Deck 1: Before History

Question 1

With the development of languages,human beings were able to

A) produce long cutting edges.
B) accumulate knowledge and transmit it to new generations.
C) begin to fashion sharp tools from animal bones.
D) devise means for catching fish from deep waters.
E) invent spear throwers.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Homo sapiens evolved

A) one million years ago.
B) five hundred thousand years ago.
C) one hundred thousand years ago.
D) two hundred thousand years ago.
E) forty thousand years ago.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which of the following statements is true of the inhabitants of the paleolithic age?

A) They had mastered writing.
B) They domesticated animals.
C) They were hunters and gatherers.
D) They had discovered agriculture.
E) They had mastered working with iron.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The earliest metal worked systematically by humans was

A) copper.
B) tin.
C) bronze.
D) iron.
E) steel.

Question 5

Çatal Hüyük is significant because it

A) marks the beginning of human civilization.
B) marks the first human use of tools.
C) was the site of the first human agriculture.
D) is one of the best known early neolithic settlements.
E) is the first instance of the use of a land bridge.

Question 6

One of the interpretations of the early human cave paintings is that they represent

A) positive proof of the limited intellectual world of the early human.
B) early worship of the forces of evil.
C) a variety of sympathetic magic.
D) the first conscious development of art for its own sake.
E) a complicated,and so far indecipherable,written language.

Question 7

Homo sapiens had appeared in almost all the habitable regions of the world by around ________ years ago.

A) 250,000
B) 100,000
C) 50,000
D) 15,000
E) 5,000

Question 8

From the period four million to one million years ago,which of the following flourished in east Africa?

A) Homo sapiens sapiens
B) Homo erectus
C) Neandertal peoples
D) Homo sapiens
E) Australopithecus

Question 9

The hunting and gathering lifestyle required

A) male-dominated societies.
B) life in small bands of thirty to fifty members.
C) near-total isolation of groups from each other.
D) that women devote most of their time to child-rearing.
E) total gender equality.

Question 10

The most important development of Homo erectus was

A) fire.
B) stone tools.
C) walking upright on two legs.
D) their communication skills.
E) writing.

Question 11

Most scholars believe that,during the paleolithic age,social organization was characterized by

A) a relative social equality.
B) a ruling priestly class.
C) a dominant class based on the private ownership of land.
D) a ruling merchant class.
E) a dominant matriarchal structure.

Question 12

Which of the following statements about Australopithecus is NOT true?

A) They produced cleavers and hand axes.
B) They traveled deliberately over distances as far as fifteen kilometers.
C) They walked on two legs,thus freeing their arms to work independently.
D) They produced choppers and scrapers.
E) They were hominids.

Question 13

Which of the following statements is NOT true of Homo erectus?

A) They knew how to control fire.
B) They developed language skills that enabled them to communicate complex ideas.
C) They had brains roughly the same size as those of modern humans.
D) They produced cleavers and hand axes.
E) They walked upright on two legs.

Question 14

Between sixty and fifteen thousand years ago,Homo sapiens used superior knowledge,sophisticated tools,and language to

A) build cities.
B) exploit the natural world more efficiently than any other species.
C) establish complex social and political institutions.
D) develop the first known tools and controlled use of fire.
E) develop farming communities.

Question 15

One of the earliest known agricultural techniques was

A) crop rotation.
B) hunting and gathering.
C) slash and burn.
D) crop substitution.
E) the use of the horse-drawn plow.

Question 16

The earliest of the three neolithic craft industries was

A) textile production.
B) pottery.
C) carpet weaving.
D) metallurgy.
E) weapon production.

Question 17

One of the earliest neolithic settlements was ________,which was located at a freshwater oasis north of the Dead Sea and had a population of around two thousand.

A) Jericho
B) Çatal Hüyük
C) Altamira
D) Lascaux
E) Jomon

Question 18

The Venus figurines

A) were first found in the ruins of Çatal Hüyük.
B) date back to the time of Australopithecus.
C) were representative of the matriarchal societies of the neolithic age.
D) are representations of the goddess of love found in Jericho.
E) reflect early humans' deep interest in fertility.

Question 19

The earth came into existence around

A) five hundred million years ago.
B) one billion years ago.
C) four to five billion years ago.
D) ten billion years ago.
E) twenty-seven billion years ago.

Question 20

What do archeologists now believe is the most fundamental difference between the neolithic and paleolithic eras?

A) artistry
B) use of tools
C) use of fire
D) reliance on foraging for subsistence
E) reliance on cultivation for subsistence

Question 21

Homo erectus flourished from around two million to two hundred thousand years ago.

Question 22

The sculptures of women usually depicted with exaggerated sexual features are known as Venus figurines.

Question 23

Richard Leakey wrote,"Humans are unique because they have the capacity to choose what they do." What is the significance of this statement? When did humans develop the ability to choose? Is there a negative side to this capability?

Question 24

Examine the changing world of the neolithic age.What were the foundations of this age? In what fundamental ways was it different from the preceding paleolithic age? In what ways were the accomplishments of this period setting the stage for the rise of complex societies?

Question 25

Discuss some of the profound differences between the paleolithic and neolithic ages.What allowed for these differences? How did these differences affect development after the neolithic age?

Question 26

Cities differed from neolithic villages in two principal ways.First,cities were larger and more complex than neolithic villages.The second difference was that cities

A) served the needs of their inhabitants and immediate neighbors.
B) decisively influenced the economic,political,and cultural life of large regions.
C) were less advanced militarily.
D) had populations in the thousands.
E) had protective deities.

Question 27

Çatal Hüyük was a village in south central Anatolia with a population of around five thousand.

Question 28

Jericho is a site of cave paintings in Spain.

Question 29

Homo erectus is the order of primates that flourished in Africa as early as four million years ago.

Question 30

Explore the rise of the city.In what ways was the city different from the large villages of the earlier neolithic age?

Question 31

Are there drawbacks to the rise of complex societies? In other words,is every aspect of civilization good? Are there still problems today that stretch back to the rise of civilization?

Question 32

The ultimate source of wealth in any agricultural society is

A) gold.
B) copper.
C) land.
D) control over the protective deities.
E) the accumulation of weapons.

Question 33

In representations of the rapidly changing agricultural cycle,neolithic worshippers sometimes associated fertility with animals like

A) bulls.
B) birds.
C) bears.
D) frogs or butterflies.
E) rats.

Question 34

Explore the culture of the paleolithic age.What does it say about their changing world? In what ways did paleolithic humans try to make sense of the world?

Question 35

The definition of Homo sapiens is "consciously thinking human."

Question 36

Trace the development of Australopithecus,Homo erectus,and Homo sapiens.What effect did they have on the world around them?

Question 37

Explore the early human cave paintings at Lascaux and Altamira.Explain how this art is an expression of human advancement.

Question 38

Examine the profound changes brought about by the discovery of agriculture.How did this seemingly simple discovery change the course of human history?

Question 39

Neandertal peoples flourished in Europe from around two hundred thousand to thirty-five thousand years ago and who performed deliberate burials accompanied by ritual observances.

Question 40

The term for "new stone age" is neolithic.

Question 41

Use the maps in this chapter to follow the path of human habitation.What areas were inhabited most recently? Why?

Question 42

Examine Map 1.2,"Origins and early spread of agriculture." What can the type and spread of agricultural products tell us about the movements of human beings and the nature of their relationship to each other?

Question 43

Examine the image of the Venus figurine on page 14.What is the significance of this image? What can it tell us about the mind-set of early humans? Why would this image represent fertility to early humans?

Question 44

What advantages did Homo sapiens possess over Homo erectus?

Question 45

How did early cities differ from neolithic villages and towns?

Question 46

What were the most significant positive and negative effects of the agricultural transition on human society?

Question 47

Look at the cave paintings on pages 15 and 16.How do they represent the changing world of the neolithic age? Why would the themes be different from those in paleolithic cave paintings?

Question 48

How did the gradual transformation from hunting and gathering to agriculture probably occur? How did it spread?

Question 49

What were the most important changes in the evolution from Australopithecus to Homo erectus?

Question 50

What do the elaborate burial rituals of Neandertal humans tell us about these people and their view of their place in the universe?

Question 51

What was the significance of the discovery of Lucy's bones?

Question 52

What is the significance of cave art? The Venus figurines?

Question 53

What set the genus Australopithecus apart from other animal species of the time?

Question 54

Look at the picture of the pottery on page 20.What role did pottery play in human development? Why would it be in the shape of a deer?

Question 55

What were the differences between the Neandertal and Homo sapiens?

Question 56

What could the cave painting on page 13 tell the modern viewer about the paleolithic world? How does it express the paleolithic belief of sympathetic magic?

Question 57

What were the earliest craft industries to emerge and how did they benefit those living in neolithic villages?