Deck 11: Origins of Agriculture

Question 1

At the Wadi Kubbaniya excavation site,the most abundant plant remains found were

A)wild nut grass tubers
B)potato tubers
C)cassava
D)maize (corn)
E)tomatoes

Answer 1

A

Question 2

European mitochondrial DNA studies revealed that

A)ancient European foragers and early European farmers were closely related
B)modern Europeans are not directly related to ancient European foragers
C)the first European farmers were immigrants from Australia
D)the ancient European foragers were Neanderthals

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Archaeological evidence indicates that in Jarmo in northeastern Iraq,domestication of wheat and barley took place before ______ thousand years ago.

A)9
B)12
C)15
D)18
E)21

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Phytoliths

A)are crystals created in epidermal cells.
B)can be composed of calcium oxalate.
C)remain intact in the soil for thousands of years.
D)can be used to identify plant species.
E)are described by all of thesE.

Question 5

Coprolites are fossilized

A)seeds
B)pollen
C)fecal matter
D)plant crystals
E)bones

Question 6

Scientists were able to hypothesize that cats were domesticated in China approximately 5000 years ago because

A)an unusual carbon isotope in cat bones indicated cats were eating rat pests
B)cats were found buried with Chinese dignitaries
C)cats were found buried with trinkets and other symbols of affection
D)more than one of these indicated cats were domesticated

Question 7

Which of the following is not among the evidence discovered that New Guinea was one of the first primary centers of agriculture?

A)rapid deforestation.
B)soil mounding and deeply dug channels.
C)phytoliths from domesticated crops.
D)discovery of a highland plant growing in lowlands.
E)starch grains and phytoliths of a domesticated plant recovered from stone tools.

Question 8

Archaeological evidence from the Kuk Swamp site indicated that inhabitants were growing

A)wild nut grass.
B)wheat and barley.
C)taro and banana.
D)marijuana and opium poppy.
E)maize (corn).

Question 9

Domestication syndrome refers to

A)diseases domesticated plants and animals contract that their wild counterparts do not contract.
B)the expression of a suite of genes that generate tameness and other domestication effects.
C)the effects on humans of the domestication of plants and animals.
D)the inability of domesticated plants to exist in the wild because of thousands of years of inbreeding.

Question 10

Which of the following is true about foraging society diets?

A)they were almost all exclusively meat-based
B)they were almost all exclusively plant-based
C)they were almost all nutrient poor
D)they varied widely from one society to another

Question 11

Which among of the following plant parts does not preserve well in the soil over long periods of time?

A)starch grains
B)flower parts
C)phytoliths
D)pollen
E)seeds

Question 12

The most common dietary material recovered at archaeological sites are

A)starch grains
B)fruits
C)root tubers
D)seeds

Question 13

The most decay resistant substance in a plant is

A)cellulose
B)starch
C)hemicellulose
D)lignin
E)pectin

Question 14

Archaeological evidence indicates that _______ may have been the first plant domesticated in the Fertile Crescent.

A)wheat
B)peas
C)barley
D)corn
E)lentils

Question 15

Pollen grains preserve well in soils because of the

A)chemical properties of the exine.
B)lignified outer wall.
C)numerous phytoliths found within the pollen grains.
D)small size of the pollen grains.

Question 16

The shift from hunting-gathering to agriculture began about ________ thousand years ago.

A)10
B)20
C)100
D)200
E)1000

Question 17

How did domestication efforts in the New World differ from the Old World?

A)New World domestication efforts focused mainly on fruits.
B)New World cultures did not domesticate any grain plants.
C)New World cultures domesticated relatively fewer animal species.
D)New World domestication efforts only began 1000 to 2000 years ago.

Question 18

The best evidence indicates that bananas were first cultivated in

A)New Guinea
B)Southeast Asia.
C)Mesoamerica.
D)Northern Africa.
E)the Fertile Crescent.

Question 19

Which of the following foraging societies subsisted almost entirely on a meat-based diet?

A)the Hadza of Tanzania
B)Arctic Inuit
C)!Kung of the Kalahari Desert
D)the Botai of Central Asia
E)all of these foraging societies subsisted almost entirely on a meat-based diet

Question 20

Which of the following is true about the traditional !Kung foraging way of life?

A)their diet was mainly animal based
B)wild nut grass tubers were an important protein source
C)they did not consume enough calories to maintain their life style
D)women did most of the hunting while men engaged in warfare
E)their foraging activities averaged less than 3 days per week

Question 21

The earliest evidence of agricultural societies appeared approximately _______ years ago.

Question 22

One early theory on the origin of agriculture states that it was an ancient genius who realized that plants found at dumpsites had grown from discarded seeds.

Question 23

Which of the following centers of plant domestication is not paired correctly with its principle crops?

A)Near East - wheat and barley
B)Africa - sorghum and cassava
C)Mesoamerica - maize (corn)
D)South America - potato

Question 24

The Far East is the center of origin for corn.

Question 25

Sunflower and goosefoot were domesticated in _______ America.

A)eastern North
B)Northwest
C)Southwest
D)Meso-
E)South

Question 26

Archaeological evidence from the _______ reveals a relatively continuous evolution from foraging to farming and the first domestication of maize (corn).

A)Fertile Crescent
B)Kuk Swamp
C)Wadi Kubbaniya
D)Tehuacan Valley
E)Kalahari Desert

Question 27

In the Near East our first cultivated plants were:

A)corn and beans
B)corn and wheat
C)wheat and barley
D)potatoes and wheat

Question 28

Which of the following is not true about Nikolai I.Vasilov?

A)he pinpointed 8 centers worldwide as centers of origin for major domesticated plants
B)he was an adherent of Mendelian genetics
C)for his efforts,Stalin declared him a hero of the Soviet Union
D)his work on centers of origin of domesticated plants has been modified
E)all of these statements are true about Nikolai.I.Vasilov

Question 29

The Stone Age period that refers to the time after the start of agriculture is the:

A)Paleolithic
B)Neolithic
C)Lithic
D)Cenozoic

Question 30

How have domesticated varieties of wild grasses lost their ability to survive in Nature?

A)they can no longer reproduce without artificial pollination
B)through extensive inbreeding,they have lost all resistance to diseases
C)fruiting heads do not shatter and release seeds
D)pollen tubes only travel half way to the carpel
E)all of these are ways that wild grasses have lost their ability to survive in Nature

Question 31

Which of the following is not a trait of at least some domesticated plant varieties?

A)larger fruits,seeds,and tubers
B)loss of seed dormancy
C)inability to release fruits
D)increased genetic variability

Question 32

Natural selection shapes domesticated plants to suit human needs.

Question 33

Coffee was first domesticated in the mountains of

A)Ethiopia
B)Peru
C)Columbia
D)Zimbabwe
E)Appalachia

Question 34

_____________ are fossilized fecal materials that have been used to provide direct evidence of the diet of early humans.

Question 35

Chili peppers were domesticated approximately 6000 years ago in

A)the Bahamas.
B)South America.
C)South Africa.
D)Mesopotamia.
E)the Far East.

Question 36

_______ is believed to be the first major food crop to have been domesticated.

Question 37

A center of origin for a particular domesticated plant most likely will be the site which has the greatest number of wild and domesticated relatives of that crop.

Question 38

The Fertile Crescent was an early site of agriculture in the:

A)Far East
B)New World
C)Near East
D)Africa

Question 39

Archaeological evidence suggests maize (corn)was domesticated in Mexico approximately _______ years ago.

A)500
B)5500
C)7000
D)10000

Question 40

The Tehuacan Valley is an early site of agriculture in:

A)Iran
B)Iraq
C)Mexico
D)Peru

Question 41

__________ is the Russian botanist who proposed eight centers of origin for domesticated crops.

Question 42

The ____________ is a site that has yielded the oldest agricultural evidence to date.