Deck 6: The Peopling of Australia and the New World

Question 1

What is Clovis culture?

Answer 1

Clovis culture is the earliest evidence of human occupation in North America. The definition is based largely on the form of spearpoints. These date to between 13,500 and 12,500 years ago.

Question 2

What is the significance and controversy surrounding Meadowcroft Rockshelter?

Answer 2

Meadowcroft Rockshelter is a site in western Pennsylvania dating between 23,000 and 15,000 years ago. These dates together with stone tools make a compelling case for the Pre-Clovis model. However, the dates are disputed by archaeologists claiming that they were contaminated by "old carbon" carried by groundwater from nearby coal beds.

Question 3

Excavations at the __________ site revealed evidence of a mass bison kill.

A) Blackwater Draw
B) Olsen-Chubbock
C) Folsom
D) Nenana

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The __________ hypothesis argues that the origin of the Clovis culture lies in the European Upper Paleolithic.

A) Solutrean
B) Châtelperronian
C) Aurignacian
D) Gravettian

Question 5

Which of the following statements is true concerning the skeleton found in Kennewick, Washington?

A) The remains are clearly of Nez Pierce ancestry, and have been returned to tribal lands.
B) It provides strong evidence that the earliest Americans arrived from Europe.
C) The skeleton is more than 9,000 years old.
D) The find was a fraud; the skeleton is only a few hundred years old.

Question 6

Discoveries at __________ demonstrate that people were living in the Brazilian rain forest at the same time as the Clovis culture in North America.

A) Blackwater Draw
B) Pedra Pintada
C) Quebrada Tacahuay
D) Monte Verde

Question 7

The site that poses the most serious threat to the Clovis first hypothesis is __________.

A) Blackwater Draw, New Mexico
B) Monte Verde, Chile
C) Quebrada Tacahuay, Peru
D) Pedra Pintada, Brazil

Question 8

Which of the following is a pre-Clovis site?

A) Meadowcroft Rockshelter, Pennsylvania
B) Ngandong, Indonesia
C) Nauwalabila I, Australia
D) Pedra Furada, Brazil

Question 9

Which migration route has been proposed for entry of humans into the Americas?

A) northward along the eastern North American coast
B) through the ice-free corridor
C) across the Pacific Ocean
D) across the southern Atlantic Ocean

Question 10

The land bridge that connected Asia and North America during periods of low sea level is called _________.

A) the ALCAN highway
B) Beringia
C) Wallacea
D) the Aleutian Islands

Question 11

Why is the site of Monte Verde significant?

Question 12

How do Anna Roosevelt's excavations at Pedra Pintada challenge the Clovis First model?

Question 13

What is K. R. Fladmark's alternative to migration to North America through an ice-free corridor?

Question 14

What is the significance of Australian rock art?

Question 15

What happened to the Pleistocene megafauna?

Question 16

What was the geography of Southeast Asia and Australia like during periods of glacial advance and low sea level?

Question 17

How are the flutes on Clovis and Folsom points made, and what are their functions?

Question 18

What is NAGPRA and what are the ramifications of it on archaeological research?

Question 19

Discuss the various scenarios for the different migration routes into the New World. What is the evidence for and against each scenario?

Question 20

Discuss the evidence for the possible causes of extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna in Australia and North America.

Question 21

What is the significance of and controversy surrounding Homo floresiensis?

Question 22

What is the Solutrean hypothesis?

Question 23

What is the Early Arrival Model for migration into the Americas?

Question 24

Which of these is a model for the human occupation of the Americas?

A) Beringia
B) Indigenous development
C) Clovis first
D) Wallacea Ancestry

Question 25

Folsom points can be recognized by what distinctive feature?

A) a bifacial edge
B) a shiny, black surface
C) a basal notching
D) a center flute

Question 26

An alternative to the ice-free corridor route into North America is a coastal migration route.

Question 27

Monte Verde is the earliest known site in Australia.

Question 28

The ratio of Carbon-14 to nonradioactive carbon is a global constant.

Question 29

The Nenana culture is the earliest culture in Beringia.

Question 30

Clovis culture is the earliest evidence of human occupation in Australia.

Question 31

Folsom points have a flute or channel down the middle to allow blood from the wounded animal to drain efficiently.

Question 32

Fire-stick farming refers to the use of controlled burning to clear area for crops.

Question 33

Early modern humans were able to cross over to Australia on the Wallacea land bridge between 100,000-93,000 years ago.

Question 34

Homo floresiensis is the first hominin species to appear in China.

Question 35

The Wallace Line separates the prehistoric landmasses known as Sunda and Sahul.

Question 36

The Solutrean hypothesis argues that human migration from the Americas was responsible for the Solutrean culture of the Upper Paleolithic of western Europe.

Question 37

Kennewick Man, found in Washington state, is a 40,000-year-old skeleton that bolsters the Early Arrival hypothesis.

Question 38

The North American megafauna were driven to extinction after an asteroid struck the earth approximately 13,000 years ago.

Question 39

The earliest agreed-upon evidence of human occupation in North America is called the __________.

A) Olsen-Chubbock site
B) Clovis culture
C) Folsom culture
D) Atlantean culture

Question 40

The Australian rock art site at __________ contains a 4,000-year-old beeswax depiction of a turtle.

A) Nauwalabila I
B) Ngandong
C) Gunbilngmurrung
D) Lake Mungo

Question 41

__________ refers to the use of controlled burning to improve hunting conditions.

A) Fire-starting
B) Fire-stick farming
C) Swidden horticulture
D) Pyrohusbandry

Question 42

Large mammals that lived during the Pleistocene are collectively known as __________.

A) mastadons
B) megafauna
C) gigamammals
D) marsupials

Question 43

Which site has evidence for human occupation of Australia dated to between 60,000-53,000 years ago?

A) Nauwalabila I
B) Wallacea
C) Lake Mungo, Australia
D) Tasmania Cave

Question 44

This controversial tiny hominin was discovered on an island northwest of Australia and dates to between 46,000 to 27,000 years ago.

A) Homo sapiencitas
B) Homo wallacea
C) Homo floresiensis
D) Homo hobbitensis

Question 45

What is the boundary that separates Sunda and Sahul called?

A) the Marianas Trench
B) the Wallace Line
C) Arnhem Land
D) Beringia

Question 46

The most recent known Homo erectus fossil is from what site?

A) Nauwalabila Island, Australia
B) Ngandong, Java
C) Lake Mungo, Australia
D) Sahul Land

Question 47

The initial hominin occupation of the Americas was by which species?

A) Homo erectus
B) Homo Floresiensis
C) Neanderthals
D) Homo sapiens

Question 48

Excavation of the bison kill at the Olsen-Chubbock site provided conclusive proof that humans were responsible for the extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna.

Question 49

The first hominins in Australia and the Americas were Homo erectus.