Deck 13: Our Last 10,000 Years: Agriculture, Population, and the Bioarchaeology of a Fundamental Transition

Question 1

The adoption of agriculture resulted in the development and spread of:

A) weight gain.
B) infectious disease.
C) an increase in health generally.
D) both a and c

Answer 1

infectious disease.

Question 2

Two-thirds of calorie intake comes from the key cereal grains domesticated in the earlier Holocene, especially:

A) barley, sorghum, and wheat.
B) wheat, barley, corn, and rice.
C) oats, wheat, and rice.
D) corn, rice, and beans.

Answer 2

wheat, barley, corn, and rice.

Question 3

One of the most important adaptive transitions in hominin evolution is:

A) the shift from foraging to farming.
B) having color depth perception.
C) a larger brain.
D) a change in the arm-to-leg ratio.

Answer 3

the shift from foraging to farming.

Question 4

In the American Midwest native seed crops goosefoot, sumpweed, and sunflowers were farmed about:

A) 11,500 yBP.
B) 8,000 yBP.
C) 6,000-1,000 yBP.
D) 10,500 yBP.

Question 5

Tooth size and jaw size have reduced in the last:

A) 17,000 yBP.
B) 10,000 yBP.
C) 6,000 yBP.
D) 3,000 yBP.

Question 6

The Neolithic demographic transition resulted in:

A) a decrease in birthrate.
B) earlier weaning.
C) a slow increase in the world's population.
D) a shift from low birthrate to high birthrate.

Question 7

The masticatory-functional hypothesis:

A) states that over time there was a clear reduction in the size of the face and jaws.
B) states that tooth and jaw size have decreased over time.
C) states that change in skull form represents a response to decreased demands on the chewing muscles.
D) states that tooth and jaw size increased over time.

Question 8

Based on the archaeological record from various areas, what was the initial effect of agriculture on height?

A) Height decreased.
B) Height increased.
C) Height became more variable within the population.
D) Height stayed the same.

Question 9

Dental caries increased at the same time that populations were producing:

A) nuts.
B) corn.
C) seeds.
D) animal protein.

Question 10

Some cases of anemia, which cause red blood cell production to increase in response to iron deficiency or blood loss, may lead to:

A) cribra orbitalia in eye orbits.
B) expansion and porosity of long bones.
C) a parasitic infection.
D) a genetic disease.

Question 11

The dog was the first animal to be domesticated during the:

A) Neolithic.
B) Upper Paleolithic.
C) Lower Paleolithic.
D) Cenozoic.

Question 12

As towns and cities began to compete for increasingly limited resources:

A) organized warfare developed.
B) cooperation among neighbors developed.
C) agriculture increased as well.
D) violence decreased.

Question 13

Comparisons of the bones from hunter-gatherers' to later agriculturalists' to modern peoples':

A) show a remarkable decline in size.
B) show an increase in size.
C) show variation in size to a high degree.
D) demonstrate biological change over time.

Question 14

New World domesticated products include:

A) wheat.
B) rice.
C) cotton.
D) pigs.

Question 15

The archaeological record suggests that farming began in southeastern Turkey by:

A) 6,000 yBP.
B) 4,000 yBP.
C) 1,500 yBP.
D) 10,500 yBP.

Question 16

Cavities in the teeth are caused by:

A) hypoplasias.
B) enamel defects.
C) dentin foramina.
D) dental caries.

Question 17

The human population increase of the Holocene was probably due to:

A) a decrease in disease as a result of sedentism.
B) more effective medical practices.
C) decreased birth spacing.
D) a dramatic increase in nutritional quality as a result of agriculture.

Question 18

Domestication produced more food per unit area of land than had hunting and gathering, meaning:

A) more people were needed to produce more food.
B) more people could be fed from the same amount of land.
C) more storage was necessary for the extra food provided by domestication.
D) fewer people were available for labor.

Question 19

Extreme anemia can lead to:

A) cancer.
B) porotic hyperostosis.
C) heart disease.
D) measles.

Question 20

The frequent occurrence of agriculturalism around the world was accompanied by two phenomena:

A) increase in population size and food shortages.
B) change in climate and consequent change in environment.
C) distribution of land wealth and trade of produce.
D) decline in nutritional quality and increase in infectious disease.

Question 21

By the close of the Pleistocene the human population numbered:

A) several thousand.
B) 7 billion.
C) several million.
D) 1 billion.

Question 22

A round cross section of a long bone suggests that:

A) the bone will have greater strength through one of its axes.
B) the bone will have less strength though its y-axis.
C) the bone will have equal strength in all directions.
D) the bone will break given a small amount of tension.

Question 23

Domestication of plants and animals led to stable food supplies during the Holocene; however, it also resulted in significant environmental and health problems. Discuss these problems in terms of natural selection.

Question 24

What two models discuss how innovations spread? By what mechanism did wheat spread from the Levant into Europe?

Question 25

The domestication of wheat and barley spread to Greece by:

A) 1,000 yBP.
B) 7,000 yBP.
C) 15,000 yBP.
D) 8,000 yBP.

Question 26

__________ iron is found in some foods that provide all the amino acids humans require in their diet:

A) Heme
B) Nonheme
C) Flat
D) Raw

Question 27

Discuss how morphologic changes to modern humans' faces, mandibles, and teeth changed after the shift to agriculture and consumption of softer foods.

Question 28

During your lab you are asked to identify the pathological feature of spongy bone invading the eye socket that occurs in the interior upper surface of the eye sockets and to diagnose the condition as:

A) porotic hyperostosis, resulting from iron-deficiency anemia.
B) periosteal reaction, resulting from changes in diet.
C) ameloblasts, resulting from changes in diet and parasitic infection.
D) cribra orbitalia, resulting from iron-deficiency anemia or parasitic infection.

Question 29

Hunter-gatherers' skeletons tend to show:

A) less osteoarthritis.
B) higher levels of activity.
C) lower workload/activity.
D) bones with lower density.

Question 30

Parasitic infections are a primary cause of __________in many regions of the globe.

A) iron-deficiency anemia
B) Staphylococcus aureus
C) treponematoses
D) endemic disease

Question 31

A(n) __________ is a scientist who studies plant remains in the archaeological record.

A) paleontologist.
B) paleoethnobotanist.
C) ethnologist.
D) zooarchaeologist.

Question 32

A symptom of anemia where spongy bone invades the eye sockets is called:

A) hyperosteitis.
B) trabeculitis.
C) orbital arthritis.
D) cribra orbitalia.

Question 33

Bone comparisons from hunter-gatherers to later agriculturalists to modern peoples show:

A) an increase in size.
B) greater robusticity of the long arm bones only.
C) a decline in size.
D) a stasis in bone density.

Question 34

The core of the adaptive success characterized by population explosion was the result of:

A) a decreased food supply.
B) an increased food supply.
C) agriculture.
D) a sedentary lifestyle.

Question 35

The Neolithic site Çatalhöyük is located in:

A) southwest Asia.
B) southern Africa.
C) central Mexico.
D) India.

Question 36

An oval cross section of an adult femur suggests:

A) that the individual was likely very physically active.
B) that the individual was lethargic and largely sedentary.
C) that the individual had a nutritional deficiency as a child.
D) You cannot discern anything from the shape of a bone.

Question 37

Agriculture resulted in:

A) higher-quality nutrition.
B) a stable, healthy food source.
C) population sedentism and crowding.
D) a shift in social dynamics, resulting in larger families.

Question 38

What effect did the advent of agriculture have on the level of interpersonal violence seen in the archaeological record?

A) Violence increased.
B) Violence decreased.
C) Violence stayed about the same.
D) Intercultural violence increased.

Question 39

What form of subsistence pattern is found in the Neolithic period? Name three geographic regions where Neolithic lifeways appeared independently.

Question 40

The last 10,000 years is called the:

A) Cenozoic.
B) Quaternary.
C) Solutren.
D) Holocene.

Question 41

Discuss the evidence from the skeletons and teeth of early agriculturalists. Then describe the negative consequences of a shift from food foraging to the domestication of food in terms of pathologic evidence.