Deck 1: A Continent of Villages

Question 1

What do the complex earthworks developed by the Woodland people signify?

A) They were a warlike society that practiced human sacrifice.
B) They had adopted a settled existence and more complex social organization.
C) They had learned this practice from the first Europeans who arrived in eastern North America.
D) They depended on extensive trade networks to obtain the materials necessary for mound building.

Answer 1

They had adopted a settled existence and more complex social organization.

Question 2

Why might native communities have resisted shifting to agriculture?

A) They were ignorant about plants and cultivation.
B) Farming offered few advantages in some areas.
C) Merchant clans prevented their workers from adopting farming.
D) Farming took so little work that it promoted laziness.

Answer 2

Farming offered few advantages in some areas.

Question 3

The Desert Culture __________.

A) was one of the first settled North American peoples
B) migrated seasonally in search of game
C) disappeared after being unable to adapt to changes in the environment
D) relied on agriculture

Answer 3

migrated seasonally in search of game

Question 4

Peoples practicing "forest efficiency" __________.

A) relied on intensive agriculture
B) hunted and gathered available resources
C) had a precarious life and often starved
D) mainly lived in deserts

Question 5

Over time, Indian communities in North America typically __________.

A) remained socially and communally primitive
B) feared the gods and refused to change
C) had little knowledge of even the simplest forms of technology
D) demonstrated increasing levels of complexity

Question 6

The Clovis culture gets its name from what discovery near Clovis, New Mexico?

A) distinctive stone blades and lance points
B) the skeleton of Kennewick Man
C) huge burial mounds
D) copper imported from the Great Lakes

Question 7

Eastern Woodland tribes subsisted by __________.

A) gathering, hunting, and limited agriculture
B) raids on neighboring villages
C) fishing and farming
D) dry farming and small game hunting

Question 8

A major achievement of the Hohokams involved __________.

A) the building of communities of cliff dwellings
B) the development of the first system of irrigation in America
C) the importation of grains such as maize into North America
D) the development of crops that needed no water

Question 9

Staple crop farming __________.

A) developed in China and spread to the rest of the world
B) developed independently in several areas of the world
C) had little impact on social life
D) remained isolated at its point of origin

Question 10

Archaeological evidence suggests that plant cultivation in the __________ began about 5,000 years ago.

A) Great Basin
B) Great Plains
C) highlands of Mexico
D) desert of Arizona

Question 11

How did agricultural production affect relationships between and within farming communities?

A) Settled populations relied less on military forces.
B) Demand for larger food surpluses from a growing population frequently led to conflict and warfare.
C) Farming communities became more stable than the previous foraging communities.
D) Collection and storage of food crops depended on cooperation between farmers rather than on strong chiefs or other individual leaders.

Question 12

Which of these best explains the sometimes violent competition for resources between Mississippian settlements?

A) religious conflicts
B) political instability
C) population growth
D) ethnic divisions

Question 13

Desert farmers such as the Pima and Yuma __________.

A) exported high-quality flint hoes
B) were highly communal apartment dwellers
C) were the first to plow using animals
D) lived in dispersed settlements called rancherias

Question 14

During the first millennium bce, what culture developed in the arid Southwest?

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

Question 15

With what culture did the Hohokam share many traits?

A) Mesoamerican
B) Hopewell
C) Athapascan
D) Clovis

Question 16

From studying surviving pre-Columbian works of art, historians __________.

A) have a clear picture of Indian religious beliefs
B) see no evidence of emotions
C) can only speculate about their meaning
D) can translate written Mississippian documents

Question 17

Adoption of farming might be considered an extension of __________.

A) more egalitarian societies
B) Archaic forest efficiency
C) environmental adaptation
D) falling populations

Question 18

The largest Indian population centers could be found among __________.

A) the Archaic peoples of the interior
B) the fishing communities of the Pacific Northwest
C) the hunters and gatherers of the Great Plains
D) the farming districts of the South, the Southwest, and the Northeast

Question 19

The development of Teotihuacan illustrates which of the following?

A) the growing complexity of Mesoamerican cultures
B) Native Americans' inability to adapt to environmental change
C) the impact of mass population migrations on the Great Basin
D) native cultures becoming less sophisticated over time

Question 20

Which product is correctly paired with its region of origin?

A) maize: Mexico
B) obsidian: Great Lakes
C) copper: Appalachians
D) mica: Rocky Mountains

Question 21

Which of these was an important early social consequence of farming?

A) development of more elaborate kinship systems
B) elimination of gender-based divisions of labor
C) leveling of social inequalities
D) decentralization of authority

Question 22

After the collapse of Cahokia, the main area where the Mississippian culture persisted was the __________.

A) forests and waterways of the Northeast
B) forests of the Pacific Northwest
C) deserts of the Southwest
D) forests and floodplains of the Southeast

Question 23

Cultivation of maize began in __________.

A) Asia
B) Africa
C) Mesoamerica
D) Europe

Question 24

Someone sent to negotiate with the Five Nations would be meeting with __________.

A) Mohawks, Oneidas, Onodagas, Cayugas, and Senecas
B) Mi'kmaqs, Crees, Montagnais, Ojibwas, and Hurons
C) Hurons, Mohawks, Creeks, Natchez, and Aleuts
D) Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, Cherokees, Natchez

Question 25

The oldest continuously occupied towns in the United States are home to the __________.

A) Cherokees
B) Pueblos
C) Apaches
D) Navajos

Question 26

The population of the precolonial Americas __________.

A) is impossible to estimate with any confidence
B) varied greatly by region
C) was uniformly distributed across the continents
D) was greatest in the Arctic and Great Basin

Question 27

The primary function of a chief in a farming community was to __________.

A) conduct warfare against other tribes
B) divide property among the clans
C) appease the gods
D) supervise the economy

Question 28

Pueblo Bonito is to the Anasazi as Cahokia is to the __________.

A) Hohokam
B) Hopis
C) Algonquians
D) Mississippians

Question 29

In what area of North America were the largest populations of nonagricultural Indians concentrated?

A) California and the Pacific Northwest
B) Great Basin
C) New England
D) Mesoamerica and the Caribbean

Question 30

According to the migration hypothesis, ancestors of Native Americans came from __________.

A) Africa
B) South America
C) Northern Europe
D) Asia

Question 31

The Monte Verde culture in Chile is evidence of the importance of __________.

A) migration along the "Pacific Coast Waterway"
B) the spread of Mississippian culture
C) Aztec cultural influence
D) farming in pre-Columbian America

Question 32

The Desert Culture was characterized by reliance on __________.

A) bison hunting
B) small game and plant foraging
C) intensive maize cultivation
D) fish and sea mammals

Question 33

The members of the Iroquois Confederacy were forbidden to __________.

A) go to war with each other
B) trade with Europeans
C) leave their ancestral homelands
D) farm

Question 34

The Iroquois differed from most Native American cultures because their society was __________.

A) matrilineal
B) patriarchal
C) pacifist
D) not dependent on agriculture

Question 35

Which phrase best describes a kiva?

A) burial mound of Hopewell mortuary cult
B) Hohokam ball-playing court with surrounding religious platform mound
C) Pueblo impersonations of ancestral, sacred spirits
D) Anasazi subterranean religious center

Question 36

Folsom technology was a refinement of what culture?

A) Athapascan
B) Hopewell
C) Clovis
D) Mississippian

Question 37

Which of these societies had tens of thousands of communities in the Southwest?

A) Inuit
B) Mohawks
C) Senecas
D) Anasazi

Question 38

On the eve of European colonization, remaining Mississippian cultures in the South included the __________.

A) Pimas
B) Apaches
C) Hohokam
D) Natchez

Question 39

The bow and arrow was first developed __________.

A) in Mexico
B) on the Great Plains
C) in the Northeast
D) in the desert basins of the Southwest

Question 40

Teotihuacan had a population of about __________ at its height.

A) 30,000
B) 100,000
C) 200,000
D) 1 million

Question 41

Using either the Anasazi/Mississippian or the Iroquois/Algonquian, compare and describe their attitudes about community in such areas as settlement patterns, food sources, social organization, cultural and political structures, and conflict.

Question 42

The standard hypothesis that migrations from Asia to North America began around 13,000 BCE has been challenged by the discovery of what site?

A) Monte Verde
B) Clovis
C) Beringia
D) Folsom

Question 43

What is forest efficiency and how did it affect community populations?

Question 44

What do the monumental earthworks and other archeological evidence uncovered at Cahokia and other Mississippian sites suggest about the rise and fall of that society?

Question 45

What led to the gradual abandonment of the Four Corners area by the Anasazi?

Question 46

How is Desert Culture best characterized?

A) by the pursuit of small game and the intensified foraging of plant foods
B) by the construction of fluted blades and lance points
C) by high degrees of social stratification and hierarchy
D) by the construction of large earthen mounds

Question 47

Beringia refers to __________.

A) the land bridge between Asia and North America
B) glaciers along the Alaskan coast
C) the Russian portion of the Bering Strait
D) the combined landmass of Asia and North America

Question 48

Which of these is true of the inhabitants of the Americas prior to colonization?

A) The inhabitants of the Americas all produced similar cultures.
B) No single physical type characterized all the peoples of the Americas.
C) The inhabitants of the Americas failed to develop farming.
D) All Native Americans belonged to a single race.

Question 49

Why did some native societies resist adopting agriculture?

Question 50

Archaeologists' discovery of the remains of 200 bison at one site in Colorado suggests that __________.

A) archaic hunters had developed considerable social organization
B) Indian weapons were superior to those of later Europeans
C) men did all the work in the Folsom culture
D) the local peoples had developed a "Desert Culture"

Question 51

The heavy log stockade discovered among the ruins of Cahokia have led archaeologists and other scientists to conclude that this Mississippian city experienced __________.

A) regular attacks by wild animals
B) violent conflict with nearby Indian communities
C) frequent raids from European explorers and settlers
D) excessive flooding from the Mississippi River

Question 52

Which of these helped make the South ideal for farming?

A) its mild climate
B) its low population density
C) the absence of large mammals
D) its short summers

Question 53

Which major challenge did the Anasazi face in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries?

A) The climate became drier.
B) Iroquois bands raided Anasazi communities.
C) A new and deadly plague struck.
D) Religious conflicts divided the society.

Question 54

The Adena were __________.

A) mound builders
B) a desert people
C) a largely urban culture
D) strictly hunter-gatherers

Question 55

How did the development of farming affect family life?

A) People built smaller dwellings.
B) People married at an older age.
C) People became more mobile.
D) People had larger families.

Question 56

What distinguished the third and final migration from Asia to the Americas from the previous two?

A) It occurred as the result of endemic warfare.
B) It resulted in the settlement of the northeastern portion of North America.
C) It involved hundreds of thousands of people.
D) It occurred long after Beringia had disappeared under rising seas.

Question 57

Which statement accurately describes the earliest stone tools found in North America?

A) They were like the tools found from the same period in Europe and Asia.
B) They were three- to six-inch fluted blades for spears that were used to hunt large game such as mammoths.
C) They were primarily stone fish hooks utilized by people who migrated to the Americas by boat.
D) They were small arrow points that were used to hunt smaller game such as deer and rabbits.

Question 58

Which statement was true of most North American Indian farming communities?

A) There was little division of labor based on gender.
B) Women and men belonged to separate social groupings.
C) Women participated in both hunting and farming.
D) Men took sole responsibility for farming.

Question 59

Which of these was the single overwhelming fact of life in the Southwest?

A) the abundance of resources
B) cultural diversity
C) land scarcity
D) aridity

Question 60

Which of these helps explain why migration to North America was attractive to Siberian hunter-gatherers?

A) North America was home to many large mammals.
B) It was much warmer in North America than in Asia.
C) Siberian hunter-gatherers were often attacked by more-aggressive Asian peoples.
D) The population of Asia had grown too large to be supported by available resources.

Question 61

What technological advance made agriculture possible in the Great Basin?

A) modern irrigation systems
B) development of maize cultivation
C) manufacture of pottery to store food over time
D) development of the flint hoe

Question 62

Which statement explains the failure of Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest to adopt settled agriculture?

A) There was an abundance of salmon in the region.
B) The climate was too harsh to support agriculture.
C) The nomadic lifestyle of the region was not conducive to cultivating plants.
D) The climate was too arid to support a variety of plants.

Question 63

How did the Yuman people in the Grand Canyon obtain most of the food they required?

A) They grew corn, beans, and squash on small irrigated fields.
B) They raided small agricultural communities and took what they required.
C) They were fishermen who also harvested mussels.
D) They hunted for large game, especially buffalo.

Question 64

Anthropologists have demonstrated that __________.

A) farmers work considerably longer and harder than do foragers
B) foragers are more vulnerable to famine than are farmers
C) almost all communities rushed to adopt settled agriculture
D) the agricultural revolution took place over tens of thousands of years

Question 65

Who first referred to Native Americans as "Indios"?

A) Christopher Columbus
B) Joseph de Acosta
C) Jacques LeMoyne
D) John White

Question 66

How were the Algonquian and Iroquois people similar to each other?

A) They both organized confederacies within their own culture groups.
B) They both developed large urban centers.
C) They both lived in extensive longhouses.
D) They both saw trade as contrary to their warrior values.

Question 67

Which of these best describes the purpose of a clan?

A) to bind people from different communities into larger social units
B) to divide responsibility for labor
C) to supervise the economy
D) to allow a group of people to own land

Question 68

Increased violence in Mississippian cultures was most likely a result of __________.

A) competition for resources
B) religious conflicts
C) new migrations from Asia
D) rapid environmental change

Question 69

What was a common trait of the Creeks, Chickasaws, and Choctaws?

A) a cultural pattern of confederacies
B) a matriarchal patronage system
C) a patrilineal system of descent
D) an elaborate system of class, priests, and monarchs

Question 70

Which of the following technological innovations initially produced the powerful new Mississippian culture in North America?

A) a quickly maturing variety of maize suitable for temperate northern latitudes
B) digging sticks used for planting seeds
C) a complex system of irrigation canals
D) the creation of pottery to store seeds and crops

Question 71

Farming first developed in what part of North America?

A) Mexico
B) Great Plains
C) Great Basin
D) Pacific Northwest

Question 72

The decline of the Anasazi culture was initially triggered by __________.

A) climate change
B) internal warfare
C) population pressures
D) attacks by neighboring peoples

Question 73

Which statement best describes the Pueblos?

A) They lived by a strict communal code of behavior.
B) They gradually abandoned their Athapascan raiding tradition and adopted the agricultural lifestyle of their neighbors.
C) They spoke a common language.
D) They lived in rancherias.

Question 74

The Iroquois Confederacy was founded to __________.

A) control the violence among the five Iroquois nations
B) accelerate economic development
C) fight the European invasion of Iroquois lands
D) protect Iroquois communities from attacks by Algonquians

Question 75

How did most of the large number of Native Americans residing in what is now California subsist?

A) through hunting and gathering
B) by fishing for salmon
C) as agriculturalists who irrigated their small fields
D) as agriculturalists who used the lower classes to cultivate large expanses of land

Question 76

Which of these best describes the Mogollon culture?

A) the first farming culture of the Southwest
B) a culture derived from the Inca
C) a society centered on the construction of massive earth mounds
D) a nomadic lifestyle based on the movement of animal herds

Question 77

A consequence of Native Americans' increasing reliance on agriculture was __________.

A) a new division of labor and, ultimately, the emergence of classes
B) a more diverse, healthier diet
C) a decrease in the need for military forces
D) in foraging societies most individuals are engaged in similar tasks, and there are few opportunities for individuals to accumulate personal wealth. See 1.2.1: Origins in Mexico.

Question 78

Which statement describes the type of violence that was common to the Athapascans?

A) They carried out systematic raids of settled farming communities.
B) The chiefdoms competed against one another for additional lands to cultivate.
C) They used ritual sacrifice of humans to appease the gods.
D) Acts of violence were often at the family and clan level, as they were often acts of revenge.

Question 79

How were the civilizations in Mesoamerica like those that arose in the Mediterranean?

A) Wealth and power were concentrated in the hands of an elite class of priests and rulers.
B) Ritual human sacrifice was used to appease the gods.
C) Maize agriculture provided the bulk of the food that was consumed by the populace.
D) Stone tools were commonly utilized for agriculture and defense.

Question 80

Archaeologists believe that a central feature of the Hopewell culture was __________.

A) an elaborate trade network throughout North America
B) matriarchal rule
C) simple religious rituals and burial practices
D) apartment-like living structures