domesticates them.
B) Food production depends only on plant foods, while foraging involves both plants and animals.
C) Foraging allows for more control over processes like animal breeding and plant seeding.
D) Food production requires a strict division of labor by gender, while foraging is rarely split by gender.

Question 43

What archaeological evidence is needed to support the Binford-Flannery model?

A) population increase before the emergence of domestication
B) evidence of seafood in conjunction with agricultural fields
C) artifacts indicating long periods of trade with food-producing societies
D) skeletal evidence of domesticated animals

Question 44

What is the key feature that distinguishes intensive agriculture from horticulture?

A) Intensive agriculture uses techniques that allow people to cultivate fields permanently.
B) Intensive agriculture begins only after a population reaches a critical density.
C) Only intensive agriculture incorporates any sort of technology.
D) Horticulture produces foods for village use, while intensive agriculture focuses on crops to sell.

Question 45

Distinguish between the three major types of food production: horticulture, intensive agriculture, and pastoralism. Provide examples of modern cultures practicing each type of subsistence.

Question 46

Imagine a global crisis that wiped out mechanized agriculture across the world. If your society were forced to return to a more localized subsistence strategy, what would be most appropriate for your environment? Explain your answer.

Question 47

What is the difference between animal husbandry and pastoralism?

A) Pastoralists feed their herds on natural pasture, while people engaged in animal husbandry provide special food to their herds.
B) Pastoralism allows for many more animals to be kept in a small space than does animal husbandry.
C) Pastoralism is associated with intensive agriculture, but animal husbandry is not.
D) Pastoralists eat their animals, while animal husbandry includes raising animals for milk or wool.

Question 48

Compare the Binford-Flannery model with the research of Mark Cohen concerning the origins of food production by around 10,000 years ago. What evidence is required to support each of these theories?

Question 49

What development was necessary before foragers could live in tropical forest environments?

A) trade with agriculturalists to obtain carbohydrates
B) animal husbandry of small animals for protein
C) market economy to trade with neighbors for metal tools
D) an irrigation system to deal with heavy tropical rains

Question 50

Why are intensive agriculturalists more likely to face food shortages than horticultural societies?

A) Intensive agriculturalists often produce crops for market.
B) Horticulture is usually more productive than intensive agriculture.
C) Horticulture involves more complex and reliable technology.
D) Intensive agriculturalists usually live in more challenging environments than horticulturalists.

Question 51

Why are the majority of intensive agricultural societies located outside of the tropics?

A) It is difficult to control insects and weeds in the tropics, making agriculture less productive.
B) Most societies in the tropics are too small to require intensive agriculture.
C) Tropical forests are so bountiful that people can easily survive on a foraging lifestyle.
D) Tropical environments are particularly well suited to pastoralism.

Question 52

Which horticulturalists are likely to be the most sedentary?

A) those who rely on food from trees that produce for a long time
B) a group that uses slash-and-burn agriculture
C) villages that raise chickens or pigs
D) a group that still relies heavily on foraging

Question 53

Why should we not assume that food collectors would automatically switch to food production once they understood the process of domestication?

A) Food production involves more work and less security than food collection.
B) Food production cannot support as many people as food collection.
C) Food production is associated with a more complex diet than food collection.
D) Food production requires less specialized skills than food collection.

Question 54

What insights can we gain about humanity's past by studying the lives of contemporary foragers? What are the limitations associated with using modern foragers to help understand ancient humans?

Question 55

What social characteristics are associated with foragers and complex foragers?